Four Things that Make Triple Blind Testing Different

First, we focus on the areas of high technology which are the most likely to be in dispute -- the hardware-software interfaces, where the rubber meets the road. Every high tech user and every high tech company knows that sinking feeling when the hardware people are blaming the software people and software people are blaming the hardware people -- or both are claiming that nothing is wrong but the product does not work.

Second, we focus on measurable, demonstrable results and not on the fanciest claims. One serious problem in high tech development and high tech purchasing is that it changes so fast that academic credentials can be virtually meaningless. By the time a reputable institution can develop a program and certify graduates, masters or doctorates in a specific technology, that technology is usually out of date or has changed completely during the period the students/graduates were learning.

Third, we are structured in such a way that experts with practical experience can only provide reproducible data and not opinions or prejudices. They can also provide this information without visibly taking a position in the marketplace. Therefore an engineer can help prove what products can do, and not be barred from working for manufacturers or consumer agencies in the future because they supported "the wrong side". This in turn means that we can recruit absolutely top talent without asking them to sacrifice their careers.

Fourth, all team members subscribe to the policy that consumers and manufacturers/designers both benefit when it is possible to tell whether products actually do what they claim to do. By continually proving as clearly as possible the answer to the simple question "Does it really (do that)?", we help focus consumer attention and manufacturer attention on real functional difference in products. This works for the manufacturer who makes a better product that costs more AND for the manufacturer who makes a product "just as good" for less money. The consumer who can't tell which product is really "better" or if a product is really "just as good" can't really choose the right product, and may in fact drive both products out of the market by buying something they don't actually want.