I'm an SD Times (SD = Software Development) reader and enjoy editor Alan Zeichick's perspective and links. In his current newsletter, he wrote an analysis of Ray Lane's presentation at the recent New Software Industry 2007 conference that you can read at http://www.sdtimes.com/article/LatestNews-20070501-06.html. Even though the content isn't particularly related to outsourcing, you may want to take a quick look.

Better yet, you can download presentation slides from other presenters as well from http://west.cmu.edu/sofcon/postcon. I found Messerschmidt's particularly interesting. Here's the lineup:

New Software Industry 2007 Conference, Postcon Presentation Slides

Ray Lane
The Personal Enterprise
Mr Cardboard

Michael Cusumano
The Changing Business of Software

Paul Maglio
Steps Toward a Science of Service Systems

John Zysman
The New Logic of Value Creation: Services, Networks and Competition

Timothy Chou
To Infinity and Beyond

Craig Mundie
Long Cycle Research Opportunities

Adam Blum
Although no slides were used, you can visit Adam's blog at http://morails.com.

Shelley Evenson
Designing Service Systems

Bob Glushko
Bridging the "Front Stage" and "Back Stage" in Service System Design

David Messerschmitt
Call for More Collective Action in the New Software Industry

I just listened to an hourlong Microsoft Webcast that featured compeitive intelligence guru Leonard Fuld, and it occurred to me that CI is something it might pay to outsource. Clearly, you'd have to pick your service provider carefully (you might even hire a local student to do it). I wonder how many folks have considered this...

Here are some resources:
Webcast replay on demand info - http://www.microsoft.com/events/webcasts/ondemand.mspx
Fuld's site - http://www.fuld.com
Competitive Intelligence - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_intelligence
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis
Previous KW post on CI, including a link to a review of Fuld's book - http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/archive/food_for_thought_in_the_may_issue_of_cio_insight.html

Excellent article by Heather Hayes on trends in federal procurement - especially regarding certifications - in the 2/12/07 issue of Washington Technology. The article includes a good sidebar that defines CMMI, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 20,000-1:2005, ANSI 748. EVM, ITIL, along with six sigma and lean that sourcingmag.com readers will be familiar with.

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/print/22_02/30114-1.html

Sourcingmag's own glossary at http://www.sourcingmag.com/dictionary/glossary.asp covers some of these terms. You can also learn more about the value of certifications in outsourcing in this Sourcingmag.com blog posting: http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/archive/the_value_of_certifications_in_outsourcing.html.

I'm the kind of person who likes to think about trends, and one of the ways I do this is by skimming advertisements. A rather large display ad in the 2/22/07 Financial Times described CompassConnections' search for a UK-based CEO that would lead the Mumbai-based outsourcing firm in its growing BPO practice. CompassConnections' site itself only lists jobs for Mumbai-based staff, but it seems to be an up-and-coming firm.

In case some of you, like me, missed the 12/06 announcement from China's Ministry of Commerce about its plans to develop 10 outsourcing "base cities" by 2010, you can read short articles about the announcement from Chinese, Indian, and European perspectives at these URLs:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-12/11/content_5468312.htm
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/dec/11bpo1.htm
http://www.europeanleaders.net/learninggroups/global-sourcing/global-sourcing-news/42694/