Why did I write ŘEŽ now, of all times?
One possible version of the future is that people stop writing books and bookshops turn into second-hand shops.
Not that they would stop reading them. It would just stop making sense to write them.
Have you read The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson? There is a book in it that raises a child.
The Illustrated Primer reacts to what is happening around its reader and tells her stories cut to fit whatever she is going through. Step by step it teaches her to read, to count, to encrypt and to move through society.
A book that reacts to context. In 1995 that was science fiction. Today? I have a friend who generates books for his holiday. Sure, it is less interactive than the Primer, but the direction is there.
How do you talk about the future of your field today?
Let us leave the book business aside and make it more personal. What do you reach for? SWOT. Porter’s five forces. The BCG matrix. Brainstorming on a flipchart. Science fiction. Nothing.
The last option is probably the worst, at least for those of us who make a living with our heads. Because generative AI is changing our work fast.
My experience with tools like SWOT is that you end up with a list. A list of strengths, a list of opportunities, a list of factors.
A list shows where you are now. How the world around you will change is not in it — and that is exactly what you need to talk about.
We use Wardley maps
That is why we draw Wardley maps before every big decision. A map connects the customer’s world with the supplier’s world, and above all it lets you take apart not just the present, but the future.
A map is dynamic... because business is dynamic. Components move, and that lets us talk about the future without having to dream it up.
AI feels like a bolt from the blue today. On the evolution axis it has 80 years behind it: the mathematical model of a neuron from 1943, bespoke systems around IBM Watson, and today’s breakthrough in generative AI.
Because the breakthrough has happened, the next step is boring and readable. Generative AI will become invisible infrastructure within five years, just like electricity or the cloud. It has happened many times before. It will happen many times again.
So what
Today you talk about the future in a meeting. Everyone holds a different picture of it and nobody notices the differences. The decision goes to whoever speaks with the most confidence and has the best story.
What you want is a discussion where disagreement shows up before you pour money into a project.
Mapping has its own chapter in ŘEŽ, Zmapujte terén. Over 40 maps, strategic moves for small and mid-sized companies, and a method for running the discussion over a map.
The book costs 595 CZK in pre-sale. Until 31 August the bundle with the video course also includes the card set.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
– John Acton
Weekend reading
Marriage is a long-term contract. Does it make sense to sign it?
