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Remember that a few weeks ago, we talked about the 7th Language and Technology Conference organized by IMTT in Córdoba? Here is a special invite from me:

There will be four of us there: myself, Wandrianne, Iván and Cassius, whose Project Management workshop is filling up quickly.

There will be plenty of opportunities to meet people during the GALA speed networking session, coffee breaks, and the welcome reception cocktail. If you want to be part of this exciting event, make sure you register right now as it starts this Saturday.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Have you heard of the Gartner Magic Quadrant? Neither had I until I stumbled upon one of these on the Internet. It looks like a radar screen with all of the airplanes about to crash into each other. But it is in fact a proprietary tool created by Gartner, Inc. that is used to rate certain companies and products. Gartner is a technology research and advisory company based in Stamford, Connecticut. They have clients in over 85 countries and have been around since 1979.

The magic quadrant is a chart that displays the ratings of various competitors within a product group. It rates the product’s company based on its completeness of vision and its ability to execute. Then, based on these two criteria, they group businesses into one of four groups.

• Leaders
• Challengers
• Visionaries
• Niche players

Leaders are companies that scored high in both categories; in other words, they completed their vision and have an excellent ability to execute. Challengers score high on their ability to execute but lower on the completeness of their vision. Visionaries (you guessed it) score high on the completeness of their vision but low on their ability to execute. Lastly, niche players score low in both areas.

Ok, so let’s take a look at a sample Quadrant.

As you can see, companies in the upper right are scored the highest and companies in the lower left are scored the lowest.

These sample images came straight from the Gartner website where you can find more information and explanation about how the Quadrant works.

The Quadrant is updated every few years and the criteria are also updated based on market changes and demands. Companies can be included or excluded from the Quadrant based on their relevance in the market.

What’s the magic? Well, that’s just it. Gartner will not disclose its methodology to determine a company’s component scores and how it achieves its ranking in the Magic Quadrant. However, this lack of disclosure, in addition to the secrecy about the funding Gartner receives from the companies it rates, had led to public criticism about the accuracy of these quadrants.

Nevertheless, the Magic Quadrants are used by various media and consumers in order to rate companies, products and make buying decisions. A real sample of a Gartner Magic Quadrant can be seen below.