Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.

For the last ten years Gartner has produced a technology hype cycle – a representation of the maturity, adoption and business application of specific technologies. Gartner applies this broadly to technologies to describe where they are right now. You can apply this cycle to any technology you have, or more importantly, are about to purchase.

TECHNOLOGY TRIGGER – the act that initiates your <insert your technology here> selection.

PEAK OF INFLATED EXPECTATIONS – over enthusiasm and unrealistic projections for your <insert your technology here> resulting in some successes but more failures.

TROUGH OF DISILLUSIONMENT – your <insert your technology here> does not live up to its over-inflated expectations.

SLOPE OF ENLIGHTENMENT – focused implementation and solid hard work leads to a true understanding of the <insert your technology here> applicability, risks and benefits. Commercial off-the-shelf methodologies and tools become available to ease the development process.

PLATEAU OF PRODUCTIVITY – real-world benefits of your <insert your technology here> are demonstrated and accepted. Tools and methodologies are increasingly stable. The final height of the plateau varies according to whether your <insert your technology here> is broadly applicable or only benefits a niche market.

I’ve seen an increase in discussions recently around purchasing Digital Asset Management and Web Content Management Systems. If that’s you, I know from experience that you are now climbing the Slope of Inflated Expectations. Your number one problem is that your senior management are at the Peak and waiting for you to leap straight onto the Plateau of Productivity. Its a cliche, but managing the expectations of these people is priority one, particularly if they were present at the Vendor presentations.

Vendors, and who can blame them, will pitch the Plateau of Productivity for their system, they pitch the potential. But successfully implementing a system such as a DAM or CMS is sustained hard work. In particular, note the use of the word ‘system’ as in ‘Content Management System’, and not ‘application’. You install an application, but you implement a system. DAMs and CMSs are frameworks, they require configuring and building out to fit your institution, they will also require changes to your internal business processes and workflows to be successful. Remember this mantra for your next vendor presentation: “Out of the box?” – repeat this mantra for every function that you see in the demo. The more no’s you get, the longer it will be before you hit the plateau of productivity. Be sure your bosses understand this.

I’m currently a recovering Web Manager, in my former life we purchased an enterprise-scale CMS. The vendors promised we would have a fully-managed website within 4-6 weeks. Close, but no cigar. Our site was fully managed within this time, but at the file level, that is, our CMS was managing all our html files. The benefit and productivity of a CMS is the separation of form and function, content and design. It took over two years before we had all our content in an XML repository and all the design in templates. The Slope of Enlightenment is steep.

So, if you’re currently at the Peak, expect the fall, if you’re in the Trough, expect some hard work, but the view from the Plateau is sweet.

See the most recent freely available hype cycle: Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2005. Current hype cycles will cost you…

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