Duration: 2.5-3 hours

Participants: Cross-functional team (designers, developers, product managers, leadership, customer advocates)

Purpose: Envision your ideal future design state, extract enduring values, and articulate guiding principles that will help get you there

WORKSHOP FLOW

01 Introduction (15 minutes)

• Explain workshop purpose: Using future visioning to identify enduring design values

• Set ground rules for imaginative thinking and suspending constraints

• Introduce the concept of "backcasting" - looking back from a desired future

• Create a safe environment for bold, ambitious thinking

02 Individual Future Statements (20 minutes)

• Provide prompt: "Imagine our product/company 5 years from now at its absolute best"

• Ask participants to write individual responses to specific questions:

  • What are users saying about our product?

  • What design attributes are we known for?

  • What problems have we solved that seemed impossible today?

  • What aspects of our current design approach have we maintained?

  • What did we leave behind or change from our current approach?

• Individual silent writing on templates

03 Small Group Synthesis (30 minutes)

• Divide into groups of 3-4 people

• Groups share individual visions and look for common themes

• Identify shared elements across visions

• Create a consolidated future vision on poster/digital board

• Prepare to present to larger group

04 Vision Presentations (30 minutes)

• Each group presents their consolidated future vision (5 minutes per group)

• Other participants note striking or resonant elements

• Brief clarifying questions only (deep discussion comes later)

• Facilitator notes common themes across presentations

05 Break (10 minutes)

06 Backcasting Exercise (40 minutes)

• Working backward from future visions

• What enduring values enabled that future?

• What principles guided decisions along the way?

• What had to remain consistent despite changing technology and trends?

• Each group creates a timeline showing evolution from present to future

• Identify 3-5 core principles that guided the journey

07 Principle Refinement (30 minutes)

• Return to full group

• Share identified principles from each group

• Cluster similar principles

• Discuss and refine into 5-7 core principles

• Test principles against future visions: Would these principles lead us there?

08 Next Steps and Closing (15 minutes)

• Recap the refined principles

• Discuss how these connect to current projects and decisions

• Plan for formalizing principles into a manifesto

• Assign responsibilities for documentation and next steps

REQUIRED TOOLS & MATERIALS

• Large whiteboards or wall space

• Poster paper for group visions

• Sticky notes (multiple colors)

• Markers and pens

• Templates printed for individual and group work

• Timeline materials (large paper rolls, markers)

• Dot stickers for voting/prioritizing

Digital Workshop Tools (for remote/hybrid sessions)

• Video conferencing platform with breakout rooms

• Digital whiteboard tool (Miro, FigJam, Mural)

• Shared document for note-taking

• Digital timeline tools

• Templates shared in advance

PREPARATION MATERIALS

• Future vision prompt sheets

• Examples of visionary design statements from admired companies

• Backcasting timeline templates

• Principle formulation guides

• Workshop agenda

WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES

Immediate Deliverables (Day of Workshop)

1. Individual Future Visions: All participants' written responses

2. Group Future Vision Posters: Consolidated vision statements

3. Backcasting Timelines: Visual representations of the journey

4. Draft Principles: Initial formulations of guiding principles

5. Discussion Notes: Key insights from presentations and discussions

Post-Workshop Deliverables (1-3 days after)

1. Future Vision Summary including:

   • Synthesized vision of the ideal future state

   • Key attributes and characteristics

   • Notable quotations and descriptors

2. Core Principles Document including:

   • 5-7 refined principles with clear statements

   • Explanations of how each principle supports the future vision

   • Examples of how principles would guide decisions

3. Implementation Roadmap outlining:

   • Near-term applications of principles

   • Process for formalizing principles into a manifesto

   • Plan for socializing principles across the organization

WORKSHOP FACILITATION REQUIREMENTS

• Primary facilitator comfortable with generative exercises

• Visual recorder to capture key themes

• Timekeeper to maintain flow

• Space arrangement that supports both individual reflection and group work