Old tech is sexy too
My clients often find it odd when I don’t recommend the latest, greatest tech. I even had one person tell me “I thought we hired you to tell us how to implement Web 2.0?” I’d try to explain my reasons why I suggest the right solution, which isn’t always the most geeky solution, but Jon did a much better job!
The web is clearly evolving, and when I’m thinking like a futurist, I can go on about virtual worlds, ambient intelligence, ubiquitous computing, digital lifestyle aggregation, 3space, Identity 2.0, accelerated web application development and issues of software as a service, specialized devices, increased mobility, evolution of presence, etc. There’s a lot to think about, and we’re thinking about it every day.
But not every minute.
In fact, when thinking as a strategist and consultant, especially for organizations that might have monetary or other constraints, I’m far more conservative. I focus on technologies that are well-established, usable, and unlikely to go away (though they may be changing somewhat). Email is a good example: lately I’m hearing that email is considered old school by SMSing young ‘uns, and the implication is that email will in fact go away. I chuckle (or groan) at this fantasy as I try to key text messages longer than a sentence. Yes, SMS is useful, but it’s not ideal transport for long-form messaging; to replace email, SMS will have to become so much like email that you won’t know the difference.
Nice post! It’s true that the latest tech is not always the greatest tech or the best solution. Just look at the UPS whiteboard commercials, for example. A simple, direct and elegant way to communicate using a marker. Brilliant! We become seduced by the shiny and new. We get criticized if we don’t know the latest application or respond to twitter in 4 seconds. Meanwhile, most of us in the big, wide world are just trying to keep up with our emails and phone messages and get to the meeting on time. Need to take a breath and apply some critical thinking to our solutions. The best fit is the one that works.