Good, Better, Best

I enjoy reading Rand in Repose. I find his technique of placing people on a continuum very helpful. It describes the analog, complicated way that humans behave. Oddly, a lot of life's decisions fall on a continuum.

We call this weighing the pros and cons. You've probably done this before... Draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper. On one side goes all of the reasons for the decision. The other side has all of the reasons against. This works well for about two minutes. Invariably, one reason shows up on both sides!

The pro/con list digitally describes the problem. Every thought falls on one side or the other. Problem is, life's analog - not digital. Your problem falls somewhere in between the extremes of all the pros and all the cons. A reason ends up on both sides because the issue lands squarely in the middle of that continuum.

Looking At Technology

So what measures do we look at for technology? The first continuum is usefulness. How well does the technology solve your problem? For example, I don't want to waste 30 minutes driving to and from the bank just to transfer money between accounts. On a scale of 0 to 100, the bank's web application receives a 90 (solves the problem). Pretty easy, isn't it?

0----1----2----3----4----5----6----7----8----9---100
                                    ----->  *

Next we look at popularity. Popular technologies have a lot of support. And their support lasts. You don't worry about it becoming obsolete in six months. In our example, the web application falls in the 90's.

0----1----2----3----4----5----6----7----8----9---100
                                      ----->  *

Last but not least, we measure freedom. Where does this technology leave me in five years? What happens when the company goes bankrupt? Our banking application plummets into the teens.

0----1----2----3----4----5----6----7----8----9---100
      *  <----- 

What!? The teens! Why? Online bill pay is cool. It saves me time. And if the bank drops it, I'm going to spend a day or two cleaning up the mess. They locked me into their service. Don't worry - no diatribes about free versus closed software. It is what it is.

Pulling It Together

Is this bank's web application a good technology? Wrong question. I really need to know, is the web application better than the alternatives?

0----1----2----3----4----5----6----7----8----9---100
                                    ----->  *
0----1----2----3----4----5----6----7----8----9---100
                                      ----->  *
0----1----2----3----4----5----6----7----8----9---100
      *  <----- 

In an ideal world, I would use a technology that scores high on all three scales. In the real world, the web application comes out fairly well. It certainly comes out higher than the alternative - driving to the bank.

I can accept the low freedom score because of the chance of it biting me is low. Good thing banks don't fail (dripping sarcasm intended).