cover image OUTSOURCE: Competing in the Global Productivity Race

OUTSOURCE: Competing in the Global Productivity Race

Edward Yourdon, . . Addison-Wesley, $27.99 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-13-147571-7

In 1992, Yourdon published Decline and Fall of the American Programmer , which predicted that U.S.-based coders would "suffer the fate of the do-do bird" as firms shifted jobs from American workers to those overseas in order to take advantage of lower pay scales and less labor regulation; following the high-flying late '90s, that prediction has proved correct for many kinds of programming. A lifetime IT veteran, Yourdon has spent the last decade on the board of directors of a U.S.-based outsourcing firm and its Indian subsidiary, and the result is this insider's look at "knowledge-based" industries: the computer industry, as well as other "back office" operations like mortgage application processing or legal services. Refreshingly, the book is explicitly not designed for managers of any kind, but rather to give employees a sense of trends and context when deciding how to move within their own industries and how to "advise their children what careers and professions they should follow." Yourdon is not an economist, but his praxis-based evaluations, bolstered by reports over the last few years culled from the business press, feel carefully digested and are clearly presented in an affable voice. (Oct.)

Forecast : While not sanguine about what's coming for American knowledge workers, Yourdon has their best interests at heart, making this a rare business book indeed—look for strong word-of-mouth sales.