I get that outsourcing doesn’t work for core competencies but why does outsourcing not work for operationally unimportant activities? Basically I’m confused by the bottom-left quadrant.
See [2] > Also I guess technically you could outsource work which is neither a core competency nor operationally important, but you should probably just not be doing that work at all.
Yeah, this is what footnote 2 was trying to explain.
I was considering marking that quadrant some third color to indicate that you should just not do those things, but thought that would overcomplicate the message of “only outsource the bottom right quadrant”. Peter’s comment that this is confusing is helpful feedback that maybe that was the wrong call – thanks!
What’s an example of something that is a core competency yet operationally unimportant (the top-left grid)? I’m starting to think the entire operational importance axis isn’t needed.
An example is something like “having a CEO who is considered a prestigious thought leader in their field.” The day-to-day operations of the business aren’t really impacted by this, but it’s also not something you can really outsource.
(That being said, maybe it would have been a lot simpler and almost as correct to just leave this axis off, like you suggest.)
I get that outsourcing doesn’t work for core competencies but why does outsourcing not work for operationally unimportant activities? Basically I’m confused by the bottom-left quadrant.
See [2]
> Also I guess technically you could outsource work which is neither a core competency nor operationally important, but you should probably just not be doing that work at all.
Yeah, this is what footnote 2 was trying to explain.
I was considering marking that quadrant some third color to indicate that you should just not do those things, but thought that would overcomplicate the message of “only outsource the bottom right quadrant”. Peter’s comment that this is confusing is helpful feedback that maybe that was the wrong call – thanks!
What’s an example of something that is a core competency yet operationally unimportant (the top-left grid)? I’m starting to think the entire operational importance axis isn’t needed.
An example is something like “having a CEO who is considered a prestigious thought leader in their field.” The day-to-day operations of the business aren’t really impacted by this, but it’s also not something you can really outsource.
(That being said, maybe it would have been a lot simpler and almost as correct to just leave this axis off, like you suggest.)
Ah ok that makes sense