I like your house analogy a lot. I’d like to add one more point that experts and hired help are likely to point out problems you would have never noticed, but now that you know them, you ought to fix it.

An example: my friend hired outside help to clean his house, and they noticed his crystal chandelier was cloudy. He never cared about it before, but now that he knew it was a problem, it annoyed him so much he had to pay to get it cleaned.

1.) Is this our core competency?
2.) If this is not, are we doing it at low cost?
3.) If it is not low cost, is it differentiated enough to provide a competitive advantage?

A common mistake people make is to underestimate the work effort that will have to be outsourced. And then when the outsourcer presents the bill with the real work effort they find that it was cheaper to do it inhouse.

The analogy I can think of is that you outsource the cleaning of your home and the outsourcer is assuming that “home” is your living area and quotes a price which is low. And then when the shoes drop with your expectation that you will need to clean the kitchen, bedroom etc, you can’t back out and you will find that doing it inhouse was much cheaper. And if you did not want to clean the house anyway, the cost probably does not matter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?ex=1366344000&en=7bedb195c932de3d&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

The author strongly suggests growing just a few things (herbs, vegetables) on your own for several reasons: reforging a connection with the environment, understanding where food comes from, tastiness, and the sheer sense of accomplishment when you finish cooking a meal you grew yourself. Even if it’s one small salad from a planter sized garden in your apartment.

I thought it especially appropriate as a response to Presh’s comment that he’s not ready to milk cows or harvest grains. I agree both grains and livestock require expertise I’m willing to pay for in the grocery store, but if you’re making your own pizza dough, that’s already more involved in making your own food than many folks make time for these days.

Milena: This is a funny coincidence. I avoid judging what is important or needed for others, and I hope the experience works out for you.

I know there are many gains to specializing on labor–the idea of comparative advantage. I like to be self-reliant, but I am certainly not ready to milk cows and harvest grains…

RohoMech: Good point. If a task is hard to communicate, then it would be hard to outsource. I find tasks with many details depend on preferences, which are very hard to specify.