don't leave it to the experts (even if you are one) - tell us all about it

Patrick & I have been discussing doing "something" around the area of expertise for a couple of months now. There will be probably more than one "something" but we're starting with a narrative-based project.

What does this mean? Well, we want to collect your stories:

• Where you've had your expertise appreciated (or not).
• How you have seen organisations use well the expertise available to them (or not).
• How you have found accessing the expertise of others.

We want the highs, the lows, the agony, the ecstacy and the banality.

As the site indicates, we think the issues around expertise are critical for many organisations and yet they are not always well handled. Help us dig into this important area.

Find out more.
Add your own story.
Read the stories of others.

expert in what?

I picked up a copy of The Black Swan for AU$10 yesterday and rereading it, I came across a reference to the work of James Shanteau, in particular, this paper from 1992.

It's interesting because it suggests that the performance and reliability of experts is dependent on their field - we can't expect stock brokers to be as accurate as weather forecasters. It also means that we should be suspicious of those who claim expertise in "dynamic areas" - your mileage may vary...

What mass amateurisation means

I trained as librarian just as the internet hit the mass market a decade ago. Pre-browser, online searching was an arcane, expensive business. You needed to know the obscure syntaxes of a range of different databases. Identifying & then assembling information from different sources was a skilled task. Then all of a sudden there was Alta Vista, Yahoo & then Google. Not perfect but "good enough" for the masses. All of a sudden, everyone was an information scientist.

Something similar has happened in many fields. There used to be typing pools & presentation design teams. Now there is Word & Powerpoint. Many organisations are replacing experienced travel agents with online self-service tools. And with email & blogs, everyone is a communications professional.

Now this is a terrible threat for people like me. And a wonderful opportunity.

As the Powerpoint example indicates, just giving people the tools of skilled expert does not make them into an expert. However, most of the time, the results are "good enough" to justify the cost savings. And if the results aren't "good enough" - well, phone that designer mate of yours and find a way of smuggling his costs through on your Amex.

Increasingly, being a professional will be less about doing the work yourself (although that should never go away) and more about showing amateurs how to do it good themselves. In effect, we all have to become teachers. And this involves two things:

• Equipping them with the skills to use the tools they have to achieve the basic objectives they want.
• Ensuring their realise their limits and come to you for the complicated stuff - e.g. finding a local Mexican restaurant is not the same kind of information challenge as conducting patent application due diligence.

And if you are a bright, engaged professional then this is a good thing. You will stay on your toes, your customers will do the boring stuff for you and only ask you to do interesting work - and in doing so grow the market for that interesting work. Of course, if you want to stay doing the same thing for the next 30 years then you are in trouble.