So, our expectations of value are growing exponentially and the power of the technology that we are using to deliver value is also growing exponentially. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
It’s the people, stupid…
If technology was the only thing that mattered, then expectations of value and delivery of value would grow together in perfect harmony.
But we need people.
People as individuals with skills and knowledge and people working together as organisations to plan, manage and act together on scale.
And we don’t really have a Moore’s Law for people.
Of course people – both individually and as organisations – can learn and develop. Knowledge is accumulated and shared. It is passed down from generation to generation. We’re getting better all the time…
….but it’s not really growing like Moore’s Law. It’s not doubling every couple of years.
Show me the data
I don’t have any hard data to measure these ideas. The basket of laws that measure developments in technology are rich in data, but all I have here is an observed pattern of language inflation over five decades and an assertion about how the capabilities of people and organisations evolve over time.
But if I had data, I think it would look something like this:
While the power of technology fuels this growth in our expectations, people – individuals and organisations – develop at a far slower rate and this acts as a drag on the actual value of delivery.
Even when we are able to lever more value from improvements in technology, we often end up failing to meet our expectations because of the extent to which this depends on people.
This difference between expectations and actual delivery is disappointment.