I am so tired of FUD

Recently, there has been a raise of FUD in the blogosphere. In the beginning of the discussion of Dominic and Alan, I just laughed. I welcome any health discussion of technology.

But then they started to bring out the guns. Accusations and rocks (imaginary ones) flew, and soon thereafter more bloggers jumped in. When it all burned out, the outcome was as every time - they are both wrong, and they are both right. And they have areas of disagreement. Nothing new at all. 

--- 

I used to work as a whore. A product whore. I went out there, lifted the rocks and preached the (current) truth. The truth of whatever vendor paid my bills. Never caring about what the client actually needed, or what would fit in the existing infrastructure. The all important matter was to sell sell sell.

And I admit, sometimes most of the sales information you got from the vendor where FUD. Even if the vendor did not give me FUD to feed the client, there where always enough information around to create the FUD myself. 

At some point I met myself in the door, and had to choose between actually helping the client, or helping the vendor to sell.

Needless to say, I did quit the selling. 

So when I read Dave Lewis ranting about vendor bullshit and FUD, I relate to it in more ways than one. And I am so happy it is not me sitting there with a HALO-playing techie. Knowing I have moved on, and actually am adding value to my clients - and not only as a nice word in the marketing materials.  

I do not believe we have seen the end to FUD, but I do believe that if we try to focus on true value, innovation and the needs of the clients, we can reduce the amount of FUD to only apply to non-serious players. 

---

So Alan, Dominic, vendors out there -  technology changes, evolves and adopts all the time. It is not always easy to hang on to the changes, and follow all the new features and options and their impact. Especially when the competitor comes up with something different AND better.

To help the client choose the best tool, you do yourself a favor by focusing on the relevant issues and facts. Relevant for the client, that is.

When the FUD starts to surface, many clients do just like Dave. And some call me.

And I am on their side now.