Talk given at Front-Trends in Warsaw, May 2016.
As web professionals we’re used to hearing about the virtues of shipping fast and iterating regularly in order to meet changing needs, but how do we ensure that the projects that we’re planning now are still as relevant and robust when they launch in the future… and beyond? How do we prepare for the unknowns and constant shifts in technology; what can we do to progress the evolution of the web itself; how do we, as individuals, ensure that our skills are as relevant as ever in this rapidly changing world?
In this talk we’ll look at why the future is important, plus past visions of the future, including those from the world of science fiction. We'll explore what we can learn from these lessons, and how to apply this in a practical sense to the work that we do.
13. @sjenkinson
Disruption will only accelerate
Our existing standards, workflows and
infrastructure won’t hold up
Proprietary solutions will dominate at first
The standards process will be painfully slow.
29. “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.”
teslamotors.com/blog/hyperloop
39. “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.”
Make It So (scifiinterfaces.com)
43. 1. Better consider our users’ changing needs.
2. Identify opportunities.
3. Aid prioritisation.
4. Define what something is and what it will be.
5. More robust decisions - understand limitations and benefits of
choices.
6. React quickly/better to change by embracing evolution.
7. Make more exciting things and shape the future of the web!
Future benefits
@sjenkinson
47. User interfaces & interactions
Features
Digital platform components (CMS, etc)
‘Non-digital’ systems (accountancy, etc)
Browsers
Hosting environment & languages
Third party integrations
Deployment tools
Different elements have different
half-lives
@sjenkinson
53. Discovery & planning
Work content
first
Separate content from
display to better cater
for new outputs (visual
or otherwise)
Where screens are involved, remember
to think from very small to very large
Prioritise your
requirements
Create a backlog
and strategic
roadmap & make
these visible
Balance problems now
& of the future
Consider future
usage patterns,
interactions, and
behaviour
Embrace wider
trends (remote
teams etc)
Learn
from the
past
Don’t be
bound by
form
Create a set of high
level principles for
the future
Make no
assumptions
about usage
Stories and
design
thinking
(workshops)
56. Embrace web
standards, semantics,
open formats
Progressive
enhancement
Create
incrementally,
release often
Track & manage
change
Think atomically
Allocate time to
improve the past and
the future Lifespan of project
components
Separation,
modularity,
loosely-coupled
architectures and
services
Embrace automation Document decisions
(not heavily, but
ensure the past is
captured for future
learning)
Prototype & test
Doing
Responsive design
Leave space for the
future
Draw a line - what do
you support? Why?
57. Share your
experiences
Specs &
upcoming
technologies
Measure, & use
your data
Better digital
preservation
Play more
Take inspiration
from the world
(watch more sci-
fi!)
Evolving
Accept change. It
doesn’t mean you
failed
Work to educate others,
to facilitate
improvements
Fix problems that
you can see, and
those that might be
Provide support (bleeding edge technology
users often have it rough)