Part of the challenge with being ‘technical’  (even for us Technical Generalists) is that there is always something new, or some new twist on something old, or some new possibility to consider.  I never feel as though I have mastered any “space” or “vertical” or “vector” because just as soon as I think I have something down cold, it changes.   Two months ago I could talk about Twitter and Tweeting and might have been talking like the adults in  Charlie Brown cartoon “Mwah Mwah Mwah Blah”.  Now Oprah is twittering and the technocenti are aghast that now Twitter might become the playground of ” soccer mom’s”.  Puh-lease.  For Oprah impact on Twitter go to this story on Mashable:  http://mashable.com/2009/04/21/oprah-impact-on-twitter/

For people who have been struggling out there to learn Flash Animation, there is a beta software-as-a-service (SAAS) model out, called Xtranormal.com – currently it is free to try, but will have a subscription.  Their tag is  “if you can type, you can make movies” … the interface is fairly intuitive and yes, I am addicted to making short movies with it (at least for the moment).  Do I need to know Flash? Nope.  Would I have a better movie if I did it from scratch with Flash, probably but it would take more time than I have to give it… this new generation tool allows me to get creative without having to spend the bandwidth to train first – so I sacrifice some quality in order to get instant gratification.

My point is, that if you focus your attention too long in one area, the rest of the picture will change dramatically.  The successful people I observe around me… they are masters (or mistresses) of being able to zoom in, sample, extrapolate, digest the concept, and zoom out again.  Speed readers with comprehension for technology or really for any growth area.  There will always be the need for total saturation experts in an area… but the need will be shorter in duration, because the “something else” occurs faster and faster as technology is evolving faster. 

Ready, set… Go!