Foresight Resources
I offer a range of foresight resources, now all free. All are designed to to help you find and use your foresight capacities in their everyday lives and work. Happy reading!
Books
Foresight Infused Strategy: A How-To Guide for Using Foresight in Practice
Overview
You will find many books on trends shaping the future, about what the future might look like in ‘x’ number of years, how the foresight field is emerging and the latest methods to use. If that’s what you are looking for, this is not the book for you.
The origins of this book came from my work, where people have often asked how they can start using foresight approaches right now, rather than having to do a course or attend training sessions. The book provides enough information for you to understand what foresight is all about and to identify how you might use the approaches in your organisation.
One of my guiding principles since establishing Thinking Futures in 2007 and then Foresight Futures in 2018 has been to share information on what I know about using foresight as widely as I can.
My book is published with a Creative Commons License so that it is accessible and usable in practice.
Read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Strategic Futures Guides
My guides are detailed introductions to particular aspects of using foresight in practice. They are not comprehensive guides but are rather intended to help people new to foresight to being using foresight. The guides aim to provide a more in depth understanding of the context that exists when you are using foresight - something most other guides miss.
I have published these guides to assist people who want to move to the next level of of futures thinking by using their foresight consciously. They are based on what I wished I had known when I was asked to integrate futures work into the planning framework at an Australian university in 1999. I had to look up ‘foresight’ on Google to find out what I was dealing with, and I’m hoping these guides will save you that step in your futures journey!
My organization is a nonprofit social service agency that has been operating under a strategic planning process for the last 4 years. We are looking now to infuse the organization with information on thinking strategically - to support and/or supersede the planning process and the information in your document is perfect for our level of need on the topic. Glenda Buzzelli, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Cleveland
I have published these guides to assist people who want to move to the next level of of futures thinking by using their foresight consciously. They are based on what I wished I had known when I was asked to integrate futures work into the planning framework at an Australian university in 1999. I had to look up ‘foresight’ on Google to find out what I was dealing with, and I’m hoping these guides will save you that step in your futures journey!
ALL THE GUIDES AND FREE DOWNLOADS CAN BE DOWNLOADED TOGETHER - YOU CAN CHOOSE THE DOWNLOADS YOU WANT - OR ALL OF THEM.
CLICK THE BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE FOR ACCESS TO PDF FILES.
Environmental Scanning: What it is and how to do it
This guide is designed to provide you with enough information to understand the critical steps you need to follow to set up an effective environmental scanning program in your organisation.
Environmental scanning in a strategic sense is about building a global context for your work, your organisation, your competitive environment and your industry. It is about recognising that the future is unlikely to be anything like the past, and that we therefore need to spend some time understanding the trends and likely influencers on the future of our organisations. High quality scanning is the core of effective futures work.
I have put this guide together to assist people who want to move to the next level of strategy development – beyond formulaic strategic planning. It is based on what I wished I had known when I was asked to integrate futures work into the planning framework at an Australian university in 1999. I had to look up ‘foresight’ on google to find out what I was dealing with, and I’m hoping this guide will save you that step in your futures journey!
Contents
Preface
Using this Guide
Part 1: Setting up your Scanning System
Part 2: Doing Environment System
Part 3: Interpreting and Reporting your Scanning
Finally: Keep Going
References
Need Help? Questions? Contact Foresight Futures
Trend Report Template
Foresight: An Introduction $7.95 (AUD, GST Free)
An overview guide that provides an introduction to using foresight thinking, frameworks and processes in practice. It is aimed at people new to foresight and includes some lessons I’ve learned in the more than 20 years I’ve been using foresight.
Contents
Introduction
About Foresight
About Foresight and Strategy
About Foresight Methods
Using Foresight Approaches
Lessons from the Field
References and Resources
Free Downloads
Some papers and case studies about using foresight in practice are available in this section. Free to download now.
The History of Foresight: A Short Overview
How foresight and Futures Studies emerged
Scenario Theory and Practice: An Overview
An extract from my PhD, so complete with references
Crystal Ball Gazing or Strategic Thinking: what is this Futures thing all about
A conference paper to explore the essential elements of Futures Studies
Implementing Strategic Foresight: A Case Study
A conference paper from 2002, co-presented with Joseph Voros, on a case study in implementing foresight
The Rise and Fall of Foresight
A case study of the implementation of foresight in a university
Learning Land: A Scenario
A presentation for a conference panel on education and learning
Questions about the Resources?
Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the Guides after you have downloaded them.
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