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What are the effects of hype in software development? While I appreciate the critical reflection on hype in software development in the article linked below, I would like to add a few things to the discussion:

  1. The authors mention that “the hectic nature of this phenomenon [(i.e., the hype)] and its negative outcomes are nicely captured by the well-known Gartner hype cycle curve.” This ignores that Gartner itself is a major contributor to hype in software development, at least in the corporate world. Also, according to their hype cycle, “software engineering” is reaching its “peak of inflated expectations” 🤔 (see screenshot in the LinkedIn post).
  2. The article makes reasonable arguments, but is itself not based on empirical evidence regarding the effects of hype-driven software engineering. There is some related work (e.g., on “resume-driven development” by Jonas Fritzsch, Marvin Wyrich, Justus Bogner, and Stefan Wagner), and certainly much more empirical (!) research required.
  3. Last but not least: The article is behind a paywall, without any publicly accessible preprint available.

Article: The Effects of Hype in the Software Domain: Causes, Consequences, and Mitigations.

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