Perpetual Evolution

The case for whatever works

It’s almost half a century since Alvin Toffler published “The Future as a Way of Life” in Horizon magazine. The article spoke of a world where too much changed in too short a period. It was a prelude to his influential book, “Future Shock”. Toffler warned that given how rapidly the environment was evolving we would need to be more agile in the future.

Are we? 

Most of us prefer orderly development to a state of flux. Agility and flexibility can look a little too close to chaos. We’d rather focus on goal-setting and strategic plans than just let change be the driver. We like to know where we are going and we want a plan to get there.

Trouble is, the goalposts keep shifting, and shifting more quickly. The use-by date of our great strategy can be upon us in an instant. Somehow we need to balance our instinct for order with our evolutionary need to adapt.

What is the right mix?

Toffler also said the future not only comes too fast, it can also come in the wrong order. When things arrive out of sequence, we need a breathing space while we weigh up a new direction. That requires a tactical response, not a strategic offsite.

Slow response time is an issue for any business, big or small, new or old. I have seen a promising start-up so focused on proprietary software that it failed to spot a competitor, which got to market faster using a simple app that cost less.

At the other end of the scale, a corporation like Borders missed the eBook boat and promptly sank.

Barnes and Noble responded more quickly. They launched their own digital reader, trumped Amazon by introducing the first colour version, and sold it via a “try before you buy” outlet located in their own bookshops. To everyone’s surprise they captured 27% of the eBook market in their first 12 months.

How do we respond?

We could learn a lot from Cloud computing. It works by swarming. Redundant servers around the globe flock together to meet a particular demand. Capacity scales up or down, addressing constantly changing requirements. No two servers are wedded to collaboration with each other. They are simply called in when needed. Seconds later they will be on another job. They may never meet again.

We can respond in a similar fashion. The Cloud suggests some rules.

• Stay agile. Constantly review the landscape. Use a home-grown SWOT team. Populate it with a diverse but fluid collection of associates or colleagues. Look for strengths and opportunities that counter weaknesses and contain threats.
• Swarm. When you spot something, bring in whatever people you need fast. Don’t confine input to the same old brains. 
• Be flexible. Scale up or down, depending on need. To get any collaborative leverage, you’ll need more than one input. Yours will not be enough. 
• Keep it green. When the job is done, disband the group. Next time start from scratch. By definition, change will demand a fresh combination.

A lot of future has come and gone since Alvin Toffler wrote about it. Horizon magazine itself ceased publication 24 years ago. But the need to be nimble persists. It doesn’t mean you throw out your goals. It’s just that your plans need to be capable of taking detours, often very dramatic ones, and often at very short notice.