Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow
from the scenario-planning dept
I have always been fascinated with scenario planning (it’s one of the services we offer at Techdirt Corporate Intelligence because I think it’s one of the most useful strategic planning tools out there. So, it should be no surprise that I’m currently reading Bruce Sterling’s Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years. I haven’t read far enough to offer my own reasonable review, but Dan Gillmor’s review of the book is very good. The problem many people have with scenario planning is they confuse it with predicting the future. Scenario planning isn’t so much about predicting the future as it is thinking about all the potential things that might happen in the future, so you’re better prepared no matter what happens. It’s not so much about saying “this is going to happen, and therefore you should do that.” It’s about saying “these are things that could happen, and here’s what the implications for you would be for each of those things – so now you’re prepared when some combination (or related thing) happens.” With that in mind, Tomorrow Now seems like a worthwhile read.
