I have been waiting for a couple of years to write on this topic, but there were always other topics that gained priority and only at SQLSaturday Cambridge where I did a part of the Keynote, did I dedicated some time to this topic.
Given the vocal response from the attendees during the event and on the social media, I decided to publish
This is all about the MBD – Marketing B* Distance. I will decide you to pick the meaning for the B letter yourself, being confident that the reader of these thoughts understand the context and the idea of what I am trying to achieve here.
MBD
I can directly speak from the 1990s when I was already working in the IT industry. There was always a gap between marketing promise and the real quality & characteristic of a sold product, but steadily it has started to grow apart. The speed of the separation of the marketing promises and the tech reality is worrying and starting to become terrifying – in so many conversations people do not understand what they say, in reality spreading nothing else but lies.
Here is the graphic about the MBD – Marketing B* Distance that I have created:
I do not pretend to be right on the amounts of misinformation in the proportion, but it is totally about the idea where the the current trend is going. Forget the 90s with the DotCom boom, ignore the GDPR ! Look 20 years back and the promises given to the final clients had some relation with the reality where in the last decade the marketing speech started to become totally disconnected from the reality. While previously the sales talk was about characteristics of the concrete product, in the modern times there are just buzz words after buzz words, and should you care enough to point on the lack of the meaning of what is being said – a typical reaction is a frontal denial of the event.
“We have here a product with ML moving the cars and AI disrupting the blockchain industry” – that sounds pretty much rubbish! (the real product is 4 pages C program dealing with a couple of IFs and using Logging)
Remembering reality distortion field, I have got to say, it is rather unsurprising that this phrase has inspired a whole generation of irresponsibility.
Enough!
Enough of the stupid unfulfillable promises!
Enough of saying things, such as AI, ML, etc that you do not even understand. Just because you worked in the same company – changing position does not make you an expert in the respective field. Your previous experience might be totally irrelevant!
Enough repeating what others said! If you truly do not know what it is and where it leads – just listen and learn before speaking.
Do not even think of selling flying pigs, even the pigs themselves are not interested in getting to fly!
Do not present on the topic you have no experience at, unless you clearly and repeatedly and consequentially make sure that everyone listening to you – understand your level of knowledge and experience.
Do not try to create bigger lies because your competitors do. Think about what happens when the client finds out that your product does not work as advertised …
I have a DISRUPTIVE idea – start being honest. Learn the product of your company and sell it to people who need it, not to someone you can simply fool.
Try to grow up and be a responsible adult who tells things that are as close as possible to the truth.
You might even like it and who knows – enjoy it, and maybe, MAYBE – one day you might be able to look into the mirror and truly be an honest person.
