FUTURISTS
start simple and let complexity evolve.

N O T AT A L L W H AT I ( O R A N Y R E P U TA B L E F U T U R I S T S ) D O

FUTURES WHEELS
O N E PA RT O F W H AT I ( A N D O T H E R R E P U TA B L E F U T U R I S T S ) D O

FUTURES
WHEELS:
ORIGINS
Jerome Glenn
Invented futures wheels in 1971 as a method for
policy analysis and forecasting
Also called Implementation Wheel, Impact Wheel,
Mind Mapping, and Webbing.
Joel Barker
“Cascade thinking:” go out at least three orders
of implications to find big surprises
http://www.strategicexploration.com/i-wheel/
index.htm

Futures Wheels: Instructions

Futures Wheels: Instructions
 Enter your assigned change in the inner circle of your
worksheet.

Futures Wheels: Instructions
 Enter your assigned change in the inner circle of your
worksheet.
 Everyone take five minutes by themselves to imagine possible
impacts of this change over the next twenty years.

Futures Wheels: Instructions
 Enter your assigned change in the inner circle of your
worksheet.
 Everyone take five minutes by themselves to imagine possible
impacts of this change over the next twenty years.
 Share your individual lists within your group. Which of these
are immediate, or primary, impacts? Write those down next to
the appropriate “spoke”.

Futures Wheels: Instructions
 Enter your assigned change in the inner circle of your
worksheet.
 Everyone take five minutes by themselves to imagine possible
impacts of this change over the next twenty years.
 Share your individual lists within your group. Which of these
are immediate, or primary, impacts? Write those down next to
the appropriate “spoke”.
 Now consider each primary impact, one by one. Brainstorm
two or three impacts it will have, and map those, connecting
each to its primary impact.

office
“earbud” headphones silent, eye-tracking
sound
to talk to/hear menu navigation
barriers
computer goggles developed
work noisier
work?
travel? economy?
primary effects
home/ voice input / output,
education?
families? biometric passwords
impact communications? hobbies?
environment?
impact
secondary impact
effects
Futures Wheel

voice input / output,
work noisier
biometric passwords
no passwords market for “great New licensing opp’ty
required drop in carpal tunnel voices” for popular singers
syndrome and actors
Increase in pirate market:
worker great voices
collapse of
productivity
keyboard wristRather talk to “napsterized”
decline in worker
compensation rest market your machine
costs than you…
Futures Wheel

Dr. Wendy L. Schultz
Infinite Futures:
foresight research and training
Oxford, England
http:// www.infinitefutures.com
THANK YOU.