“It’s all smart kitchens and talking bikes these days.”
Clients ask why we often push them to think at least five years out. They sometimes want to look at shorter time frames, which we can do, but we tell them that too short a time—a business quarter, a year—provides too little space to adequately track changes in the relevant trends. Even five years can be too short, and every now and then I come across something that makes me realize how much can change in that much time.
Case in point: I was clicking through this slideshow of arresting images from around the solar system on the Atlantic Monthly website, when I noticed the caption in this photo. Specifically, the mention that when NASA’s New Horizon probe was launched in 2006, Pluto was known to have three moons, and now two more have been discovered. In addition, when the probe was launched, Pluto was a full-fledged planet. Two new moons and a planetary declassification–that is a lot of change in the six years since the probe was launched, and it still has almost three more years before it arrives. Who knows what else could change?
Image: Bruce Irving, Flickr
About the author
Looking at the long-term of [something something something].
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