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Hello, everyone. Here is Ricardo Vargas, and this is the 5 Minutes podcast. Today, I would like to talk about the hype cycle, and the concept of the hype cycle is extremely relevant for us when we are managing initiatives and projects. The concept was developed by Gartner to evaluate the hype of technology, but of course, we can apply it in many different changing aspects. It can be projects, novelty, or things that you were planning to release. And let me go to the genesis of the hype cycle, the hype cycle say that when a product or a technology is released, almost suddenly there is a massive peak of hype. It means these needles are in all the news, all newspapers. People only talk about that. And for example, if we go back to 2022, it's at the end of 2022 when OpenAI released the ChatGPT. It's something like in in three, four, five, six weeks, the word was taken by artificial intelligence. And then people were only talking about that. Everybody, all meetings, all business meetings. Everybody was talking about artificial intelligence. And then after that, there is a disillusionment where people see, okay, it's not as good as we thought in the in the top of the hype cycle. It's not as fast, it's not as nice. And then in this valley, it's where people feel, you know, this, this will go nowhere and this. And just after that, there is a slope of enlightenment. It's when you see a light at the end of the tunnel, and then you go to a plateau of productivity.
But this episode is not about technology. This is about our project and our project. Respect. Absolutely the same hype cycle when your project is released, when the project charter, and when you kick off a project; what is your feeling now? Let's think of yourself as the project manager. You think you are the king of the universe. You think you have endless support everywhere, and everybody is with you. Your project gains visibility. It's in the corporate newsletter. Everybody only talks about Project X or whatever the name of your project is. It becomes very visible, but other groups start in a positive way. Okay, start to envy that you know why his project is so visible in this, and this is natural. But then, just after that, there is this, I would say this, this strong decline. And then you reach a valley. And this valley is the Disillusionment Valley. It's when people realize the project's much harder to deliver than people thought at the beginning, that the risks, that the challenges are much, much higher. And this is very close to the chaos point. I said, and I mentioned, uh, in many other episodes, and at this point, you are in a very risky area because you are losing visibility, and people are starting to question so many projects and start to face big challenges at that point. When you turn to that face, then you say, you know, it's hard work, but we can make it. And then there is this slope of enlightenment.
When you start seeing the light at the end of your project, you see, okay, it's not the magic, but it's a good level of benefit. And then, you reach the plateau of productivity when you meet expectations with reality. And so, let me give you a couple of examples. Let's suppose you are building a tunnel to connect to areas of the city that are, I would say, pretty much isolated from each other. When this project is released, there is massive hype. Everybody is looking at how these two communities will be connected at the development. Then people start to develop side businesses thinking about that. But when you take your scope, go there and start digging. When you dig 20cm, you will start seeing oops. And this is not as easy. It's not just draw a pipe and make a tunnel. It's hard work. It takes time. It takes machinery, it takes people, and there is no machine to be delivered. There is no the price is increasing. You don't find workers to do that. Then you see that the challenge is much bigger. And this is where this disillusion happens. It's when people say, oh God, no, it's not now. It will take five years; it will take ten years. But then if you are persistent, you you continue digging, you manage this uncertainty, you manage all these risks. And at the end you say, you know, look, there is a light at the other side. Look, we are connecting to each other, and then you will reach actual benefits.
And why this is so important. No matter what your project is, it will face a hype cycle. It will face this peak of everybody wanting to be in your shoes as the big project manager, delivering everything. And then, just after that, nobody wants to be in your skin because you are the one with the biggest trouble in the room because of your project. You just need to manage that. Projects do not respect a linear scale to be delivered, and you, as a project manager, need to have emotional intelligence and the ability to understand and act on these challenges. I have faced this hype cycle in my professional life so many times, so many times, and you just need to because, of course, I would love for my project to go from zero to super hype and stay there forever. This would be a dream, right? And visibility. All possible support. But reality is different because when you start delivering, something else takes your place in the hype cycle. Because companies, corporations, society, TV, and social media live on the hype. Today, your project is the hype. Tomorrow, it's the project from someone else that is in the hype. So, always think about that because reality is brutal, and we need to be prepared for that. Projects on paper are very easy and very nice, but take them out of paper and transform them. In reality, it's where the challenge is. Think about that and see you next week with another 5 Minutes Podcast.
