Go out and listen - learn from the kids!

Watching my uncle or dad or even some executive deal with new media and devices like mobile phones, DVD players, computers and PDAs I sometimes think: "Hey Bjoern, when are you gonna get slow? Are you already slow in using these things?" I don´t think so, but any kid on the street could already beat me in any Sony Playstation, Nintendo or xbox game - for sure. And they would probably be able to tell me the newest technical features these things have... Just to stay up to speed I bought a PSP a couple of months ago... ;-) They would also know which websites are being used by the new generation of internet junkies. The other day after a presentation in front of an MBA class in Switzerland, I talked to the professor... He told me that his two boys where getting to the age where they are ready to move out and he was already afraid of that, since he would lose his best informants.... His two sons were his best source to stay in touch with what the gaming market, collaboration websites or internet meeting places like myspace offer today to the 14 to 20 year olds. They are the IT Managers and developers of tomorrow and things are moving fast. So all you IT Managers out there: Go out and listen - learn from the kids!