We were promised jetpacks, or the art of expectation management

Don’t get your hopes up for this section. 

Expectation management is as old as human interaction (and entirely unnecessary here, The Cave is obviously always excellent). 

We’ll hear plenty of it in the coming election campaign, as politicians of all stripes attempt to plot a path between conviction and hubris. 

It’s a tricky balance at the best of times, and not just in politics.

Thomas Tuchel, the new England football manager (Allegory is 40% Brits, it will never be soccer), has responded to expectations that he’ll guide the country to a World Cup win next year by amping up how poor the team were before he arrived. It’s a tried and tested tactic, albeit one difficult to pull off when the side is ranked 4th in the world and were European runners up less than 12 months ago.

Companies face a similar problem, particularly when it comes to technology. 

Slightly thinner, slightly faster devices packed with AI agents may be useful, but they’re hardly meeting the expectations of consumers with memories of the transformative power of the first iPhone. The old adage (and Scottish indie band) ‘we were promised jetpacks’ comes to mind on an increasingly regular basis. 

The typical advice is to underpromise and overdeliver. But this is becoming increasingly difficult as societies and platforms reward greater histrionics in public pronouncements. 

Being humble now often leads to being ignored. Conversely, big claims and subsequent stumbles are enough to put a premature end to an exciting innovation.

The answer, then, must lie in the middle - of aiming high, walking the talk, and educating the audience along a sometimes rocky journey. A new kind of expectation management. 

Or just give us a jetpack.