Reality checks and balances: even the most technically appealing products can end up as dead ends. To avoid that, you need to stay tuned to market realities. (The Business of Technology).(Column)

Enterprise Systems Journal, November, 2001 by Wonnacott, Laura

As IT leaders, I'm guessing that you've seen a few of these things in your tenure on the job: Bad technology ideas, good ideas that were poorly marketed, products that should've made it but didn't and products you wish you'd never bought.

There's no doubt that our industry comes up with some real show-stoppers, both good and bad--and manages to do so in rapid succession. The question is: How could you have avoided the money-wasting dead ends? And how could you have guessed earlier when it was time to jump on some of the really good stuff that has surfaced in the last 10 years?

In many cases, as with products and ideas like OS/2 or WAIS (Wide Area Internet Search), a failure isn't an indictment of the technology or product itself. Many were very good,...