A superstitious belief that practicing rituals or adopting certain practices will bring in the desired results. Often used in the context of Agile and Digitalization. Companies keen on seeing the lofty goals of agility and ditalization, mimic the practices (Hiring thousands of software programmers doesn't make you a software company -- example Nokia, which failed to make the transition from hardware to software; another example is hiring tens of Agile consultants, Coaches and practicing Agile rituals hoping to reimagine a new world of rapid feedback and value delivery!)
"Soon after WWII, anthropologists in New Guinea noticed an unusual phenomenon: tribes deep in the interior of the country were building full-sized ritual airfields and airplanes out of bamboo, grass, etc.
Anthropologists soon discovered that withdrawal of military forces had created a scarcity of modern technological goods, and the tribes, under the influence of so-called “Cargo Cult prophets”, were converting communities’ desires for these possessions into the external forms that had brought them in the past.
The hope that these prophets shared with their followers was that if the correct external forms were present, the actual goods associated with them would arrive." - Forbes.
