Sunday, January 23, 2011

My Personal Technology Hype Cycle


This week, I’m looking at Tumblr, Ubuntu Desktop, SCVNGR and a few other technologies. Over these first few weeks of 2011, I’ve checked out Quora, Instagram, and Hot Pursuit (from EA) just to name a few. Some people say I’m tech savvy, others say I spend too much time with the “magic box” (iPhone), others say simply “I don’t know how you find the time for that”. Most just don’t care.

That’s fine with me. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am curious and I don’t mind taking a few risks with my time in order to discover useful innovations. Like all innovative people or organizations, success requires a bit of risk taking. We see it with the most innovative companies, they spend millions and sometimes billions on risky endeavors. They know that many of them will fail and turn into a waste of time and money. They try to ensure efforts are focused, but failure is simply a cost of innovation. You will make mistakes often, but the payoff is great. As a entrepreneurial friend once told me 1 in 10 startups hit it big, so he keeps doing them, sometimes several at a time. Eventually he expects to hit it big.

The same goes with innovation and personal productivity. If one is willing to invest the time (that’s my case, because I don’t have millions or billions of dollars), some of those investments will pay off.  Others will be a waste of some time.

As I was thinking it through today, I was taken by the simplicity of Gartner’s Hype Cycle curve. Gartner is famous at posting these hype cycles for various topics such as Social Software, Emerging Technologies, or Consumer Mobile Applications. They are so famous, there is even room for a Hype Cycle Parody piece by CIO columnist, Thomas Wailgum. His work from last summer was definitely tweet worthy.

So I thought, maybe I should paint a similar picture for my particular interest in technology. This is a fast moving cycle and will be quite different in 6 months. It also will not match your personal hype cycle since we are all drawn to different technologies for different reasons and priorities.

Anyway, I think you might find this interesting. You will find some items where you relate, but I expect more often you will find differences. That’s fine. That’s how we learn. I look forward to hearing what is on your personal hype cycle and where it falls on the curve.

So here is the first ever Jim Worth Personal Technology Hype Cycle, January, 2011 edition:

Technology Trigger: Focus.com, MacBook Air, iPad 2, iPhone 5, Ubuntu Linux, Tumblr, SCVNGR

Peak of Inflated Expectations: Instagram, Quora, Pandora, Pulse, Posterous, Wordpress

Slipping down the slope: EA’s Hot Pursuit, Win 7, Google Reader, Eventbrite, Barcamp

Trough of Disillusionment: Yammer, Foursquare, Gowalla, Angry Birds, Ustream

Slope of Enlightenment: Instapaper, About.me, Kindle, Newsgator,

Plateau of Productivity: iPad, Twitter, iPhone 3gs, PBworks, Google Analytics, Blogger, Socialcast, Google Groups, MyWi hotspot

Saturday, January 1, 2011

My 21 Personal Productivity Discoveries in 2010

It's January 1, 2011 and as I read all the reflective posts, it has me thinking of the new technology that I experienced in 2010. Before we all forget what a big year it was and dive right into 2011 innovations, let's take a moment to reflect.

For me, it was all about the Social Web, Mobility, and of course, the iPad (the only device to make the list). What an impact these innovations have had! I'm not an analyst or a app vendor, and have no agenda to promote any particular technology. I simply seek out technology to simplify my connection with others and to make my day more productive .

2010 was a year of experimenting for this "Early Adopter". This day, one year ago, I had no idea I would discover and incorporate the following into my regular routine. I bet many of these tools were (or maybe are) new to you as well. I'm sure there are some I missed and many that I have yet to discover.  So please suggest more through comments or Tweets.

MyWi (iPhone hotspot)
Twitterrific twitter app
WTHashtag.com tweet archiving
Pbworks.com simple wiki
Google analytics stat tracking
Google reader RSS reader
Socialcast community microblogging
Instapaper cloud based bookmarking
Goodreader PDF/PPT reader for iPad
Quora crowsourced Q or A
Posterous blogging
Barcamp unconference approach
Ustream personal broadcasting
Eventbrite event registration
iPad tablet
Angry birds timedraining game
Pulse RSS reader
Pandora personal radio
Foursquare location based service
Gowalla another take on location based services

OK, they are not all productive (Angry Birds, Foursquare and Gowalla) but those that aren't, do break new ground and are enjoyable (for a season, at least). 

The really neat thing is you told me about all of these innovations. I learn about them by keeping up with the conversation on the Social Web. I'm sure I will think of others that I forgot. But just looking at this list of innovations I didn't even know about 12 months ago is a bit overwhelming.

I wonder if this pace of innovation will continue into 2011. I can only imagine what next year's list will look like on New Years Day, 2012. It's going to be a great ride.  Let's take it together.