Most research on the subject has assumed that users of new technologies learn about and modify new technologies gradually. This assumption underlies the concept of the learning curve, a familiar model which presumes that learners gain knowledge in a continuous and highly regular progression over time.
However, when a new technology is introduced into a particular sector of a company, the process of learning about and modifying that technology may not, in fact, be continuous.
In general, the introduction of new technology into ongoing operations triggers an initial burst of learning or adaptive activity as users explore the technology and attempt to resolve unexpected problems. Such intense activity is often short-lived, however, with users' effort and attention declining dramatically after the first few months. This rapid decline tends to occur even when serious problems remain unresolved, a trend which suggests that the dramatic falloff in learning or adaptive activity shortly after new technology is introduced does not reflect users' having mastered the new technology.
The period of intense activity by users is typically followed by one in which users return their attention to their customary production tasks, though using the new technology to accomplish those tasks. Later on, particularly when challenges related to the new technology arise, users often turn their attention back to the new technology, initiating additional spurts of learning or adaptive activity. In many cases, this pattern continues over time, with brief periods of learning or adaptation followed by longer periods of relatively routine use.
Understanding that the pattern of user learning and adaptation is discontinuous can yield important benefits. Managers who anticipate and plan for intense user activity when a new technology is first introduced are better able to exploit the surge of energy and user motivation that usually occurs at the start of a project when improvements are easiest to implement, and major problems are most obvious. Moreover, by attempting to confine major modifications to start-up periods, such managers can better realize the benefits of periods of routine usage of the technology, during which productivity typically begins to increase and the effectiveness of previous modifications can be assessed.
