The hidden curves of the Gartner hype cycle

The Gartner hype cycle curve. If you have worked in tech during the past 30 years, you will have seen it. Traditionally, it is a curve with 5 stages. A steep incline that peaks and is followed by a step drop. It then bottoms out before starting a second, less steep, rise that flattens off into a horizontal line.

Something that the Gartner curve doesn’t show, is that the trough of disillusionment has two possible outcomes. An innovation can travel onwards up to the plateau of productivity, or it can fall down into the innovation graveyard.