148: Don't throw future you under the bus (many beefs with backcasting)

A friend of the podcast got hired to run a facilitation: "vision on day one, backcasting on day two." He asked Tom for tips on backcasting workshops. Tom rolled up his sleeves and out fell a number of beefs. In this one we walk through why visions and step-by-step plans keep falling apart, and how to smuggle something that actually works into a workshop that's already been sold as backcasting. Including: - Why the first hour of every exec visioning workshop is people scrawling "seamless interactive experience" on every sticky note - Our many beefs with backcasting (assumption of linear cause and effect being only the first) - Sidecasting, and the curious joy of paying attention to the evolutionary potential of the present rather than gazing forwards or backwards - Jabe Bloom's "Ideal Present" 2x2, plus an extra scaffolding step Tom adds so people don't freeze like deer in headlights - Why your organisation's "maladaptive" behaviours are actually adaptive (you just don't like them) - The rule that makes it all work: you're not allowed to throw future you under the bus - Why a strategic plan is really a holiday brochure For anyone who's ever been asked to deliver a vision on day one and a plan on day two — and suspects neither will survive contact with reality. Get in touch: tentacles@crownandreach.com References - Dr Jabe Bloom's Ideal Present, explained by Ben Mosior https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19KUsV\_qeyk - Pavel Samsonov's recent piece on vision workshops and the ubiquitous "interactive experience" sticky note https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/ai-is-not-the-future-of-software-development-but-the-last-dying-gasp-of-the-past - Dave Snowden — Estuarine Mapping: https://cynefin.io/wiki/Estuarine\_framework - Stafford Beer — POSIWID ("the purpose of a system is what it does") - The Serenity Prayer (Reinhold Niebuhr) - Intro to Multiverse Mapping: https://youtu.be/577\_CXCfHMI?si=NhgLcF4KqL0n2VN7 Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com * * * Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.