Thinking Long and Short Term: Reframing Our Timelines

What would happen if we considered the potential impacts of our work on other schedules?

This provocation was sparked at EPIC, a conference for researchers, designers, creators, and innovators interested in advancing the value of ethnography. The 2023 conference theme was Friction. Now, months later, I’m still considering how we can introduce positive friction in our process and take advantage of more opportunities by reframing our timelines.

Considering long-term impacts

On the very first day of EPIC, someone asked how many people think three years out? Most of the room raised their hand. 10 years? 20? By the time they got to 50, only one person in the room was raising their hand.

Our teams are always thinking a few years out, at least; however, I rarely encounter serious discussions thinking a decade or more in the future. The pressure our clients are facing from their stakeholders tends to skew the discussion towards focusing on more immediate results, but much could be improved by making space for this long-term thinking, even if it’s just an hour spent on potential outcomes. Considering possible unintended consequences of our work decades from now can increase awareness of downstream impacts and reduce risks. This could allow digital transformation work to be a more enduring foundation for future innovation. Exploring generational trends will enrich the context we’re imagining, highlighting new opportunities or preventing additional rework.

The value of slowing down

Another angle to consider is intentionally adding friction to our projects, to help us purposefully move more slowly. We’re all aware of the ever-present time crunch to deliver impact. But there is progress to be made by slowing down.

On a panel, Megan McGrath, IBM Z Futures Demand Lead, discussed how innovations with the most staying power are often released slowly, citing mainframes as an example. “The first [mainframe] was built in 1952…but 95% of transactions run on them.” She discussed how mainframes were developed slowly through a process that ensured they were incredibly secure and backward compatible, which increases the mainframe’s staying power.

Michael Scroggins, lecturer at UCLA’s Institute for Society and Genetics, added to this by saying, “A lot of times, the most disruptive innovations that have the most staying power are done very slowly.”

So much could be learned from this. We’re often incentivized to be disruptive and move quickly, but this can also lessen our impact. When change is jarring (a good sign a team isn’t moving at the speed of trust), it’s usually met with strong, negative reactions. Slower change allows it to be accepted with more ease and incorporated into current contexts.

Additionally, quality takes time. The consequences of shortcuts taken from a “move fast and break things” mentality have been part of technology’s general understanding for years. This doesn’t prevent tight budgets and timelines from cutting risk assessments, proper testing, and other activities that minimize harm and ensure work is well-received.

Planning ahead by considering different, simultaneous timeframes

The value to be gained from different timelines isn’t always about taking more time, but how we think. I’ve been thinking about holding multiple timelines at once thanks to Klaus Weber’s keynote on sustainability transitions. Weber used the metaphor of pace layers to highlight how different pieces of an organization change at different rates. Just as it’s easier to switch out a house’s furniture than its foundation, adjusting software is faster than influencing how people view their jobs or a company’s business model.

Transformation requires more than just quick fixes. Thinking about multiple pace layers could help our teams see more opportunities than when we’re focused on one avenue of change.

When consultants complete a project, it’s easy to think of the work as done. But, in strategy, that moment is often just the beginning. So much work happens as a strategy unfolds, comes head-to-head with reality, and changes over time. How can we intentionally and proactively prepare for this unfolding in advance? This might be considering how an annual review cycle could align with an employee-facing digital transformation project or how a new feature being developed might complement a new brand story.

Letting the work live a life of its own

Another aspect of timelines I’m considering is how we can let impact arise organically, instead of on a pre-determined schedule. Tonika Johnson’s work on the Folded Map Project explores racial and wealth inequality in Chicago. At EPIC, Johnson highlighted how real change doesn’t happen within one or two grant cycles. In 2017, she connected ‘map twins’—people who live in the same area if you folded Chicago in half, with North Side neighborhoods overlapping with South Side neighborhoods. Her work was focused on fostering conversations about inequity between those communities. However, that program created enduring friendships and organizing to support community needs. “They’ve expanded the project beyond me,” said Johnson.

This impact doesn’t mean a project must be drastically extended. There are many small ways we could build opportunities for our projects to live beyond our direct involvement with the work. I’ve seen research findings inform decisions outside of their initially intended goals. Perhaps an open discussion page around reactions to findings could let a research project spark new questions and conversations. At One North, our approach is to build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, which increases the likelihood of discovering serendipitous opportunities from our work.

Short-term thinking has its merits, too

As we open our eyes to these surprises, we can see smaller impacts we make day to day. While most of these examples have been about extending timelines, there is also a benefit in a mindset of viewing micro-impacts on shorter timelines. Much of the impact of consulting work comes from well-received deliverables and final readouts. But there is also value in the relationships we build and helping others think and work differently.

Shrinking our timelines can shed light on smaller impacts of your work that can be easily missed. It can bring visibility to someone feeling heard and seen, or the impact of product teams asking questions in a new way based on how you’ve worked with them. The more you notice these moments, the more you can celebrate your team’s work— improving morale and proving the value of the work.

It doesn’t have to be a significant amount of time, but some thought towards both the long and short-term impacts of your work can greatly improve the outcomes of your projects. What new opportunities will we find if we take a step back and reconsider our timelines?

If you’re interested in exploring this some more, we’d love to be a partner on that journey.

Photo Credit: Gregoire Jeanneau | Unsplash