Why design for 2020, not today! What does the “Why Not” and “What If” Attitude mean?

One of the enjoyments of writing a blog is to see the reaction, get the response, they seem to come via email, it is fasinating what topics generate interest and response.  Last week I had a set of emails asking “why care about 2020, when we are focused on today?” Another set asked about the attitude “Why not” and “What If”? Both are fair and deserve further discussion.

So why care about 2020? Why Now?

As mentioned last week, there are a number of factors which are changing the whole paradigm of the operational/ automation system. The way we have designed for the last 15 years will not be good enough for:

·         The rapid decisions needed today

·         The breadth of responsibility people will have

·         Gen Y’s attitude, and work approach

·         The rotating workers, remember by 2020 people will only be in a role for 2.4 years average. Effecting experience and knowledge to make decisions, and take actions.

·          The whole methodologyy will be transitional between desktops, different mobile devices, connected and not connected, visual  interaction, next minute audio. The transition will be seamless and natural, to increase the fluidity of executing the task.  

·         Systems will be in services for 15 to 20 years, but go through many technology changes and evolutions.

An interesting stat on 2020  is that 65 % of the tasks and jobs GenY will do during their career have not yet been invented. Also, not their professional working time will span 6 careers, 14 jobs.  So the design of the system must fundamentally absorb change. Key is the move away from designing to roles and applications, but design to “activities” with the required:

·         Notification

·         Information

·         Awareness

·         action to be taken

·         Access to knowledge.

Designing this self contained “activities” that can be hosted in all user experiences no matter the device or mode,  allows new activities to built as needed, applied to the system, and the system naturally absorbs the new activity without re-engineering impact.

The reality is that in many parts of the world,  these changes are happening now many will be in full effect in the next 2 to 3 years. Already the thought leaders in the world are designing to deliver information faster, take actions more consistently and reduce the “Time to Performance” through in built training, intuition.

What does the “Why Not” and “What If” Attitude mean?

The attitude of trying, having a go! Is a natural child like the attitude,  that applies also to people who do not have experience, similar to a growing child. Ever increasing business/ operational pressure will call for faster decisions and actions, driving increased empowerment. With increased responsibility must come increased education, and understanding to make decisions. The systems must provide guidance to so that workers can try, and make decisions faster, without significant risk.

Driving the requirement for inbuilt  “what if” capability, to answer the questions a new worker to make that decision. This could be accessing history, access experience, running a “future what if simulation model” that allows highly accurate expectations of a result near term into the future based upon the current state of the system. Yes,  it sounds too “over the top” but in the new dynamic of operations, and reduced experience the ability to ask questions is a key part of learning.

The attitude of “Why Not” and What If” is not new it is natural in children today. I see it every day in my 4 and 7 year old, yes they learn boundaries and risk based upon answers and trials. The challenge before us is to build this answering, and guidance into the systems, so it is natural, and not too costly to implement in dollars or time.

This is why the concepts of “knowledge systems”, ‘big data”, “dynamic simulation”, and “collaboration” will be come fundamental capabilities of Operational Systems.