Twisted Quiz: Engineers vs. marketeers
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What happens when you get a group of telco industry folk into a game show setting? The answer is, a lot less frantic screaming but a far greater likelihood of legal action. Throw in the historic disrespect between engineers and marketers and you know you're in for a fiery slice of entertainment.
So how did Twisted Wire suddenly change into a game show, albeit for just one episode? Well we have Hugh Bradlow, Telstra's chief technology officer, to thank for this.
He listens to Twisted Wire on his early morning walk with his dog. Several weeks ago he took exception to a remark from Skype's Dan Neary that it was the quality of ISP connectivity that influenced the reliability of VoIP calls, rather than the fact that the call was being carried across the public internet. He suggested, on Telstra's "Now We Are Talking" blog, that if I want the truth "speak to an engineer".
So in the interest of science I wanted to double check that, for accurate information, engineers are a more reliable source than marketers. The easiest way of doing this, in a moderately entertaining way, was through the proven scientific method of holding a game show.
It's under this pretence that we staged this week's Twisted Quiz, featuring:
The Engineers:
- Hugh "let me cheat" Bradlow, chief technology officer at Telstra
- Greg "can't remember yesterday" Bader, chief technology officer at iiNet
The Marketeers:
- Tom "serial bus" McQueen, head of new media at Internode
- John "wild arsed guess" Filmer, former marketing director at Personal Broadband Australia. He was also director of the enterprise division at Optus.
The quiz is in five rounds:
- Engineering questions for marketers
- Marketing questions for engineers
- Engineering questions for engineers
- Marketing questions for marketers
- General telco industry knowledge
Listen to the end for the ultimate outcome of an often asked question — who are smartest, marketers or engineers? The winner, of course, is the harmonious relationship we build between both disciplines and between the industries staunchest competitors. It's a beautiful thing.
Was it a fair result? Add your thoughts in the Talkback section at the end of this post.