What do futurists need to know how to do? The APF’s Foresight Competency answers that in a new article: Building …
Continue Reading about Foresight Competency Model published in WFR →
Differentiating new equilibrium from the baseline
We’ve had some fun with archetypes before. Time again! A fun aspect of the foresight community is that futurists are …
Continue Reading about Differentiating new equilibrium from the baseline →
Good Futures Work
The Houston Foresight Program is having its annual Spring Gathering this weekend on the theme of “Good Futures Work.” I …
Geeking out on Three Horizons
Just finished Bill Sharpe’s Three Horizons: The Patterning of Hope, 2013. I often refer to a slide below as my “desert …
Horizon timing
We have no shortage of big issues ahead: the Singularity, post-capitalism, possible ecosystem collapse. These are …
Foresight classics: 20/20 foresight characterizes uncertainty
Not surprisingly, we discussed uncertainty during Futures Research class this semester. Hugh Courtney’s 20/20 Foresight: …
Continue Reading about Foresight classics: 20/20 foresight characterizes uncertainty →
Designing Foresight and Foresighting Design
I’m happy to share that my collaboration with [former] design student (and now Dr.) Danilo Zindato exploring the uses of …
Continue Reading about Designing Foresight and Foresighting Design →
Using scenarios
I had the opportunity to share some thoughts on my experience using scenarios for the 7th Session of the International …
Intuition in Futures Work
We come to the week in Alternative Perspectives class where we see how far one’s embrace of alternative extends. We call …
2016 APF Most Significant Futures Works Winners
One of my favorite things to do each year is to coordinate the APF’s Most Significant Futures Works program. Each year, …
Continue Reading about 2016 APF Most Significant Futures Works Winners →
What is successful foresight?
I explored this question as part of my dissertation research a few years back from the perspective of the organizational …
Trends in Foresight Methods
I came across a very nice paper posted to the APF list: Emerging Practices in Foresight and Their Use in STI Policy, by …
Graphic of Houston Foresight Scanning Process
Our design expert on the Houston Foresight team, student Maria Romero, is at it again. After doing a beautiful job with …
Continue Reading about Graphic of Houston Foresight Scanning Process →
Personal Futures Planning
Our ProSeminar class had a visit last week from a dozen Norwegian students studying under futurist Derek Woodate. We did …
Transformative scenario planning
I finally got to Transformative Scenario Planning by Adam Kahane. It’s one of those books that stayed too long in my …
The Aspirational Archetype
I’ve written previously about the scenario archetype technique. A few years ago, In World Futures class, we started …
Second edition of Thinking about the Future
An updated second edition of Thinking about the Future is now available on Amazon. The foreseeable depletion of the …
Continue Reading about Second edition of Thinking about the Future →
An organizational futurist role for integrating foresight into corporations
As many readers here likely know, I did my dissertation on the experience and possibilities of organizational futurists. …
Continue Reading about An organizational futurist role for integrating foresight into corporations →
Three Horizons of Work
I had the pleasure of participating on a panel exploring the future of work at the GAO for IFPTE Local 1921annual union …
Doing foresight well: cooks and chefs
Was musing with a professional futurist colleague about the state of the foresight field. We observed how the market for …
Continue Reading about Doing foresight well: cooks and chefs →
APF Most Significant Futures Works Awards 2015
I have been involved with the APF Most Significant Futures Works awards (MSFW) program since we started it in 2007 and …
Continue Reading about APF Most Significant Futures Works Awards 2015 →
Expert and Participatory Foresight
Last we talked about three futurist roles. Along those lines are the different ways that we go about performing those …
Exploratory and decision scenarios
Another theme that’s been popping up lately in my work is Pierre Wack’s original notion suggested that exploratory …
Scenario confusions
Been having some interesting discussions about scenarios lately and think we might have a few blog posts brewing here. …
The New Framework Foresight Graphic
It’s been great to have a little design help in order to better communicate what we do at the Houston Foresight program. …
Continue Reading about The New Framework Foresight Graphic →
Sudden Impact the Key to Wildcards?
One more entry in the wildcard series (for now, at least). In the last piece we raised the point about wildcards not …
Continue Reading about Sudden Impact the Key to Wildcards? →
Wilcard is a relative term
A truly brilliant article title (and article) from Elina Hiltunen, “Was It a Wild Card or Just Our Blindness to Gradual …
Wildcards, surprises, and disruptions…oh my!
A couple of weeks ago in World Futures, we had a class on wildcards. Yesterday, I just had a client conversation about …
Continue Reading about Wildcards, surprises, and disruptions…oh my! →
Real options, scenarios, & sensemaking
Read an interesting piece on combining scenario planning and real options: “Making sense of future uncertainties using …
Continue Reading about Real options, scenarios, & sensemaking →
APF Most Significant Futures Works Program 2015
One of my favorite things I do as a futurist is to help coordinate the APF’s Most Significant Futures Works program. It …
Continue Reading about APF Most Significant Futures Works Program 2015 →