When is the Future?

When is the future?

When I was a kid, my mom took me to watch Star Wars - Episode IV. It was 1977, and even though I was so frustrated because I missed the first three movies (geek joke), I got hooked for good from Lucas' genius embedded since the first thing you can see on screen.

"A long time ago..."?Seriously? I believed this was a Sci-fi futuristic space adventure with starfighters, lightsabers, and laser-blaster battles at hyperspeed (not even lightspeed).?Not something that has already happened...

When the filmmaker chose to define a timeframe for his masterpiece, it was in the past, but based on the technology on screen, we all know this can't be that way unless all of this is happening in a?"...galaxy far, far away...",

Then it's fair to assume that we are the technologically backward ones and that these fantastic gadgets really exist and have been for a long time, just not here on Earth, yet... So basically, he tells a story that already happened but showcases the most advanced and innovative technology that humans are far from mastering, at least on this planet, today.

Regardless of the sci-fi fun space-time paradox, what I find most compelling about this concept is related to defining an equation between design, innovation, time, and technology. As a trained designer, my job is to understand a user's problem, learn all its details and nuances, and find a solution to solve that problem.?In theory, a new (better) solution for an existing problem, right?

If we add the "time" variable to this equation, we realize that we are evaluating what happened (or what's been happening) in the past to build an innovative solution in the present that will be deployed in the future.

So if I start using our formula, I try to get a result to help me understand when does the future begin? Should we create solutions for what happened, what's happening, or what is about to happen? Do our interfaces have to mimic what's already there, or -if we actually are shaping the future- should we be aligned with a "futuristic approach" like movies or games do? How does INNOVATION align with problem-solving in Product Design understanding tech is constantly evolving, and paradigms shift all the time?

Basically, when we do quantitative and qualitative research, interviews, competitive analysis, surveys, etc., actually, what we are doing is mapping the past by framing the problem, finding patterns, the context, and even how that problem is or has been solved so far. After that, during our design process, as problem-solvers, we digest all of that information and create a solution. However, our solution will not coexist (temporarily speaking) with everything we learned before, but in the future...?

Of course, you may say that nothing changes that fast, and what we learned a week or a month ago still be applicable next month or year. But also that we might be ahead of time. Well, ask Friendster or MySpace about timing. Do you remember ICQ and MSN? What about Blockbuster, who passed on buying Netflix and eventually lost against them??

"We named Netflix in 1998 because we believed internet-based movie rental represented the future..."?

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

On the flip side, the very core of Design is tied to a startup-like concept where an idea becomes an assumption that hasn't been tested before -sufficiently new technologies, products & services, or markets, basically a business experiment with potential-. I mean, what's the value in designing-creating a product that already exists? Why solve a problem that is solved? Unless...using a new approach, we can solve that problem in a better, faster, cheaper, etc., way?

And this is when Innovation lands on the scene. So now the equation becomes more complicated, but also interesting. Because we try to address outcomes that didn't happen before...technically, they are in the future. Innovation usually sounds like a magic spell for business success, but we can define innovation as changes made to make a process more efficient by identifying a problem that either has no current solution, an inadequate solution, or a solution that is only available to a certain segment or customer:?"...transform Innovation from an art to a Science".?

BTW, thank you, Andrew Gray for sharing with me the book "Jobs-to-be-done" by Anthony Ulwick. In the September 2016 Harvard Business Review article,?“Know Your Customers’ Jobs to be Done,”?Clayton Christensen states,?

“Innovation can be far more predictable—and far more profitable—if you start by identifying the jobs that customers are struggling to get done.”

So, find a better solution for what's been happening, solving it today, to make the world a better place tomorrow, right?

But now, when we feel we have it all cleared out, the time variable hits us in the face and makes us ask the question:?How do we know the solution is going to work in the future??

Who does remember the film "Minority Report" from 2002 (thank you, john underkoffler and Steven Spielberg), -which, in fact, it's a 1956 novel-, and its amazing hologram interfaces that Tom Cruise mastered like ten years even before Tony Stark in Marvel's Iron Man? I love the Black Mirror TV shows because the stories don't happen a long time ago in a galaxy far away, but across the street, maybe tomorrow or next week. Are you following?

I forgot to mention that besides being a sci-fi geek, I love gaming. Since Space Invaders on my 2600 Atari, I played a lot of games, many futuristic ones. As a product designer, I'm very attracted to the amazing Huds (Heads-up displays) and GUI (Graphic User Interfaces) from amazing games like Destiny or Call of Duty. What these games have in common is the room they have to explore the future and to show us, mortals, as Issac Asimov did before, a glimpse into what's next without having to worry if the look and feel are "too futuristic" for the people.?

There are not a lot of occasions where the muse of the future strikes us like C. W. Longbottom at the Apple Original Mythic Quest, S2E6...Spoiler alert. When he sees for the first time "Pong" on screen, and imagines worlds made of pixels. Unfortunately, most of us settle as he did, just copying somebody else to get immediate short-term success or just follow the market.

Not everybody is ready to launch a digital tactile phone screen or an app to meet with people swapping right or left. It's almost funny that we face people who believe they know what the user wants (without even talking to them), and there is no room for UX innovations.?

On the flip side, the prophet Steve said:

I'm fortunate enough to be working as a Product Designer for the last 15 months at a place where the challenge is to build in the AI field, something that nobody has done before. This is how I was recruited, and, as a sci-fi nerd, I felt the call to go inside the USS Enterprise,?"...to boldly go where no man has gone before..."?(sorry, I can't stop using nerdy quotes). But what now?

Do I have to play safe and go with the flow of what the market dictates or pursue unexplored horizons by searching for the real meaning of what innovation means?

Is it maybe about finding the right balance between both?

Live long and prosper...(ups, I did it again)