Technology enables everyone to produce polished work. With little or no training, we can create shiny things. This means that on the surface, we can all look a lot like experts.

Two things worthy of consideration:

One, the minimum level of expected quality continues to ratchet upwards. Work that previously could have only been done by a production company can now be done from a kitchen table. There’s little excuse for clumsy work when beautiful templates and example programs are at our fingertips.

And two, surface quality does not guarantee actual quality. A slick chart does not necessarily show accurate data. A gorgeous video does not necessarily deliver sound advice. An engaging website does not necessarily have its foundation in facts.

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Polish is independent of expertise; it’s unwise to use polish as the lone metric for evaluating worth.