Peter Christensen

Surviving the Framework Hype Cycle – Brandon Hays

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I was recommended this 35 minute talk from the Mountain West Ruby 2016 conference, and I wanted to share my notes. It captures feelings I’ve had about the pace of technology change, with the rise of Javascript frameworks over the last 4 years. It’s a useful framework for evaluating new technologies, as well as when is the right time for you to adopt them. FWIW I’m definitely a Settler.

Great talk, Brandon!

Links

Notes

  • Web developer’s career ins entering a mid-life crisis
  • Pain points
    • impossible to keep up with new tools
    • There’s no way new things can live up to your expectations
    • New stacks are less robust and more brittle than older
    • The tech you love is now obsolete – it’s never safe to fall in love
  • Once a tech gains popularity, it doesn’t go away, it just loses popularity
  • The Hype Cycle
    • Technology trigger, early adopters
      • e.g. Rails 5 minute blog video
    • Peak of inflated expectations
      • Promise – this will make you 10x more productive
    • Trough of Disillusionment
      • Prominent defectors – e.g. Zed Shaw “Rails is a Ghetto”
    • Slope of Enlightenment
    • Plateau of Productivity
  • 3 types of users
    • Pioneers – itch for the latest, thrill of discovery
      • Vision/Experiments
    • Settlers – order from chaos, build infrastructure and community, connect with real users and business need
      • Strategy/Synthesis
    • Town Planners – get things done at a scale not possible with unproven tech – turn exciting tech boring
      • Tactics/Execution
  • How to lose at the hype cycle
    • Dismiss new stuff, become commodotized
    • Get caught up in the cycle and burn out
    • Bet and crash with tech that doesn’t clear the trough
  • How to win – depends on your preferences
    • What stage is the tech in? Should I concern myself?
    • Pioneers ride the wave at Peak of Inflated Expectation
    • Settlers start at Trough of Illusionment, full speed at Slope of Enlightement
    • Planners start at Slope of Enlightenment, Plateau of Productivity
  • The Comfort – No one gets to make you feel ashamed for liking the things you like
  • The Caution – There comes a time for you to leave the plateau
  • Recommendation
    • Day job with productivity
    • Side project for fun with less mature technology
  • The real promise is on helping you reach the plateau
    • To focus on things that have real value, business value
    • One the plateau, you have time to think

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