Rules of the Game in Futures Work

Do we have any?

Photo by Denis Volkov on Unsplash

I am in Bangkok for the Asian Pacific Network Conference (APFN) where I’m helping out with the session on Foresight and Well- Being with Steven Lichty.

I’m thinking about how to finalise my role and contribution in ways that will add something useful to the session which will focus around head, heart and hand that is being used. As I was working on this and reflecting on my own HHH experience in futures work, I wondered if people who work in the field as consultants or in other roles think there is a set of ‘rules of the game’ that shape how we come to understand futures work? And that guide you in your conscious/unconscious decisions in your work?

There is, of course, no rule book as such, so I’m wondering how we, coming from such diverse backgrounds to the field, find and develop our practice over time in ways that are familiar to most of us - in a cognitive sense, rather than tools used. Do we have rules of the game at all?