Canadian Lawyer

w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8 19 enough for the media's need for click-bait headlines. Little will be heard about this painstaking work performed behind the scenes until there is enough evidence and excitement about its actual outcomes. Complex problems require complex solutions (before simplification can happen) and this work is rarely done in the full glare of an overhyped media train. Slowly but surely, however, the initial kinks in the technology will be ironed out by the clever minds of our industry. This journey up the "slope of enlightenment" is where the commercial viability of the innovative technology crystallizes for those in the sandboxes of learning. New iterations get produced that improve the technology — it's not yet plug and play, but more early adopters and interested parties are convinced that they should take a closer look. However, conservative organi- zations and investors remain skeptical and tend to wait until a further phase before jumping aboard. The "plateau of productivity" is the final step in the hype cycle. Here, the innovative technology gets operationalized by the early adopters and built into the products and services of our every day. Rather than position themselves to be on the selling side of these types of solutions, this plateau is where most buyers sit. These buyers are happy to wait until the innovative technology has been packaged up into neat little products that are stable and ready for prime time. They want simple solutions that can be plugged in and deliver the expected benefits described on the tin. But it also means that any competitive advantage in developing firm-specific versions of the technology to package up and sell to clients has by now been lost. It is helpful to recognize that our own legal technology industry falls prey to the same hype cycles as the emerging tech in consum- ables. As we know by now, humans are horrible at making predic- tions, particularly about the future. And Gartner's hype cycle with its predictions about when an innovation will reach main- stream adoption should always be taken with a healthy pinch of salt. But our tendency to overhype the short term should not also blind us to the deceptive growth of technology and its cumulative impacts on how it will change lawyer behaviours and the nature of legal services in the long term. Kate Simpson is national director of knowledge management at Bennett Jones LLP and is responsible for developing the firm's KM strategy and initiatives. Opinions expressed are her own. Technology Trigger Peak of Inflated Expectations Trough of Disillusionment Slope of Enlightenment Plateau of Productivity Hype cycle Untitled-7 1 2018-09-12 4:55 PM

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