Post a Comment On: A Nod to Nothing

I think this graph from Gartner via ReadWriteWeb is fascinating. I work in a technology environment, and as a former developer I always found myself wondering why companies didn't adopt certain tech faster. Well, according to Gartner, if your company is implementing SOA in the next 2-5 years they're on the appropriate slope of enlightenment - i.e. they're not on the bleeding edge, they're right about where they should be if they're waiting for a technology to prove itself before adopting. Ditto for wikis, which are still in the trough of disillusionment. So if, like me, you thought wikis were a cool idea several years ago and you're wondering why they aren't a.) more stable in internal environments, b.) more stable in a corporate external environment, c.) more standardized instead of different strokes for different folks, sometimes across cube walls if they're in different departments, d.) why everyone likes Sharepoint, which isn't a wiki, and seems to have some serious issues (among them, it's wikiability, which may be resolved now that they're going to incorporate Confluence, a very nice wiki), and e.) why search, particularly within specified categories/boundaries is so painful compared to other web tools (and I include Sharepoint in that analysis) - well, welcome to the trough. You have a few more years until the slope of enlightenment is achieved. I won't even disagree with Web 2.0 being in that same vicinity, just with more forward velocity. You can almost smell how it's not necessarily living up to all the expectations that had been heaped at its feet. Here and there you can see how people are stripping off some of the hype and pulling out the kernel that has true business value.

[Image]