Technical Advise Week #6 - Label

Hi, this is Max... and now it's my turn to give my two kibbles and one bit of advise. Mabel is such a fashion Pug (I would have said hound but she would have been upset with my labeling of her as such). Everything she buys, and in some sense everything she does professionally involves a label. Whether it's food, a new collar, or even a piece of consulting advise she seeks out and buys the 'big name' label. Recently we had a massive debate over whether the 'big name' bought anything of value. It is her contention that with name comes credibility, and although you pay more, you get the added comfort knowing that there is a chance that the results will live up to the expectations. As I pointed out, she has had on more than one occasion, the unfortunate experience of paying a high price with expectations and not having them fulfilled. Sure, in the long run she got satisfaction but what she isn't seeing is the time and effort that she is expending to make the wrong right. I probably would be stupid enough to point this out at some point, but I am half anticipating that she will say the same could hold true for more mainstream offerings, and when this happens the ratio of cost to remediation effort will be higher. For that reason, I will be a nice little pug and keep my black furry lips tightly closed. The only point that I can share with you that 'buying safe' isn't really safe, and that this narrow approach comes with a narrowing of options and opportunities. On the same hand, buying cheap isn't the way to go either. As I remember dad saying on more than one occasion, "too much of anything is not good". Since we as a family (and as professional technologists) delivery quality services, we have in many cases served the label companies in training their employees, setting the tone in the industry, and constantly pursuing improvements to the things we do. Label or not, we may face opportunities that we are not going win (and possibly don't have the bandwidth to support), but there will be those opportunities where we will win and be successful on behalf of our customers. Until next week... I bid you peace! - Max (and Mabel)