Tool
Where have we come from, and where are we heading? The Time Travel tool helps participants understand the arc of change from the past into the future.
Type
alternative futures, futures thinking activatio, operating environment analysis, trends
Time: 15–30 minutes
Participants: Individual work or small groups of 2–4 people
Level of facilitation: Easy / Medium / Challenging
Materials: Time Travel worksheet, trend cards
Developed by: Lilli Poussa & Terhi Ylikoski, Sitra
Understanding change may be challenging, as we tend to imagine the future as a continuation of the present – that is, largely similar to today. By looking not only ahead but also back in time, and by reflecting on how much things can change over a ten-year period, we can better grasp alternative futures.
This tool is particularly useful when you want to tune into future-oriented thinking and understand how a topic or trend has developed from the past towards the future. The tool can also be used to reflect on change in one’s own life, both past and future.
Choose a topic whose past and future you want to explore. The topic may be broad, such as “youth”, or more specific, such as your organisation’s sector. Alternatively, you can also focus on a trend and choose one from Sitra’s megatrend cards, for example.
1. Write the selected topic or trend on the timeline at the present moment.
2. First, look ten years into the past: what kinds of changes, events, phenomena or developments related to the topic have occurred over the past ten years? What about the past five years? Record your observations on the worksheet.
3. Next, explore possible future directions ten years ahead: what could happen? What kinds of changes, events, phenomena or developments might emerge from the present?
4. Bonus: At the end, you can draw connections between your observations about the past and possible future consequences.
Time Travel worksheet