future mapping
the why and the how
future mapping
there’s simply no way around the fact that we’re pretty fed up with a certain philosophical framework in Silicon Valley. It has many names: the growth mindset. OKRs. KPIs. Even Minimalism — the predominant aesthetic of our era. But at its core, it all comes down to one thing: the relentless optimization of everything in our world.
this mindset has... See more
this mindset has... See more
The Browser Company • Optimizing For Feelings
Resilience requires a kind of elasticity, an ability to stretch and reach but then to return, to spring back into a former shape—or perhaps to shapeshift into something new if the circumstances require it. Resilience is stretchy where optimization is brittle; resilience invites change where optimization demands continuity. But whether we’re talking
... See moreMandy Brown • Against Optimization
[Video] Edward Cotton on LinkedIn: The debate about the importance of creativity is ongoing. Adam Morgan and…
linkedin.com![Thumbnail of [Video] Edward Cotton on LinkedIn: The debate about the importance of creativity is ongoing. Adam Morgan and…](https://d1l054mla94ehg.cloudfront.net/media/images/thumbnails/curation/82a0a719/thumbnail.jpg?height=75&dpr=2)
Something sinister happened over the past algorithmically driven decade: brands took a sharp turn toward efficiency and benefits mindshare, often focusing on a laundry list of functional and emotional whoop-de-doos.
It’s this paint-inside-the-lines mentality that stokes irrelevancy and meaninglessness. And the whole point of a brand is to create an... See more
It’s this paint-inside-the-lines mentality that stokes irrelevancy and meaninglessness. And the whole point of a brand is to create an... See more
From Brand Strategy to Brand Anarchy
SAM ALTMAN: Good ideas — actually, no, great ideas are fragile. Great ideas are easy to kill. An idea in its larval stage — all the best ideas when I first heard them sound bad. And all of us, myself included, are much more affected by what other people think of us and our ideas than we like to admit.
If you are just four people in your own door,
... See moreHenrik Karlsson • Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born
It is a fallacy to plan for ‘the future’ (singular). We need to be prepared for multiple futures (plural) and build into our strategies a flexibility that allows us to move resilient from the present moment towards the future. Being aware of the different paths the future might take, leads to more realistic and flexible strategies that will be more
... See moreMarjolein Pijnappels • Designing the Future Using Science Fiction
Making systems resilient is fundamentally at odds with optimization, because optimizing a system means taking out any slack. A truly optimized, and thus efficient, system is only possible with near-perfect knowledge about the system, together with the ability to observe and implement a response. For a system to be reliable, on the other hand, there
... See moreMandy Brown • Against Optimization
“We think creatively (not predictively) about the future in order to decide what to do now in order to make possible different futures. There is no reason to be ‘future-oriented’ other than to try to change things, from now on . This means that you must be very careful when trying to ‘future’ to ensure that you are not unwittingly reproducing
... See moreTFSX • The Future Thinker’s Dilemma
In practice, a startup nonprofit has several important distinctions from traditional nonprofits: 1) it begins with a large goal and works backwards to identify incremental steps to achieve that goal, 2) it has an iterative, experimental mindset, and 3) it is an internet first organization.