Some Experiences in Developing Security Technology That Actually Gets Used
Researchers do research for all kinds of reasons – because we want to learn more about the subject matter, because we like working with the other people who do research, or the places where research is done, or just like the research process. Or perhaps because we want to figure out what makes something work, or to solve a problem. Many reasons exist, each just as valid as any other. In my own work, a few years ago, I noticed that I was gradually shifting toward wanting to do something that other people used and found useful. At the same time, though I didn’t really notice it until much later, successfully making that change was much harder than I thought it would be at the outset. “Just pick a practical problem that other people need solved, and solve it, right?” The ability to just pick a practical problem and charge in has definitely not been true, at least for me.