A topic we talked about with Peter on his recent visit (see below) and I want to make note of…He criticized how companies like Schwab would contract companies like Razorfish to create their web UI. His main point was that it’s ridiculously inefficient to draw this line between server-side programmers, project managers, et al at Schwab and the project managers, info architects, designers et al at RF, which could be located 3000 miles away, instead of hiring those people at Schwab at keeping them a few cubicles away.
I countered that constructing web UIs is not Schwab’s core business, and that we at RF can leverage experience from building many web sites. Peter said it _is_ their core business now, since the interface is now so important to their business model. Others pointed out that finding talent in the web design field is hard even for fun, hip, profitable companies, and not many folks would leap at a job working at Schwab alongside those wild and crazy Mutual Fund managers.
It’s an interesting question – where a company draws the line between building internal competencies and outsourcing. In this case, I think the issue is not just competencies, it’s culture. Company policies and atmosphere designed to please that 45 yr old fund manger with a Lexus and two kids in the suburbs are not the same policies and atmosphere that please the 22 yr old designer with a love for the club scene and her first apt.
I just now connected this idea with the internal situation at Razorfish. We started off a badass creative firm that didn’t bother with anything more technically sophisticated than the occasional database-backed site or the accompanying strategy. Now we’ve buffed out both those strengths pretty well, and in the process we’ve grown up and acquired some of those 45 yr olds with kids and Lexi. So far so good, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens over time. I think we’ll have to make a more concerted effort to keep pushing the creative envelope.