Subject Matter Experts

I was just reading "Why Social Software Makes for Poor Recommendations" by Chris Anderson, author of an interesting Wired article, "The Long Tail." He's turning that article in to a book. From the post I linked to...

...the music recommendations I actually follow are mostly from people I've never met, be they Rhapsody editors or MP3 blogs.  Same for virtually every other narrow category where I need advice; odds are that the real subject matter experts aren't anyone I know.

This struck a chord. First, I just bought an an album by Trespassers William based solely on a recommendation from Chrome Waves. I had never heard of Trespassers William, prior to reading about them. I don't know the guy that publishes Chrome Waves, but I know he he has great taste in music. This guy is a subject matter expert (SME). He knows his sh*t. I bought the album off of iTunes 15 seconds after I read his post. The fact that the album included a cover of Ride's "Vapour Trail" didn't hurt. Few of my friends, even the ones that have good taste in music, could spur me to pick up an album so fast. Thus, I could relate.

The real point of this, think about your job. Who are the SMEs in your department or on your project team? Are there any? Are you an SME? I have such a broad range of responsibilities, I'm not the SME I'd like to be all the time. I am resourceful, though, and I know who the SMEs are and how to get the information I need. And these SMEs I utilize, they don't work for my company. Just like I wouldn't rely solely on friends for music advice, you can't rely solely on your co-workers to get your job done.

I'm reinforcing the point I made yesterday about why blogging is so important. I can only relate to things within the scope of an IT shop, but if you are confined to your cube within the four walls of your office building, and you're not putting yourself out there, you are doomed.

Step one to recovery is to start reading blogs. Find the SMEs for your skill set. I only recently made it to step two, which is to start producing and engaging in the conversations. With 110 feeds in my newsreader, I reached an impasse recently. I read and I consumed, but I did this passively. I needed a bit of yin to that yang, thus the renewed drive to improve this site; to engage.

And Chrome Waves was right. This album is absolutely sublime.

np: Let You Down (Bonus Track) by Trespassers William