Never Outsource What You Don't Understand

Experts can be dangerous... not because they don't know what they are doing; but because you don't know when they don't know what they are doing. And if you are unable to notice this, then you will likely lose a lot of money...

Case in point, there was a recent neurobiology study on how the act of listening to "experts" actually makes your brain shut down!

In the study, Berns' team hooked 24 college students to brain scanners as they contemplated swapping a guaranteed payment for a chance at a higher lottery payout. Sometimes the students made the decision on their own. At other times they received written advice from Charles Noussair, an Emory University economist who advises the U.S. Federal Reserve... The advice was extremely conservative, often urging students to accept tiny guaranteed payouts rather than playing a lottery with great odds and a high payout. But students tended to follow his advice regardless of the situation, especially when it was bad. When thinking for themselves, students showed activity in their anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex — brain regions associated with making decisions and calculating probabilities. When given advice from Noussair, activity in those regions flat lined.

Woah... simply listening to "experts" makes your brain less able to calculate risks and make decisions... what's worse, the more counter-intuitive the advice, the less the brain functioned! This should be a wake-up-call to anybody who uses experts frequently...

To be clear, I use experts all the time... but I feel uneasy when I rely on experts. Yes, I understand electronics, auto repair, and accounting, but I still prefer to use outside experts because it saves me time. I never want to engage an outside expert on something I don't understand -- especially personal finance -- I prefer taking a crash course on it so I can easily spot those so-called "experts" who actually don't know what they are doing. Only after I gain that skill, do I feel comfortable listening to experts.

Well... isn't it a bit odd for me -- a software consultant -- to bash outsourcing? Not really... because I try hard to never approach projects with the attitude of an "expert." I prefer to approach it as an "educator." I try to help people understand the whole problem, the possible solutions, and potential risks. There is no "right way" to do software, there are only ways that in the past have helped us avoid failure... So my greatest skill is helping my clients avoid failure, but only with their knowledge and support will I be able to make them truly successful.

In contrast, an "expert" can only tell you what you want, and then give it to you... whether or not that is actually what you need.