Don’t Believe The Hype

Innovation Don’t Believe The Hype Sasson Jamshidi Brand Contributor ServiceNow BRANDVOICE Storytelling and expertise from marketers | Paid Program Sep 23, 2022, 10:56am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Technologies are created by and for people. It’s time to look at the human side of technology hype cycles. Developers and salespeople are united by our enthusiasm for novelty.

When a new technology emerges, it’s difficult to avoid getting swept up in the hype—so difficult, in fact, that Gartner has captured this phenomenon in a graph. The Gartner Hype Cycle models how the market (and its humans) behave when encountering the next big thing. A technical breakthrough triggers initial inflated expectations, and we ride the wave to an inevitable decline.

Computer 3d mesh of a woman in front of lines of binary code. See a darker version here: getty In my decades as a solutions architect, I’ve seen many teams embrace hype as part of the development process. But when we chase the high of new technology, we sever our connection to the people who might benefit from it.

The cost of hype It seems odd to worry about hype. After all, excitement fuels innovation. What about risk-taking? Failing fast? Moonshot projects? Google popularized the term “moonshot” to describe big, bold projects that are so ambitious they’re nearly science fiction.

Crucially, the expectation of failure is baked into this model. From day zero, teams openly discuss the possibility—even the expectation—that the project won’t work. And because of that, organizations don’t go all-in on these endeavors.

Rather, they invest marginal resources into time-bound experiments conducted by small teams. The cost of hype can be severe. I’ve seen developers raise valid concerns about a new product only to be shot down because the higher-ups can’t fathom the idea of failure.

By contrast, hype leaves no room for failure. Think about the hype cycles of our recent past. In the early days, articles about the blockchain were breathless with possibility.

The blockchain was supposed to revolutionize everything from commerce to dating to elections . Similarly, think pieces have made wild claims about how the metaverse will transform the way we work , socialize , do business , and relate to each other . Businesses have sunk millions into these hyped-up technologies.

But unless you’re a crypto enthusiast, there’s a good chance you don’t think about the blockchain very often, and consumers have thus far signaled their profound ambivalence about the metaverse. To be clear, moonshots and hype are not the only two options. I prefer to think of them as opposite ends of a spectrum.

Even teams that aren’t taking huge creative risks can talk openly about failure and use their resources with caution. In fact, research shows these teams are much happier and more productive than teams that run themselves ragged chasing hype. The cost of hype can be severe.

I’ve seen developers raise valid concerns about a new product only to be shot down because the higher-ups can’t fathom the idea of failure. Once a technology has failed to live up to its promise, burned-out and demoralized employees on these teams stop bringing their best ideas to work. Some even leave their jobs.

When companies make promises they can’t keep, customers quickly lose patience, leading to lost revenue and churn. Misused resources can lead to widespread layoffs. I think it’s important not to lose sight of the human cost as well.

Technology has the power to transform lives. At its best , it can solve the greatest challenges put before us. Many of us show up to work every day because we are driven by the desire to help people.

By getting caught up in a shiny new thing, we neglect the real problems that demand our resources and creativity. Hype is dangerous because it clouds our vision, blocking us from empathizing with the people who might benefit from new technology. There’s an environmental cost too.

Any time a business ships a new product, global supply chains strain our natural resources —if nobody is using the product, that’s a waste we can’t afford today. Breaking the cycle Although many of our day-to-day processes run on the empty calories of hype, it can be hard to recognize a hype cycle until after it’s passed. However, in my time working on technology implementations, I’ve learned the warning signs.

You might be in the middle of a hype cycle if: 1. Conversations about a new technology exclude the people who are building it. Nobody knows the technology like the people who are working to make it better.

Yet when the market gets excited, companies start to exclude those very people from important conversations. People in the business world sometimes assume that developers and engineers don’t understand what it takes to bring a new product to market, so they shut them out. 2.

When people raise concerns about or identify potential limitations of a technology, they’re ignored or shut down. This is a major red flag. No technology is too exciting to fail.

As I’ve written before , talking about failure actually makes our products better. 3. Access to customers becomes increasingly difficult, complex, or rare.

Customer-centric decision-making is vital for building products that people actually want. This may sound like a tautology, but it’s an important principle to keep in mind. At every stage of the development process, teams should be thinking about and talking about the customer.

The moment they lose touch with the end user, they’ve begun to develop technology for technology’s sake. After living and working through many of these cycles, I’ve noticed that we accept this pattern almost implicitly. We lurch forward with hasty and irresponsible applications of new discoveries, but we rarely reflect on our own participation.

By reflecting, though, we can break the cycle. So the next time you hear about a new technology that promises utopia or dystopia, pause for a moment. Take a step back.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. That’s not boring. It’s our reality—which is just as exciting as our future.

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