One of the threads connecting our research with sales/opportunities is a framework where this work is based on a different approach to screens and input than most are accustomed. Utilizing a mobile and tablet for the better part of 15 -20 years as a primary computer is something of an alternate reality from the “we just discovered smartphones when Apple did it” contingent. Shoot, when the iPhone was introduced, was using Nokia’s N800 Internet Tablet as a primary device while reporting from an event demoing other upcoming devices. The shape of malleable devices and data was normal here while it was appearing novel for others. But appearing futuristic is a relational advantage and disadvantage to those concerned with managing risk, reward, and culture.

These days, the appearance of being futuristic follows signals put out by our use of Oūra and NFC rings, Humane AiPin, and Brilliant Labs’s Frame - let alone the iPad workspace and heavy use of canvas-based and workflow/scripting applications. There’s a “working beyond the screens” artifact alongside the speed and shape of technologies many might be enamored by - even if their imaginations have long held the ability these (and more) wield. Methods and responsibilities follow “transform this into something else” more often than it is to be an alchemist. Much about the negativity which comes with spreadsheets, slide decks, and AI follows along this - the work being done doesn’t seem futuristic because it isn’t. The behaviors elevating work to alchemy comes through a transformation of the elements of work, not just a repackaging of it (for example as noted within this story).

As such, this is also the challenge of the constellation of concepts within Avanceé’s efforts. For instance, user experience (UX) consulting has its foundations in human-computer interactions, behavioral analysis, and various methods of writing/presenting. But, the outcomes by a successful effort shouldn’t simply make an application more aesthetically appealing or improve the ROI of an operational effort. There should also be new behaviors which incentivize not going back to prior art. Perspectives otherwise hidden behind “I wish we could” or the leftover Post-It notes of half-day’s exercise (usually titled “when this is done, what will your job/task look like”) become so real that the future is now a present joyfully and continually opened.

So, is Avanceé’s premise incompatible with working behaviors? No… and yes. We delightfully ask “what are your goals; what issues prevent you from getting to those goals; what resources are available to address those issues” which creating a map of plausible futures. Or to quote a recent dispatch from the Near Futures Laboratory

The integration of the imagined and the real is not only a method for sensemaking and future-making but also a way to explore and expand the human experience. The artifacts produced through this practice serve as tangible manifestations of this integration, providing a space for critical reflection, discussion, and, ultimately, the evolution of new knowledge and possibilities.

There isn’t a single, dominant shape work which isn’t better off by being driven by the creative and emotive nature of its participants. The prescription when there is a fracture in the experience is to re-engineer complexity. You don’t remove it, you lean into how to embrace it. Our posture invites a spatial relationship to screens, data structures, and behaviors. From there, we push and pull with the expected and unpredictable. And as we become stronger in our ability to clarify the results desired - you are embedded into clarity of your mission (or condemned because of it).

It then appears futuristic because others haven’t moved from their past to the present. What really is futuristic goes beyond what can be solved today, pushing past the spreadsheet, deck, and AI chat window to something altogether new, yet familiar.

Avanceé can help you figure out what that might become for you. Unless residing in antiquities is what you want for you, your team, and your markets.