Where there are people, there are fashions. Why should technology be immune? The current fashion of "big data" is a classic exemplar of the species.
The Books
Books are a good place to observe the common themes of technology fashions. You'll see patterns that resemble the ones I previously pointed out for project management.
I think it's fair to say it's not a legitimate technology trend if it's not covered in an "X for Dummies" book.
Similarly, it's got to be big. Be Revolutionary. Transform lots of stuff.
Its got to be a big, scary thing that needs taming.
For any fashion trend, its important to make sure that other things are hitched to its wagons.
Let's not forget that, if it's worth paying attention to, there's got to be a way to make money from it.
It's never too soon to start adding layers of process and paranoia to it, to assure that costs skyrocket and that hardly anything ever gets done; in other words, governance.
Finally, anything but anything has to have a human side.
I swear, I sometimes think there's a central planning committee for technology fashions. They plan when the next new label on something old and not all that interesting is going to come out, grab their standard set of titles, and pass them out to people to write the books.
But then, I guess it can't really be that organized, because there are usually so very many books, each of them covering the same small set of themes over and over and over, with slightly different language. The themes always seems to include:
- X is revolutionary; it will change lots of important stuff.
- X is big and scary, and you need help to tame it or bring it under control
- There are lots of ways to screw up doing X, so you need to pay lots of money for Y to get it right
- You're a Dummy, but I'll help you understand what you need to know about X anyway.
- X has a human side
The Conferences
Things aren't that different with conferences. They take the themes established in the books and embellish them a bit.
There are conferences for people who work in particular sectors.
You can't pass up an opportunity to learn from the very best.
Who can resist going to a conference which cuts through all the crap and helps you do stuff?
Anyway, you get the idea -- there are lots of conferences. The themes are predictable, even without the aid of big data or predictive analytics. Because they apply to any technology fashion trend.
Conclusion
Technology fashions -- they are forever in fashion!
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