Future State
Conclusion: In the future, Process and Place must serve People.
Last year over 80 designers in 4 cities, including Detroit, were asked to formulate ideas about the future of work. These discussions centered around how work will change in the future and how those changes will affect People, Process, and Place.
They responded with seven bold predictions:
1. In the future workers will integrate their two equally important worlds, their two selves, into one, fully present at work, fully engaged at home.
2. In the future offices will be designed to promote coworker face time in spaces that accelerate authentic connection.
3. In the future, a post-employee business model will allow companies expedite processes, get to market quicker, design better and faster, and innovate productively, all by harnessing the industry’s top talent for the specific task at hand.
4. In the future technology will allow us to receive direct responses to the stimuli in a space, and provide the information we need to act on it.
5. In the future, technology will help us respond to client requests better and more efficiently.
6. In the future we will be able to quickly and easily program our space to fit our work needs.
7. In the future we will be able to work at designated Work Pods and decentralized offices that are more convenient than a corporate campus.
The way we work is going to continue to change and the spaces we work in will have to adapt to match that, but – as the most critical component of any company – people will continue to be valued. Work process and place will adapt to suit individuals, which will in turn enable them to do their very best work.
Thank you for journeying into the future with us, and a special thanks to the Future State participants who looked into their crystal balls and were able to share their visions.
We’re excited to keep the conversation going, to keep searching for the next big ideas, and to keep learning as we work together in the future.
