On 2010-11-09, Florian Philipp <li...@f_philipp.fastmail.net> wrote: > Well, there are two ways to go here:
> 1. Modularize what you have. Give every developer only the source he > is supposed to work on and binary interfaces (libs + header files > for C/C++) and documentation for everything else. > > Then the devs will be able to run the software but no one will > have all the source code. > > 2. Do not give working code to anyone. Define specs, test cases, > prototypes and mock-ups. Then tell your devs to develop against these. > > When they have finished their modules (classes, units, whatever), > it is your job to integrate these modules and see whether they > work together as expected. If they don't, improve your specs and > tests and give the code back to the devs for another iteration. > > I favor the second approach, especially as there are tools available > to help you and it is safer against reverse-engineering. Both of these approaches are going to involve a lot of overhead (the second more so that the first). I would _guess_ than approach 2 will add at least 50-100% overhead. IOW, there's a pretty good chance that writing the whole thing yourself would take less of your time than designing, specifying, coordinating, integrating, testing and managing approach 2. I've seen it happen more than once when somebody decided to outsource software development. The in-house hours spent specifying, testing, coordinating were more than it would have taken to just write the program in-house. I've seen than happen even when there were no language or timezone barriers. Throw in a 10-hour time difference and a language barrier, and it's a minor miracle if the project ever gets finished (even at twice the in-house cost of doing it). -- Grant (the other one)
