This rings true for my experience as well. And it also highlights the waste that occurs when a successful team finishes delivering and is immediately dispersed to the four winds, something that happens all too often.

I can’t remember where I read it, but I was reading an article about a company’s experience with outsourcing. One quote stood out.

“We outsourced all the profit, but none of the risk”

Out-sourced profits – The cornerstone of successful subcontracting

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e9da/f5cc1c94c6e34e29095ca1...

That's why companies end up requiring "extensions" over and over for consultants. I know people working for consultant firms that have been with the same client for more than 3 years.

Where to outsource is the right question. I could write a word processor, but my company just buys me Microsoft office. My company could buy the software I wrote from an outsourcer, but we consider it a competitive advantage to do it in house.

Buying a product is different than paying someone to make a product for you. Since your company is the only customer for that product there is no benefit in outsourcing it other than the ability to rent a developer (contracting might be a better option). Nobody else is going to buy that product.