From: Jan van Hoek (NL) 

>> it forces me to depend on people
>> who might not know enough themselves

You wrote my job description in just a single sentence);-))

How often do I not receive proposals that give rise to the feeling (I don't
know how this "feeling" works, so please don't ask) that what
they are offering cannot possibly work, or that the quoted price is overly
excessive and that a cheaper solution is overlooked (knowingly??).

The company where I work has a policy of outsourcing a lot of IT services
and systems. What you cannot outsource, however, is someone (that's me!)
ploughing through all that nonsense that vendors produce some of the time,
in the hope that noone notices that they don't know their stuff all too
well. And once they pushed their systems through your door, there is
usually no way back, short of loosing a lot of time and risking to miss
your deadlines.

The difference between you and me is that my boss pays me for this and
knows that this job is a necessity. In your case this is not that clear.
Even if you know they don't know their stuff, there is no way in pointing
this out without risking a war (worst case) or to get stuck with someone
who won't help you next time (less worse case, but still bad).
--
-- Jan van Hoek (NL)
-- Sun 30 May 2004 10:00 CET

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