Artefacts from the future: connecting dreams to reality
When did you last sketch a poster, write a postcard or draft a fictional newsletter-from-the-future at the beginning of a strategic project? Never? Briefly, perhaps, at the end of that workshop on scenario planning you did last year?
Although activities like this can seem a little ‘light’ compared to the grand strategic planning you have on your plate, there’s a serious intent and concrete benefits if you put a little effort in. Some call it ‘speculative fiction’ and there’s a bunch of research around it, particularly the benefits of imagining the best, not just the worst possible outcomes. Here’s a quick take connecting research and practice from a recent deep dive.
Crystal ball gazing, with clarity
I recently finished ‘Research Practices’, the penultimate subject in the UTS online Master of Education (Learning & Leadership). There was plenty of research theory, but also new perspectives and creativity. As part of the process, we created an artefact that represented the future improvement our research design intended to achieve, which helped us review the usefulness of current literature with a more focussed, intentional eye. Some people drafted company newsletters, others made digital posters, blog posts and industry articles.
My research focus was on international student mental health, and I imagined a fictional article from 2028 on how successful Australia had been in this space after a 5-year research investment. Apologies/ thanks to the PIE and Times Higher Ed for playing with your brands - I wanted to make it feel as real as I could!
In our final assignment, we returned to this process to create an updated artefact, showing in more detail how the scenario we imagined had been brought about by our research design. I picked the podcast genre for this one, imagining a 2-minute intro for an International Education podcast looking at how successful the work had been (I won’t share the whole thing - you’ll get the gist):
But what’s the point? Personally I found it helped me focus on the practical outcomes of the research, but also to tweak the research design to better fit the intention of the work. It made my final proposal better, with a more coherent approach that never lost sight of the end goal.
In principle we do this all the time when we take a research brief; we ask questions about what clients hope to achieve with the research, what should change in the future, and therefore how the research can contribute to that change. However, we rarely have the time or scope to go a step further and create an artefact of that future unless we’re working through more divergent processes such as design thinking or creative workshops.
From imagined futures to connected realities
I think we should do this more often, especially for those annoying, complex topics where answers seem both obvious and elusive at the same time. Give the brain a little more space to breathe, play and imagine, and it can offer up snippets of practical insight we can put to work straight away. Here’s an approach you could try with your teams:
Start with the basics (1-2 hours, including discussion): What’s the problem you’re trying to solve? What outcome would you like to see? How might you get there (roughly), and over what timeframe?
Pick a medium that appeals to you (5-10 minutes): a podcast intro, poster, infographic, sketch, company newsletter feature, blog post, postcard to your team, exec summary and more. If you love to draw, do that. If you like a bit of word-craft, go that way instead. Prefer to talk? You know what to do - hit record on your phone and take your 2 minutes of fictional fame!
Make your future artefact (30-60 minutes): Uninterrupted play time - get it done. Invite others on the team to do the same.
Unpack the implications (1-2 hours, including discussion): Ideally you have multiple artefacts from different perspectives to consider at this point. Take some time to compare, contrast and discuss your various visions - why is this outcome desirable? What matters here? What are the different ways you could reach these futures?
Connect to reality (30-60 minutes): which aspects can you translate into a research project, strategic plan or pitch deck for the work? What are the methods and approaches you know that could help achieve the vision you have?
Re-visit your artefacts: Scenarios shouldn’t be set in stone. As you move through research or related projects, do you need to update your artefact? Can you add more detail to bring it closer to a real, achievable future?
This isn’t about getting predictions right, but rather being disciplined about articulating where we would like to be, picturing it in full technicolour detail, then working back through the different steps that might take us there. If you think your current teams, projects or strategic goals will benefit from creating future-focussed artefacts to fine-tune strategy, give it try. And if you need a hand to get going, drop me a line and I’ll be happy to walk you through it.