You’ve poisoned our recyclobot again
Standing before the softly glowing workspace, she allows a confident smile to spread across her face. As her voice resonates through the virtual auditorium, she begins her conclusion.
- Our extensive study involving over 50,000 households worldwide strongly confirms the trend we've observed: our customers tend to gravitate toward two opposing methods of integrating our products into their homes.
With a graceful gesture, the air around her shimmers when the workspace transforms into a data landscape. Floating charts, diagrams, and breakdowns materialise research data in the air.
- Interestingly, this polarization is universal and visible regardless of local cultural, economic, or demographic differences. Let me show you two short clips for a quick demo. For those unfamiliar with our research protocol, we turn all collected data into 3D animations, rendering the source material in a way that guarantees participants’ full privacy.
A floating movie frame expands in the centre of the workspace, revealing an early morning in a bright, minimalist kitchen. A visibly unhappy woman stands beside a trash bin emitting grunting noises, its display showing a sickly face. Next to her, a seven-year-old boy stares down at his feet, guilt written across his face as she points accusingly at the machine.
- You’ve poisoned our recyclobot again. Is it this hard to sort the trash correctly? Look at it. Poor thing. It will take us good few days to make him feel good again.
- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.
Animation transitions swiftly to the next scene.
A spacious living room shows a family of four lounging around the couch. A man puts down the book and stands up, stretching his arms and yawning.
- Ok. Let me fix us some dinner.
Before he finishes the sentence, the whole kitchen area lights up, the oven turns on, the fridge opens, and the cupboards and drawers open, revealing hidden appliances and cooking utensils.
A wave of enthusiastic reactions fills the space as the view rolls back to focus on data again.
- These two clips highlight the two opposing ways our customers integrate our products into their lives. We call these approaches Forest Thinking and Tree-by-Tree Thinking. Forest thinkers see our interconnected appliances as a harmonious ecosystem, a unified system guided by an invisible “spirit of the forest”. On the other hand, Tree-by-Tree thinkers treat each appliance as an individual entity, engaging with them separately as standalone separate beings.
She pauses as charts and breakdowns turn into a timeline.
- Several years ago, in response to market trends, we shifted from a monthly subscription model to usage-based fees. This change provided our customers with greater flexibility but also significantly disrupted our ability to accurately estimate and forecast usage and revenue. With the per-job payment model, we had to rethink our approach to understanding customer behaviour, focusing on actual usage patterns rather than self-reported data. In short, we focus on what people actually do instead of what they say they do.
Some supportive reactions appear here and there as she continues.
- To navigate this new landscape, we moved away from traditional declarative research methods, like surveys and feedback forms, which far too often reflect what people think they do or intend to do. Instead, we adopted observational studies and live trials in a global sample of customer homes. This way, we can gain authentic insights into behaviours and preferences by directly observing how customers interact with our products in real-life settings.
The workspace transforms into a global map dotted with the logos of prestigious universities.
- I’m proud to announce that we are working with world-leading research institutions to use our findings to help scientists understand how personality traits and demographic factors influence human perception and interactions with complex systems. We hope that a better understanding of how people use our portfolio of interconnected products will contribute to a better understanding of non-linear thinking.
The workspace transitions to the organisational map.
- All this content and supporting data have already updated decision-making algorithms in all company domains. So, no matter what you're working on, your processes, estimates, forecasts, etc., will now use the latest data.
A wave of happy and enthusiastic reactions appears around the map.
- Thank you, and with that I’m ready to answer your questions.
The facilitator smiles as the list of questions dynamically reorders based on participant votes.
- Our top question is: How can we innovate without collecting ideas?
Murmurs of agreement ripple through the virtual audience. She acknowledges the question with a thoughtful nod.
- Thank you for upvoting this question! Research creates evidence you can act on, not valid solutions. We need proof of potential regular usage to bring something successful to market, not just the idea that someone declares will change their daily life. People share idealised ideas about their idealised lives. It’s all biased and declarative.
She takes a deep breath, her eyes scanning the attentive faces of her colleagues’ digital representations.
- I understand that this shift might seem counterintuitive, but by focusing on actual behaviours rather than declared intentions, we're better positioned to create products that truly resonate with our customers. In the end, the biggest growth always comes from creating products that people didn't even realise they needed but can't imagine living without once they have them. Our research team is on a mission to provide solid evidence. Evidence that empowers our product and engineering teams to innovate effective solutions we can then trial to identify and validate unaddressed demands.
- Ok. We have time for one more question. Oh, this one is trending nicely. How do these two opposing usage scenarios affect our visual automation capabilities?
- Great question. Thank you. As of now, we don’t see it as a risk. Our visual automation remains compatible with over 99% of consumer products available on the market today. Whether producers rely on sensored packaging, micro-tagging fresh produce or submitting detail models for visual, audio, or proximity recognition, our submission system offers quick and full compatibility with the platform.
A wave of positive reactions fills the space.
- And we are at the top of the hour.
- Thank you. My virtual assistant has already started answering all other questions, but if you have more, ping me directly.
Even more supportive reactions fly through the workspace as the facilitator takes over.
- Thank you! This was amazing. If you feel your brain is fried like mine, don’t worry. I've got you covered. It's time for a quick break before we continue with the second set of team presentations. Take time to recover, and see you in ten.
Smooth jazz fills the virtual space as participants' avatars begin their idle animations. Some dance, others stretch, morph, or turn to stone, signalling that their owners are already enjoying a well-deserved break.
Hello Practical Futurists,
Welcome back from the future, where everything you bring home is packed with sensors, micro-tagged or modelled to be recognised by all your home appliances.
Hit the "Like" button at the top or bottom of this page to inspire others and help them discover the stories you've enjoyed.Good leaders don't just wait for the future.
They help to create it.
Let's dive into our weekly workout, where we use futures thinking and product sci-fi to build a future-proof mindset.
To spark your imagination, we'll start with an inspiring quote:
"The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it."
Mark Weiser
As always, we start by linking the story to your personal life, making it more relatable and engaging.
Personal life reflection prompts:
Are you a Forest Thinker or a Tree-by-Tree Thinker when it comes to complex aspects of your life?
How do you prefer to communicate your needs and preferences to the companies whose products you use? What motivates you to provide feedback?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable are you with making decisions based on observed patterns rather than immediate feedback?
How do you feel about AI assistants answering questions on behalf of your friends and colleagues? What one thing could make you feel more optimistic about it?
You made it look easy!
Now, let's focus on the context of the industry, organization, team, service, or product you're working with.
Professional life reflection prompts
How can leaders ensure that AI and automation enhance rather than replace human decision-making?
In what 2 ways could your organisation create a culture that prioritises evidence-based innovation over traditional brainstorming? What steps could help bridge the gap between evidence gathered from customer behaviour and actionable product ideas?
What kind of idle animation would best represent your professional identity in virtual workspaces?
What 3 operational adjustments would be required if your current organisation transitioned from an existing pricing to a usage-based pricing structure? How would you address them?
How would you ensure that research insights improve not only products but also internal processes in your organisation?
In what 3 ways could real-time data integration across all company domains improve planning and forecasting in your organisation?
You did amazing! That’s everything we have for today.
Thank you for expanding your imagination with us. Leaders with bold ideas move our world forward.
Think bright, lead brighter, and see you soon.
Pawel Halicki
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