State of Technology Roadmaps- call for contributions

Thornton May, Futurist, Dean of the IT Leadership Academy, and author, is conducting a global study called the ‘State of Technology Roadmaps’. Read on!

Thornton says:

The skill which sets us apart from the lower orders is not our ability to communicate, to use or create tools, or to collaborate. The capacity which makes us supremely human is the ability to simultaneously entertain, evaluate and imaginatively inhabit multiple future worlds. Americans are better than most at the art of futuring. In a brilliant book, UCSB historian Patricia Cline Cohen tells us that we are - A Calculating People - ‘unceasingly weighing risks, computing advantages, and gauging the ability of any particular course of action.’

Ray Kurzweil, National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee, winner of the Lemelson-MIT Prize, National Medal of Technology recipient and author of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology argues that:

“‘You can’t predict the future’ is the common wisdom. But the overall progression of information technologies is remarkably predictable. The price-performance of computing has grown at a remarkably smooth, doubly exponential pace for over a century, going back to the data processing equipment used in the 1890 US Census.”

The ‘State of Technology Roadmaps’ is a global study of how organizations ‘look ahead’ and how they ‘bring the future to the present.’ It’s examining how modern organizations:

• Develop strategies for pursuing future technologies
• Assess the trajectories and impacts of ‘of interest’ sets of future technologies
• Consider how views of the future manifest themselves in current period investment processes

Specifically, answers to these questions are needed:

• When doing technology planning, how far out do you look [one year, 18 months, three years, five years]?
• How do you visually represent your technology plan [what pictures do you use]?
• How does your IT roadmap impact the current IT budget?

Send YOUR confidential contribution to Thornton directly: thorntonmay@aol.com.