Here's my check-list based on personal experience: 1. Is it road-tested for a few years at least? Unless you are in R&D or a high-risk start-up, don't voluntee

Here's my check-list based on personal experience: 1. Is it road-tested for a few years at least? Unless you are in R&D or a high-risk start-up, don't volunteer to be a guinea pig. 5 years is my rule of thumb. 2. Are there successes in similar organizations? One size does NOT fit all. Make sure it's useful in your particular organization in terms of domain (subject matter), culture, and company size. 3. Do the benefits over-emphasize a few narrow factors while ignoring others? There's rarely a free lunch; most decisions are balancing various trade-offs. There are probably down-sides that vendors or fans don't want you to know about or failed to notice due to enthusiasm bias. 4. Does it over-extrapolate current trends? For example, just because more UI's are going mobile does not mean every business is throwing out their mouse and big monitors. You may be limiting yourself by trying to make your UI's both mouse-friendly and finger-friendly even though most actual business users will be on a desktop. It's not always good to keep up with the Tech Kardashians; they are not always rational or timely. 5. Does it require a big learning curve or lots of prerequisites? If the new technology turns out to be mostly a fad instead of a real improvement, a long learning curve or expensive investments will drain your time and budget. Look for incremental improvements first. 6. Vague buzzwords or promises: Lack of specifics and realistic examples is a sign you are being had. 7. Experimenting is fine & recommended, but don't do it on production projects. If possible, introduce it to production gradually.