Skip to main content

This Time Is Different

5 min read

Cto

You've seen cloud, mobile, big data. AI feels different. You're right. Adjust your strategy accordingly.

Eng Manager

Your CTO is setting the tone. Understand why this cycle is different so you can align your team's mindset.

Software Arch

Past hype cycles changed infrastructure. AI changes how work gets done. The architectural implications are deeper.

This Time Is Different

TL;DR

  • Elena has seen cloud, mobile, big data. She's right to feel that AI is different. It's not just infrastructure — it's how knowledge work happens.
  • Past cycles: new platforms, new tools. This cycle: the tool does the work. That's a different kind of disruption.
  • The CTOs who thrive are the ones who treat this as a discontinuity, not a trend to wait out.

Elena is 24 years in. She's lived through the dot-com bust, the cloud shift, the "every company is a data company" wave. She's learned to spot hype. And she's right: this feels different.

What Made Past Cycles "Just Hype"

  • Cloud: "Everything moves to the cloud." Took a decade. Most companies hybrid. Incremental.
  • Big data: "Data is the new oil." Sure. But work still got done by people. Data was a tool, not a substitute.
  • Mobile: "Mobile first." Important. Changed distribution. Didn't change how engineers wrote code.

Those were platform shifts. New capabilities. New ways to deploy. The nature of the work didn't fundamentally change.

What's Different Now

AI doesn't just add a platform. It changes the unit of work. Code, docs, analysis, support — the outputs that used to require humans can now be generated. Not perfectly. Not always. But meaningfully.

That's why it's different. It's not "we have a new tool." It's "the tool can do a chunk of what people used to do." That changes staffing, skills, and strategy. Ignoring it because "we've seen hype before" is a mistake.

The CTO Move

Don't overcorrect into panic. Don't undercorrect into denial. Treat it as a discontinuity: assess impact, build a strategy, execute. The CTOs who do that will be ahead. The ones who wait will be playing catch-up.

Quick Check

Elena has seen cloud, mobile, big data. She's learned to spot hype. Why is AI DIFFERENT from those cycles?

You've seen hype. Cloud, big data, blockchain. You wait. 'This too shall pass.' AI adoption happens elsewhere. You're playing catch-up.

Click "Treat as discontinuity" to see the difference →

Do This Next

  1. Write down why you think this is (or isn't) different from past cycles. Compare notes with a peer. Sharpen your view.
  2. Assume it's different for planning purposes. Better to be prepared for a big shift than surprised by one.