Scenario Planning: The Link Between Future and Strategy

Scenario planning combines scenario analysis and strategic planning. This is a serious book, yet it's the friendliest introduction to the nuts and bolts of scenario planning that you are likely to find. Most charts are simple and smart, not spiders' webs of zigzagging arrows. Chapters walk you through an overview followed by the basic principles of scenario and strategic thinking and offer a glimpse of scenario planning in practice. There is a fine glossary spelling out such jargon as back-casting ("a scenario technique where you start with an imagined future and then create a path to it") and EPISTLE (a seven-letter acronym for economy and market; politics; institutions and organizations; social changes; technology; legal changes; and ecology and ethics). Our favorite bit is a sample scenario on the future of crime, comparing computer hackers to Al Capone. The authors are with Kairos Future in Stockholm.