| In most cases you're well served by making sure: a) You have a reasonably-sized developer team b) They document and test their code c) No single developer 'owns' any part of the code That should ensure that your developer team's "bus number" is reasonably high. Finally: d) You treat them at least well enough that you're not in danger of the entire team quitting at once. That said, it can still be useful for many reasons if they base their work on F/OSS code (languages, libraries, tools, frameworks, etc.) that has a reasonably-sized community around it. But if the developers you hire are good that is very likely to happen naturally. There are always circumstances where writing your own may make sense in the short-term, but unless it has something to do with your business' core-competencies, or otherwise leads to a sustainable business advantage, you're usually well advised not to bother. |