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; and 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 past visions of the future, what we can learn from these lessons, and how to apply this in a practical sense to the work that we do. A written version of this talk is available at: http://www.sallyjenkinson.co.uk/blog/2015/09/26/all-these-moments-will-be-lost-in-time/

1. 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

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

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

4. DISCOVERY
REQUIREMENTS
SOLUTIONS
RECOMMENDATION
& ARCHITECTURE
TECHNICAL STRATEGY
PROCESS
IMPROVEMENTS
CONSULTANCY

6. THE INTERNET OF 2021

9. youtube.com/watch?v=8p0jmewhXeU

10. youtube.com/watch?v=8p0jmewhXeU

13. WHAT CHALLENGES DOES THE FUTURE BRING?

14. 2015.dconstruct.org

15. 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.

17. What we plan now may not be
relevant in the future

18. Our project

19. Our users
Our business
Technology
Wildcards
Our project

20. Keeping up vs getting ahead

22. Technical debt

23. ‘Digital transformation’

24. The needs of tomorrow vs
the realities of today

27. The wrong decisions, or
adopting too soon

29. Keeping up as individuals

30. THE FUTURE IS HARD!

33. THE FUTURE FROM THE PAST

38. 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.

39. TELLING STORIES

43. a work kit useful for
parceling ideas into their
atomic elements

46. 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.

47. 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

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

49. USING FUTURE THINKING

50. 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!

51. THE FUTURE & OUR WORK

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

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

55. Submit
doStuff()

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

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

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

59. A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE FUTURE

60. 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

61. Example principles

62. 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

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

65. 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

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

67. CUP OF TEA?

72. @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
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