Methodology
How we build buyer’s guides
Tradecraft’s buyer’s guide methodology: how we choose categories, which vendors we include, why we never rank, and how we handle our owner’s conflict of interest.
What a Tradecraft buyer’s guide is
A buyer’s guide explains the approaches in a product category, the criteria that separate good from bad for a given use, and the questions to put to every vendor. It is written for the practitioner who will run the evaluation.
What it is not
- Not a ranking. We don’t score, rate, rank or award products, and we don’t publish “best of” lists.
- Not a product test. We haven’t tested products unless a guide says so, with the method.
- Not sponsored. No vendor pays for inclusion, placement or wording.
Which vendors we list
A vendor is listed when it has a generally available product in the approach, documented publicly. Vendors are grouped by approach and listed in alphabetical order within each group. Claims about a product are included only when the vendor documents them publicly, and we attribute them. [EDITORIAL: finalize inclusion criteria before populating any landscape.]
Our conflict of interest
Our owner has a financial interest in Glide Identity(owner interest: see disclosure), an authentication vendor. Every buyer’s guide carries that disclosure, whether or not Glide Identity appears in it. When it does, it is listed under the same criteria as every other vendor, and it has no role in writing or reviewing the guide. See ownership and funding.
Updates and corrections
Guides are reviewed at least [REVIEW CADENCE]. Vendors can send corrections to [CORRECTIONS EMAIL]; we log every change in the guide’s changelog.