A note on what we have learned about the methods of futures planning

In the last decade or two, perhaps the most important trend in the use of futures planning (FP) tools has been the move away from methodological formalisms and doctrinaire approaches- particularly those that purport to reduce futures methods planning to a mechanistic sequence of steps or ‘silver bullet’ solutions. The following is a summary of the evolution of the methods the Institute for the Future (IFTF) has used and some lessons we have learned.