We've been holding some conversations recently around strategy for the evolving socio-economic organism here at VEDA. Trying to predict the future--that sort of vain thing. But not entirely idle: there seem to be some handy lenses and useful processes available to scout forward and detect opportunities, obstacles, and alternate realities in time for deft 'trim-tab' course corrections that will connect us swiftly to success. Wait--success? What's that...and who says? Hold on, we'll get there.
The diagram above outlines one approach to an "open foresight" exercise in development. This is an enticing, adaptable process, with substantive deliverables. Fun for the whole family! Or any sort of living-, working-, believing-together group endeavor. We're in a small cluster here physically for now, but certainly the door is...open! Your input always encouraged And how about those looking glasses? What shape are they, and how do we use them to *peer* (pun intended) forward?
Well, I got to thinking some more, and started shying away from that edgy triangular arrangement to find something with a little more oomph, more flow, more...infinity. Second take is getting us there:
The diagram above outlines one approach to an "open foresight" exercise in development. This is an enticing, adaptable process, with substantive deliverables. Fun for the whole family! Or any sort of living-, working-, believing-together group endeavor. We're in a small cluster here physically for now, but certainly the door is...open! Your input always encouraged And how about those looking glasses? What shape are they, and how do we use them to *peer* (pun intended) forward?
Well, I got to thinking some more, and started shying away from that edgy triangular arrangement to find something with a little more oomph, more flow, more...infinity. Second take is getting us there:
You have here four lenses to employ; four access points to an understanding of the dynamics of organization and execution. These are each open-ended assessments, continually building on one another in a rhythmic cycle. How do they connect? What is the thread of meaning which is woven continually around this path, and how do we extract it for interpretation?
I'm inclined to say it's by writing stories, 'user stories' of the future we want--success stories! To assess patterns of meaning, let's pull out the basic journalistic toolkit of inquiry: five W's and a rebel H. The important bits for our predictive purposes are these: what, why, and how. If we zoom in to the general region of sustainable open enterprise, we can elaborate some of the designs for an emerging values ecology:
What - our assets. What we have now. Where we are at. What is abundant and liquid
Why - the values canvas, the purpose, the core ethics to which we share reference
How - the roadmap, the targets (future "whats"), obstacles, means of progress, scope of possibility
Who/When/Where - the value net ecosystem of exchange, performance, and opportunity, in flow
This could all go in many directions, but the idea is to keep a shared set of reference points for actors within a collaborative system to synchronize to. We here at Neshobe have a pretty good bead on common values. We've been taking stock of assets in a revealing way. Now we move towards some useful roadmaps and an emerging set of working value systems which prompt the immediate steps to achieve a resilient network of good in-formation.
Can "value" mean many things to you too? Quantities & qualities? Connection & currency? Commons?
I'm inclined to say it's by writing stories, 'user stories' of the future we want--success stories! To assess patterns of meaning, let's pull out the basic journalistic toolkit of inquiry: five W's and a rebel H. The important bits for our predictive purposes are these: what, why, and how. If we zoom in to the general region of sustainable open enterprise, we can elaborate some of the designs for an emerging values ecology:
What - our assets. What we have now. Where we are at. What is abundant and liquid
Why - the values canvas, the purpose, the core ethics to which we share reference
How - the roadmap, the targets (future "whats"), obstacles, means of progress, scope of possibility
Who/When/Where - the value net ecosystem of exchange, performance, and opportunity, in flow
This could all go in many directions, but the idea is to keep a shared set of reference points for actors within a collaborative system to synchronize to. We here at Neshobe have a pretty good bead on common values. We've been taking stock of assets in a revealing way. Now we move towards some useful roadmaps and an emerging set of working value systems which prompt the immediate steps to achieve a resilient network of good in-formation.
Can "value" mean many things to you too? Quantities & qualities? Connection & currency? Commons?