Random Musings:

Information Commerce 1997 - Scenario Mapping Changes Beliefs

As noted, my former colleagues at NCRI created a form of scenario planning called Future Mapping that improved upon scenario processes pioneered in the business world by Royal Dutch Shell. I was the founder of a series of public workshops on the the Future of Information Commerce that were held in the early 1990s. After my departure for Silicon Valley, my former colleagues continued the workshop. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I've been reviewing selected results from a 1997 edition of the workshop. The full original report is here; a presentation (PDF) on the Scenario Mapping(tm) process is here.

Public workshop participants are asked to rank the Endstates in terms of Desirability and Attainability. Each person is assigned to a team which analyzes their assigned Endstate and then delivers a 15-20 minute presentation that explains how the world got to be that way. Following all the team presentations, participants are asked to re-rank the Endstates.

Jim Channon's 12 Breakthroughs Video - Thought Food

I first met Jim Channon several years ago at the Bamboo restaurant in Hawi, on the north side of the Big Island of Hawaii. Among other things, Jim is one of the 3 pillars of graphic meeting facilitation (with Bob Horn and David Sibbet), environmentalist and futurist, proposer of the Earth First Battalion, and a terrific raconteur.

[tip o' the hat to BH] I've been watching Jim's YouTube video, "12 Break-throughs of the Next Decade." In this thought-provoking 10 minute video, Jim suggests some additional / alternative activities that might be undertaken by large companies and institutions for the benefit of humankind. The list of organizations includes armies, banks, chemical and oil companies, navies, churches, governments, space agencies, and colleges. To hear the alternative projects Jim associates with each organization, check out the video.