How to you decide when is the right time to upgrade your gadgets? Do you have a trusted friend who you look to for advice on technology purchases? I'm talking about the kind of person who would help you make the right decision when it's time to upgrade your virus saturated computer or embarrassingly out of date living room computer.
Real World Example Last week, I was traveling with
Ro and met up with a client who has known Ro for a long time. This client considers Ro a trusted adviser on technology decisions related to her business since he lives and breathes this stuff, and knows her business well. While meeting with her this week, Ro happened to pull out his latest digital camera, the
Kodak V570 to take a few casual pictures. She asked him if that's the camera to buy these days. He said yes and explained why it's a great camera for the work she does. After what was literally a two to three minute conversation, she spun around in her desk chair and bought one from Amazon.com.
Admittedly, a lot had to come together to generate such a spontaneous purchase. She happened to be in the market for a new camera at the time and the trust between the two has been built up over years and years. However, it was still somewhat surprising to me to see someone drop $320 on a camera she hadn't seen or heard of only minutes before. Do I think she made a wise decision? Absolutely. I'm just shocked by how quickly she was able to make that decision.
She happens to be a very successful businessperson, and perhaps one of the reasons why is her ability to determine who to trust for business advice, then taking them at their word. Why waste time second guessing someone you've determined to be an expert?
Who are your advisers? Everyone reading this likely has similar relationships with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances from both perspectives. You could probably think of a handful of trusted technology advisers in a few seconds, and there are surely others who turn to you for advice on technology you understand better than them. Being a geek is entirely relative.
How do you figure out who to trust for technology advice? Do you do it based on personal relationships? A person's expertise with products that interest you? How do you determine whether they're advice is credible?
On the flip side, what do you do when asked for technology advice? Do you offer you best guidance? Do you hold back out of fear that you'll eventually
have to tech support the product you recommend? Are you risk averse when it comes to handy out technology advice, or do you evangelize your tech knowledge to anyone who'll listen?
Taking it to the Next Level If you've read this far, I'm going to assume that you see value in seeking out advice for technology purchases. If that's true, why not take it to the next level by formally recognizing those relationships in your own mind. Something like this should do the trick:
1. Write down the names of people you consider to be trusted technology advisers.
2. Below each name, list the types of tech decisions you'd trust each of your advisers with.
3. The next time you ask an adviser for help with a technology purchase, take them at their word. Make the purchase. Move on.
Imagine how much time you'll save that you previously would have spent learning way more about a variety of products than you'll ever really need to know. This allows you to get back to your core competencies faster. You know, the stuff you're paid to do.
