What I Have Learned
-- a university of arizona course on methods and approaches for studying the future

Over almost 30 years of working with futures activities I have my own observations of what might be useful. However, everyone is different and faced with different situations, so these may or may not be helpful to you. The first entry is a brief review of what others have learned about studying the future.

Disclaimer: All of us have "learned" about futures studies in different ways, we come from different disciplines or exposures throught life, and therefore a list of this type is highly dependent on who does the writing.
Review what other people have learned about studying the future.
There is a lot of wisdom around and some experienced futurists have summarized their views. This review is summary of comments by Roy Amara, Don Michael, Michael Marien, Joseph Coates and Jennifer Jarrett. These observations are made in the late 1980s and are still relevant. There is also a good summary by Jim Dator "The Future Lies Behind!: Thirty years of teaching futures studies."
 
Understanding Best Practices
Many organizations use 'best practices' to improve their organization or products. These can vary from methods of dealing with employees to improving the product to customer relations. Often it is the professional association (or a regulatory agency) that helps develop these practices so they can be applied in the organization. Understanding best practices helps you understand where the subject at hand might be heading and that knowledge gives you an advantage over others. Look over some examples of best practices.
 
Making change happen
Change is perceived as good (if it moves in the direction you want or benefit from) or bad (it goes against your values or you are harmed by the change. Change is always happening and when it is incremental and not affecting you individually, you hardly know it is happening. When it is abrupt and unanticipated it is difficult to deal with. By understanding the change process and learning how to deal with it, change can be used to your advantage. In many cases, dealing with the future will require some 'change' and therefore you need to have the skills of a change agent as part of your futures techniques toolbox. Two good sources of change information are below, and you can also review the change section of this class.
  George Odiorne, Resistance to Change (a summary of book)
  Joe Flower, Change Codes (35 examples with brief explanation).
 
Dealing with your peer group
Most of us must deal with norms, although some serve the role of lightening rod, gadfly, provocateur, or visionary. When we deal with norms, we tend not to get too far outside the peer groups we deal with (examples are people at your organizational level in your organization, members of your professional or other organizations, or your family and friends. It is not uncommon for a new idea to disappear, simply because it has not been 'officially' endorsed by the peer group. This process also reduces risk - if others have tried it or agree to it, then you may not be criticized for implementing it. Learn how to cultivate and work with your peer groups so you can venture outside the bounds a bit and be accepted for this behavior. All organizations have some people that do this.
 
Getting buy-in and making your case
Work with your intended audience throughout the project. This is especially true if it is you are doing an internal study for your own organization. Defining the project appropriately and with interaction with the intended audiences, as well as how you present your futures study, are nearly as important as the study itself. You need to consider the audience, and condition them in advance for the potential results, use examples and references that are relevant to the audience, and allow them some level of participation, preferably at key point over a time period (e.g., helping set the study parameters, brainstorming possible options, identifying barriers or wildcards), and present them with some options to allow their own decision making function to perform (rather than prescribing a single recommendation).
 
Recognize ideas or solutions recycle over time
Timing is important. Many new ideas can be traced to the past, but because of societal values or views, political or economic realities, or technological capabilities, they were not possible to implement in that distant time. Now the time might be right, or the idea/solution might be slightly modified and applied. So, read history and understand how things are done in different settings.
 
Keep yourself tuned up on studying the future by continually learnign to look at questions through perspectives. Such as:
Ignorance
Change
The Big Picture
Look over a few quotations (make your own list over time)
Remind yourself on the essentials of a "good futurist"

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Prepared by Roger L. Caldwell