Look at the Agile Hype Cycle graph below. Do you think it has nothing to do with Agile? It isn’t directly for this purpose, but it still applies. Published by Gartner, it helps us understand the maturity and adoption of specific technologies. This can be witnessed in organizations trying to adopt agile.
If you find yourself in the ‘Peak of Inflated Expectations’ area or before it you should be very careful. Setting high expectations during this period can be disastrous. The wrong expectations can send you into the trough of disillusionment. You might notice this when the organization reacts with organizational changes in response to their realization that their first implementation of scrum or kanban didn’t solve their problems right away.
If you’re coaching an organization to use Agile, set the right expectations upfront. There is a steep and long learning curve that has to happen before gaining the productivity that leadership wants and expects. Set the right expectations at the beginning, and lower the peak of inflated expectations. This will prevent the crash into the Trough of disillusionment from being so steep.
Read more about the Gartner Hype Cycle
