{"id":1295,"date":"2009-04-08T11:11:05","date_gmt":"2009-04-08T17:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/?p=1295"},"modified":"2009-04-08T14:26:36","modified_gmt":"2009-04-08T20:26:36","slug":"who-are-your-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/2009\/04\/who-are-your-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are your experts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

People like to get advice when they’re working on something they’re not too sure about that could easily blow up in their face. \u00a0When my lovely wife is trying out a new-to-us, Classic Family Recipe, she calls her mom (which I’m pretty sure her mom loves).<\/p>\n

Now, if she times it right (or, to be honest, wrong), she’s going to get a lot more advice than just her mom’s. \u00a0I remember one call in which she asked about cooking a proper New York strip steak and ended up with her uncle on the line, giving her a ten minute coaching session on how to cut the thing once it was cooked. One of her sisters will remind her not to leave the gas stove burning all night (a: we have an electric, b: we’re not actually stumbling morons), another sister will suggest she just go out to eat. \u00a0It’s charming, and familial, but it’s not necessarily all useful, you know?<\/p>\n

But how to do we know what the crap advice is? \u00a0Kate’s mom happens to be a good cook – we know this because we’ve eaten her food – but if she were just “ktsmom113@yahoo.com”, posting her suggestions in a forum, how much credence should we give her?<\/p>\n

Not… you know… a lot. \u00a0Unless the advice itself is good.<\/p>\n

“But… Doyce?” I pretend you are asking, “How do we know if the advice is good? If we knew enough about the subject to tell the good from the bad, we wouldn’t need the advice.”<\/p>\n

That’s a fair point, pretend-you-in-my-head; well said. \u00a0 It’s a tricky situation, and it’s not as though you can just look at what the person has done or not done in their life to determine if they’re a qualified expert. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Kate’s mom has a degree in chemistry, not culinary arts. \u00a0I have a friend, De<\/a> (hi, De!), who gives me wonderful (and harsh, and uncompromising, and brutally honest) writing advice (which I take! I really do! \u00a0It just takes me a few days to agree…); but she hasn’t published a book any more than I<\/em><\/strong> have (to which I’ll add “yet” to placate both our egos) – where does she get off giving me advice on writing, and what turnip truck did I fall off that I’d listen<\/em> to her? (The answer is: because she knows writing, and her advice makes my story better. Duh.) \u00a0I have another friend who happens to be a very successful author, but I’d never take her advice on finding an agent (for example), because it would probably amount to “while in college, meet someone who will eventually become an agent, stay friends with them while you both learn your respective trades, then have them represent you”, because that’s what she did.<\/p>\n

\"Good
Good karate teacher. Crappy investment analyst.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s confusing, so how do you check?<\/p>\n