A cautionary technology tale

I've been watching a documentary on HBO as I work today about the Theranos company and Elizabeth Holmes. It's an extreme example, but when scaled it's a common problem in technology. I've seen versions of this play out over and over with different companies in the technology sector.

The basic premise is that they over promised and under delivered. They did it in spectacular fashion, and put people's lives in danger with medical testing that should never have been released to the public. All in a desperate attempt to keep the initial story afloat that they could do blood testing with an amazingly small blood sample. Turns out they couldn't do it, even though they said they could.

As Infocomm approaches, we will begin to see big claims from companies about new products. People make fun of "buzz word bingo" but just wait for "game changer", "transformative", and the like to start coming in the email box describing whatever new thing people will be showing at Infocomm. But how many of us have also become jaded enough that we ask for release dates expecting 6 months or more, or to see a demo but it's not quite able to be demoed yet? And when something does ship, who among us will be daring enough to take the chance that it's fully baked? How many have gotten burned and become unpaid beta testers? How much money has been wasted spending many multiples of the number of hours that a job should have taken, because a product wasn't tested yet?

So as we go to Orlando in June, we need to be watchful. Don't be taken in by the flashing lights and slick talk. Sometimes it pans out, but too often it doesn't. Watch your serial numbers on new products. If they are too low, you may have issues. Just protect yourself, and don't completely buy the hype.