CONTEXT
The client was a Mexican international conglomerate whose subisidiaries are in the construction and finance industries.
Although they have a strong performing portfolio, their subsidiaries have a conservative workflow and culture; the construction and finance companies are not known for nimble, innovative collaborations. The client asked IDEO to help foster this culture of creativity in their companies.
Although they have a strong performing portfolio, their subsidiaries have a conservative workflow and culture; the construction and finance companies are not known for nimble, innovative collaborations. The client asked IDEO to help foster this culture of creativity in their companies.
DESIGN OUTCOME
We redesigned their biannual conference to focus on the topics of purpose, customer-centered design, and the importance of thinking about the far future.
I lead the workstream of bringing the futures portion to life.
I lead the workstream of bringing the futures portion to life.
Futures Talk
A talk given by Paul Saffo. We invited him to introduce the futures portion of the conference, and collaborated to align parts of his talk with our content.
Futures Activity
A brainstorming activity played by 250 C-suite K-Forum attendees intended to activate collaboration and creative confidence.
Futures Exhibit
A room that highlighted three rapidly evolving external factors that will affect the construction and finance industries, along with fictional businesses and service offerings that come out of these scenarios.
01
USING FORESIGHT METHODS TO LAY
A KNOWLEDGE FOUNDATION
We started by gathering signals in the forms of news articles and research papers. Reading trend reports gave us a quick overview of the biggest concerns of the industries.
We catalogued the signals in a spreadsheet but also put them up on a board. The post-it clusters under each STEEP category kept us in check about what areas we were neglecting to research and inspired us to see connections and patterns.
We catalogued the signals in a spreadsheet but also put them up on a board. The post-it clusters under each STEEP category kept us in check about what areas we were neglecting to research and inspired us to see connections and patterns.
02
CONDUCTING LOOKING-IN INTERVIEWS TO UNDERSTAND FUTURES MINDSETS WITHIN THE COMPANIES
We interviewed employees of the subsidiaries to get a sense of how to design the conference to best suit their current mindsets and needs.
For the futures-focused portion of these interviews, we designed a series of futures-focused prompts to help us understand the timescale and specificity around how people were imagining the future of their company and industry. These prompt cards accommodated several layers of depth of knowledge; if people had a hard time being generative about how a technology would affect their industry, we had some concepts handy to kickstart the conversation.
For the futures-focused portion of these interviews, we designed a series of futures-focused prompts to help us understand the timescale and specificity around how people were imagining the future of their company and industry. These prompt cards accommodated several layers of depth of knowledge; if people had a hard time being generative about how a technology would affect their industry, we had some concepts handy to kickstart the conversation.
03
DESIGNING THE FUTURES ACTIVITY
How might we design an engaging yet simple futured-focused activity for 250 people?
We wanted to design an activity that energized people through the process of creating futures-facing ideas (especially since they’ve already sat through a day of heady talks).
We based the activity on Stuart Candy’s generative Thing From The Future card game. Our research insights around their futures mindsets lead us to modify the game to a more digestible and straightfoward version for our audience; the context card prompts of “growth // 50 years” were too vague and too far into the future, and the quality cards were distractingly emotional for quick nature of the activity. The card prompts were carefully rewritten to strike the right balance of realistic and fantastical.
We tested our modifications with multiple rounds of the game with the core team and other IDEOers.
The participants played three rounds of the game, with the last round changing the yellow card to the participant’s industry. This tied the activity back to the core message of the futures portion of the conference.
We wanted to design an activity that energized people through the process of creating futures-facing ideas (especially since they’ve already sat through a day of heady talks).
We based the activity on Stuart Candy’s generative Thing From The Future card game. Our research insights around their futures mindsets lead us to modify the game to a more digestible and straightfoward version for our audience; the context card prompts of “growth // 50 years” were too vague and too far into the future, and the quality cards were distractingly emotional for quick nature of the activity. The card prompts were carefully rewritten to strike the right balance of realistic and fantastical.
We tested our modifications with multiple rounds of the game with the core team and other IDEOers.
The participants played three rounds of the game, with the last round changing the yellow card to the participant’s industry. This tied the activity back to the core message of the futures portion of the conference.
04
DESIGNING THE FUTURES EXHIBIT
How might we design approachable and provocative visions of potential futures for both construction and finance industries?
Our initial idea was to create an emotions-driven immersive experience. However, the constraint of time (people would only have 20 minutes to explore the content) lead us to design an exhibit that was minimally linear and quickly digestible. More listicle, less article.
There were many iterations of how we would frame the futures narratives: should we create a series of newspaper clippings covering how each company reacted to one drastic change in STEEP categories? Should we backcast from an achieved future, and show each company the steps they took to get there?
We landed on picking three variables whose evolution would affect both industries, and showing future construction and finance-related services and businesses that exist in that future. Showing the industries together was an important detail — both will be affected by the future we end up in.
Our initial idea was to create an emotions-driven immersive experience. However, the constraint of time (people would only have 20 minutes to explore the content) lead us to design an exhibit that was minimally linear and quickly digestible. More listicle, less article.
There were many iterations of how we would frame the futures narratives: should we create a series of newspaper clippings covering how each company reacted to one drastic change in STEEP categories? Should we backcast from an achieved future, and show each company the steps they took to get there?
We landed on picking three variables whose evolution would affect both industries, and showing future construction and finance-related services and businesses that exist in that future. Showing the industries together was an important detail — both will be affected by the future we end up in.
Signals from Today
Some of these signals were well-known facts to establish credibility and others were intentionally more niche to earn trust for taking the future concepts into a more extreme space.
Future Narrative
A story of a potential future that is extrapolated from the previous signals.
Future Artifact & Concepts
Five concepts from the future; we chose one concept to bring to life as a physical artifact, as a further provocation.
Chief Resources Officer
Large companies are hiring Chief Resources Officers. They design efficient workstreams to conserve resources (energy, materials, time) by understanding the industry’s systems and their company’s systems.
Large companies are hiring Chief Resources Officers. They design efficient workstreams to conserve resources (energy, materials, time) by understanding the industry’s systems and their company’s systems.
Reservoir Materials
Reservoir Materials manufactures building materials that harvest and store energy. Their low-cost solar panel shingles and energy storage bricks are their most popular products.
Reservoir Materials manufactures building materials that harvest and store energy. Their low-cost solar panel shingles and energy storage bricks are their most popular products.
NPB Loans
Financial institutions have loan products that incentivize non-petrol-based investments. Some of these products can be fairly expensive; creating breakthrough substitute products often requires significant research and development.
Financial institutions have loan products that incentivize non-petrol-based investments. Some of these products can be fairly expensive; creating breakthrough substitute products often requires significant research and development.
