ALL THESE MOMENTS WILL BE LOST IN TIME
Sally Jenkinson, (R)evolution, 25.09.2015
@sjenkinson | sally@recordssoundthesame.com
the web, the future, and us

sally@recordssoundthesame.com | @sjenkinson
Digital solutions architect & consultant
Records Sound the Same Ltd
Sally Jenkinson

DEVELOPER DEVELOPER,
MANAGER
DEVELOPER,
MANAGER,
ARCHITECT
MANAGER,
ARCHITECT,
SALES,
CONSULTANT 😒
DESIGNER!

DISCOVERY
REQUIREMENTS
SOLUTIONS
RECOMMENDATION
& ARCHITECTURE
TECHNICAL STRATEGY
PROCESS
IMPROVEMENTS
CONSULTANCY

THE INTERNET OF 2021

youtube.com/watch?v=8p0jmewhXeU

youtube.com/watch?v=8p0jmewhXeU

WHAT CHALLENGES DOES THE FUTURE BRING?

2015.dconstruct.org

I worked on a project for SSEaaaaaaaa, ,
looking at digital solution architect , so
that we could do some digital and
something for the next 5 to 10 years.

What we plan now may not be
relevant in the future

Our project

Our users
Our business
Technology
Wildcards
Our project

Keeping up vs getting ahead

Technical debt

‘Digital transformation’

The needs of tomorrow vs
the realities of today

The wrong decisions, or
adopting too soon

Keeping up as individuals

THE FUTURE IS HARD!

THE FUTURE FROM THE PAST

teslamotors.com/blog/hyperloop
“
Short of figuring out real teleportation, which
would of course be awesome (someone please
do this), the only option for super fast travel is to
build a tube over or under the ground that
contains a special environment.
!
This is where things get tricky.

TELLING STORIES

a work kit useful for
parceling ideas into their
atomic elements

Make It So
“
We’ve seen repeatedly that if an interface
works for an audience, there’s something
there that will work for users.
!
Finding what that thing is and using it for
inspiration in our own work is part of how
we can use these speculative interfaces.

nesta.org.uk
• Imagining Technology
• Better Made Up - The Mutual Influence of
Science Fiction and Innovation
• Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: A
modest defence of futurology
• Quantitative Analysis of Technology
Futures

morning.computer/2015/05/the-future-is-a-confidence-trick

USING FUTURE THINKING

Better consider our users’
changing needs.
Identify opportunities.
Aid prioritisation.
Define what the product is
and what it will be.
More robust decisions -
understand limitations and
benefits of choices.
React quickly/better to
change by embracing
evolution.
Make more exciting things!

THE FUTURE & OUR WORK

User interfaces & interactions
Feature-based components & integrations
Core digital platform components
Core back-end systems

User interfaces & interactions
Feature-based components & integrations
Core digital platform components
Core back-end systems

Submit
doStuff()

User interfaces & interactions
Feature-based components & integrations
Core digital platform components
Core back-end systems

User interfaces & interactions
Feature-based components & integrations
Core digital platform components
Core back-end systems

User interfaces & interactions
Feature-based components & integrations
Core digital platform components
Core back-end systems

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE FUTURE

Discovery & planning
Content first
Separate content
from display
Small to large Prioritisation
Backlog &
roadmap
Problems now & of
the future
Usage patterns,
interactions, behaviour
Embrace wider
trends
Learn from the
past
Don’t be bound
by form
Create a set of high level
principles for the future
gist.github.com/greywillfade/366394a1bef07afe27f5

Example principles

Discovery & planning
Content first
Separate content
from display
Small to large Prioritisation
Backlog &
roadmap
gist.github.com/greywillfade/366394a1bef07afe27f5
Problems now & of
the future
Usage patterns,
interactions, behaviour
Embrace wider
trends
Learn from the
past
Don’t be bound
by form
Create a set of high level
principles for the future

A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile
but the traffic jam
!
- Frederik Pohl

Doing
Embrace web standards,
semantics, open formats
Responsive design &
progressive enhancement
Create incrementally,
release often
Track & manage
change
Think atomically
Allocate time to improve
the past and the future
Stories and design
thinking (workshops)
Lifespan of project
components
Separation, modularity, loosely-
coupled architectures and services
gist.github.com/greywillfade/366394a1bef07afe27f5
Embrace automation Document decisions Prototype & test

Evolving
Share your
experiences
Specs & upcoming
technologies
Use your data
Better digital
preservation
Play more
gist.github.com/greywillfade/366394a1bef07afe27f5
Watch more sci-fi!

CUP OF TEA?

@sjenkinson | sally@recordssoundthesame.com | recordssoundthesame.com
THANK YOU.
!
flickr.com/photos/oflittleinterest/8171299893/
flickr.com/photos/randar/16862053922/
flickr.com/photos/foam/9248390752/
shop.nearfuturelaboratory.com
flickr.com/photos/orinrobertjohn/3461149713/
Warren Ellis by http://www.ellenrogers.co.uk/
flickr.com/photos/tessenwee/2594817260/
!
!
flickr.com/photos/s-t-r-a-n-g-e/8292748067
flickr.com/photos/jiazi/1061447777/