Working the hype cycle, part 1

Yesterday, as I was reviewing some reports from the last couple of years from some of the big consulting firms like McKinsey, I idly wondered about how to interpret the entry of the big C consulting firms into any particular topical area.

Most of the big firms today like to claim thought leadership in their various practice areas, so their reports tend to be written as deeply insightful probes into an issue of critical future importance to (potential) clients.  But I have found over the years that for any particular area, a true subject matter expert would often not find anything they had not already read about or discussed with other experts for years, and sometimes decades.

And I'm not digging on anyone here, just thinking about what it means, in terms of the maturity and "lifecycle" of a big issue, that the big C firms have decided to start addressing it for (potential) clients.

Almost as a joke, I posted the following question yesterday on Twitter: "Where do we plot an issue on the @Gartner_inc hype cycle if the major consulting firms are piling into the space?"

Gartner Hype Cycle Special Report 2013

I got a couple of quick and clever answers from colleagues @nextwavefutures and @changeist, and their responses made me realize that I will now have to actually play with plotting this on the hype cycle.

More to follow shortly.