Many people ask me what a futurist does and I answer differently every time. Partly because I don't know what sort of futurist I am yet, and partly because what I do varies so much from day to day.
Yesterday looked something like this:
08.30
Reflecting on a communications strategy for an open foresight workshop I'm running for Hub Melbourne.
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10.30
Uploading a slideshare presentation for the information session held the day before.
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12.50
Tweeting and reading
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14.00
Driving out to Footscray with my friends and fellow foresight practitioners Gregor and Kieran to check out Centre for Transformative Creativity - an upcoming hackerspace and makerlab in the the Western surburbs.
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15.00
Watching a dog.
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16.30
Dropping off the book A Theory of Fun at Hub Melbourne.
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18.00
Riding my bike out to Swinburne university to explore the essence of foresight with the Melbourne Strategic Foresight Meetup.
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21.00
Drinking a beer at The Fox hotel in Collingwood.
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So, that is what this futurist does.
UPDATE:
After posting the above I thought it might be interesting to complement what a futurist does, with what a futurist thinks and feels during a day. Here goes....
Yesterday looked something like this:
08.30
Doing: Reflecting on a communications strategy for an open foresight workshop I'm running for Hub Melbourne.
Thinking: How can I communicate the output of this foresight process to different layers of an organisation with free/cheap on and offline tools and platforms?
Feeling: Excitement. Frameworks and models are cool...
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10.30
Doing: Uploading a slideshare presentation for the information session held the day before.
Thinking: Will anyone ever look at this? It doesn't matter. If they do they do. If they don't they don't.
Feeling: Boredom after a while. Powerpoint is not fun
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12.50
Doing: Tweeting and reading
Thinking: About all the possibilities and pathways we can take for the future
Feeling: Happy and hopeful
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14.00
Doing: Driving out to Footscray with my friends and fellow foresight practitioners Gregor and Kieran to check out Centre for Transformative Creativity - an upcoming hackerspace and makerlab in the the Western surburbs.
Thinking: Networked creation spaces might be the way to start a true peer-to-peer revolution, which are combined drone labs, social enterprise incubators, learning cafés and places to build social capital for immigrants.
Feeling: Overwhelmed and excited
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15.00
Doing: Watching a dog.
Thinking: Nothing
Feeling: Relaxed
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16.30
Doing: Dropping off the book A Theory of Fun at Hub Melbourne.
Thinking: More people (including me) should probably read this book.
Feeling: Good
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18.00
Doing: Riding my bike out to Swinburne university to explore the essence of foresight with the Melbourne Strategic Foresight Meetup.
Thinking: About the future and what I will do as a futurist
Feeling: Content, challenged
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21.00
Doing:Drinking a beer at The Fox hotel in Collingwood.
Thinking: How will all this make sense in hindsight?
Feeling: Hungry, tired, inspired.
![]()
So, that is what this futurist does, thinks and feels.
Yesterday looked something like this:
08.30
Reflecting on a communications strategy for an open foresight workshop I'm running for Hub Melbourne.
10.30
Uploading a slideshare presentation for the information session held the day before.
12.50
Tweeting and reading
14.00
Driving out to Footscray with my friends and fellow foresight practitioners Gregor and Kieran to check out Centre for Transformative Creativity - an upcoming hackerspace and makerlab in the the Western surburbs.
15.00
Watching a dog.
16.30
Dropping off the book A Theory of Fun at Hub Melbourne.
18.00
Riding my bike out to Swinburne university to explore the essence of foresight with the Melbourne Strategic Foresight Meetup.
21.00
Drinking a beer at The Fox hotel in Collingwood.
So, that is what this futurist does.
UPDATE:
After posting the above I thought it might be interesting to complement what a futurist does, with what a futurist thinks and feels during a day. Here goes....
Yesterday looked something like this:
08.30
Doing: Reflecting on a communications strategy for an open foresight workshop I'm running for Hub Melbourne.
Thinking: How can I communicate the output of this foresight process to different layers of an organisation with free/cheap on and offline tools and platforms?
Feeling: Excitement. Frameworks and models are cool...
10.30
Doing: Uploading a slideshare presentation for the information session held the day before.
Thinking: Will anyone ever look at this? It doesn't matter. If they do they do. If they don't they don't.
Feeling: Boredom after a while. Powerpoint is not fun
12.50
Doing: Tweeting and reading
Thinking: About all the possibilities and pathways we can take for the future
Feeling: Happy and hopeful
14.00
Doing: Driving out to Footscray with my friends and fellow foresight practitioners Gregor and Kieran to check out Centre for Transformative Creativity - an upcoming hackerspace and makerlab in the the Western surburbs.
Thinking: Networked creation spaces might be the way to start a true peer-to-peer revolution, which are combined drone labs, social enterprise incubators, learning cafés and places to build social capital for immigrants.
Feeling: Overwhelmed and excited
15.00
Doing: Watching a dog.
Thinking: Nothing
Feeling: Relaxed
16.30
Doing: Dropping off the book A Theory of Fun at Hub Melbourne.
Thinking: More people (including me) should probably read this book.
Feeling: Good
18.00
Doing: Riding my bike out to Swinburne university to explore the essence of foresight with the Melbourne Strategic Foresight Meetup.
Thinking: About the future and what I will do as a futurist
Feeling: Content, challenged
21.00
Doing:Drinking a beer at The Fox hotel in Collingwood.
Thinking: How will all this make sense in hindsight?
Feeling: Hungry, tired, inspired.
So, that is what this futurist does, thinks and feels.