I’m not techie, the weasel words of the lazy?

  • Would you buy a car if you didn’t know what the wheels where for?
  • Would you build a bridge if you don’t know what the supports where for?
  • Would you eat chicken if you didn’t know why it needed to be heated up?
    We would never dream - I hope - of hiding behind “I don’t know” for these questions, but all too often the when talking about even the simplest of concepts for a website we hear ‘I’m not techie’.

Now I don’t think you need to understand in insides of the HTTP protocol in-order to understand a website, but

  • Content, you know the words, and what they are for?
  • The need for something to search the site?
  • Why for example you might want someone’s postcode to find their house.
    These are not complex concepts, and really you should understand some of them before you go around making decisions about sites.

The reality is “I’m not techie” is a get out statement, it’s another way of saying – “I don’t know I haven’t thought about that”.

Quite often when we have discussions with people about websites we cover a lot of areas, and ask questions about just how the thing might work for people. More often than not people haven’t thought that deeply about a site – “I’m not techie” is a get out clause for people. It’s says “I don’t know” without saying “I don’t know”, and what’s more it say’s “I don’t know, and it’s unreasonable for you to expect me to know”

Which is the problem with the statement, because you haven’t actually said “I don’t know”, and because that’s my fault not yours - it means you can carry on espousing your options and views without feeling like you are now out of your depth.

Except that’s wrong, not ifs or buts, it’s wrong. Because it’s irresponsible of you to enter into the conversation with professionals in any area and not listen to their views and be willing to understand the most basic principles of what they are trying to tell you. It results not only in completely the wrong solution to your problem; it wastes everybody’s time, and quite a lot of money.

So what you gonna do?

Well that’s the big question I don’t have an answer to – what is my comeback to “I’m not techie” ?