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One of the last hot news that is triumphed all over the blogs is that now there’s a free iPhone unlocking app available for download for anyone. People in US can buy an iPhone from AT&T, remove the SIM-lock, and use the phone also with other GSM networks like t-mobile etc.

I’m pretty sure I  know what Apple will do now. They will release iTunes *.0.1.2 of whatever, which will effectively update your iPhone in a way that the SIM-unlocker wont work anymore. Then we will see another (updated!) version of the unlocking app, and yet another iPhone firmware update from apple. And so on, and so on… Of course, some people say they will not update their iPhones, but eventually I’m sure they will be forced to do that - simply because at some point there will be some security patches or cool features that they _definitely_ want to have.

The single fact that is helping apple on this crusade is the nature of things - things change. Constantly.

And one of the funnies places to observe that crucial law of things are web projects. I’ve managed tens of various (large and small) web projects by now, and in many cases I can see exactly the same symptoms -  client wants to make a project X by deadline Y. After that, client wants the project to be “done” (permanently)  and we should just install it on the server and “let it live & grow”.

What most non-IT people doesn’t realize however, is that in IT just like everywhere else - things are changing. OS systems get updated. Programming languages as well. With critical fixes - so you just HAVE to make the update - even  if it effectively mean breaking your web app. Or with major version  releases, and abandonment of older version (like PHP4 being not supported by PHP community anymore). This means a constant flow of work  for IT people and a headache for clients - but hey, thats the nature of things as well

If you build a web application you can be sure of one thing. It will change. Updates will appear to the whole surrounding IT environment and you get forced to update it. Some additional expertise might be needed (read: costs). Its never the case that you just build it and its “done”. And the quicker you realize that, the less surprised you will be when you get yet another email from you ISP or IT team saying that “we need to update this and that” even when you thought that “that thing” is working just fine…

Today I’ve read an interesting blog entry from Ryan Carson in which he preach long-term outsourcing and building offshore teams rather than hiring freelancers on “fixed project” base.

As its usually the case with the blogs, what was even more interesting, was what various readers wrote as their comments to this post. Some were saying he shouldn’t trust his russian developers. Some other (UK freelancers) were saying that outsourcing his work to Russia was almost a national threat. Finally lots of people asked about communication issues etc. In short, as usual, everyone seems to be divided into those who fully agree and those who fully disagree.

I don’t want to comment on the fact that Ryan actually outsourced his work out of UK to some high quality Russian folks (although I think it was an excellent business decision), but I do want to add my bit on why hiring freelancers is not always a great idea.

Computer software and web 2.0 software especially is a complex thing. What more, its a thing that is constantly changing  - all the time. People tends to think that writing web software is like composing songs - its an act limited in time (an costs). You compose a song, then you are finished and you don’t have to go back t0 it. It’s done. Unfortunately, with today’s web applications it’s a different story - things CHANGE all the time. External APIs get updated, server-side libraries get updates, even the programming language versions progress and eventually expire (forcing you to update the  whole app). Building web applications is not like composing songs - it’s more like building house in a permanent storm. You do progress, and you can build something real - but you should be prepared for the never-ending stream of bug-fixing, updating, changing etc.

THAT is exactly the main reason why I think hiring freelancers isn’t the best way to build web business. Freelancers by the very definition of freelancing wants to get short-term jobs, contracts. They don’t want to stay with your company forever, and help you keep it all up and working. They want one-off job, and then they move to the next client. That’s why its millions time better to actually build a long-term team, to know that you have some people out there, someone who will work for you when you need them and not only when they need your money.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t actually matter if your team if off-site or in-house. What does matter that you have a team - and not just a bunch of freelancers. If you have money to spend on in-house team, or if you decided to try to build your team offshore - doesn’t really matter! (Although building offshore teams is a whole different story which I will comment on in a separated post quite soon).