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If you're completely new to horizon scanning the first thing you need to do is start thinking about a horizon scan process. You'll want to consider whether you're setting up a horizon scan sprint for a particular project or a longer term scan library to support your foresight-informed work on an ongoing basis.
If you're completely new to horizon scanning the first thing you need to do is start thinking about a horizon scan process. You'll want to consider whether you're setting up a horizon scan sprint for a particular project or a longer term scan library to support your foresight-informed work on an ongoing basis.
Note
If you already have a basic scan library in excel or some other note taking platform, see the notion guide or airtable guide to learn how to set up a more comprehensive process.
Note
If you already have a basic scan library in excel or some other note taking platform, see the notion guide or airtable guide to learn how to set up a more comprehensive process.
Horizon scanning is where most foresight journeys begin. It’s the practice of tuning into the signals- emerging shifts, fringe ideas, persistent tensions that hint at how the world around us is changing. Whether it's the odd and unexpected or the deeply entrenched, scanning helps us make sense of what's unfolding and why it matters. Done well, it surfaces early clues about future risks, opportunities, and disruptions that could shape your work, your community, or your sector. It’s not just a first step - it’s the foundation for deeper strategic insight, creative innovation, and smarter decision-making in a world that doesn’t stand still.
Horizon scanning is where most foresight journeys begin. It’s the practice of tuning into the signals- emerging shifts, fringe ideas, persistent tensions that hint at how the world around us is changing. Whether it's the odd and unexpected or the deeply entrenched, scanning helps us make sense of what's unfolding and why it matters. Done well, it surfaces early clues about future risks, opportunities, and disruptions that could shape your work, your community, or your sector. It’s not just a first step - it’s the foundation for deeper strategic insight, creative innovation, and smarter decision-making in a world that doesn’t stand still.
Think of horizon scanning as a kind of future radar - constantly sweeping the landscape for signals that something is shifting. The strongest scanners don’t just stick to one lane - they scan across sectors, regions, and disciplines, picking up weak signals, assessing their trajectory, and watching for ripple effects.
It’s about mapping what might be on the move - what’s gaining momentum, what’s fading, and what could catch us off guard. By surfacing these early patterns, we start to build mental models of what’s plausible, probable, or possible. And from there, we can make more deliberate choices about what kind of future we actually want to work toward. Strategic planning then focuses that information toward what we’re going to do about it?
So when we scan for signals we're trying to understand:
How might the future be different?
What matters most about this?
Think of horizon scanning as a kind of future radar - constantly sweeping the landscape for signals that something is shifting. The strongest scanners don’t just stick to one lane - they scan across sectors, regions, and disciplines, picking up weak signals, assessing their trajectory, and watching for ripple effects.
It’s about mapping what might be on the move - what’s gaining momentum, what’s fading, and what could catch us off guard. By surfacing these early patterns, we start to build mental models of what’s plausible, probable, or possible. And from there, we can make more deliberate choices about what kind of future we actually want to work toward. Strategic planning then focuses that information toward what we’re going to do about it?
So when we scan for signals we're trying to understand:
How might the future be different?
What matters most about this?
It's worth considering the platform's functionality in the early stages of choosing a platform; what's the balance between flexibility vs structure around tagging architecture, search capability & data portability.
It's worth considering the platform's functionality in the early stages of choosing a platform; what's the balance between flexibility vs structure around tagging architecture, search capability & data portability.
Link
If you're looking for scanning tech, there's a load of scan library software in this directory foresight resources which will help you get started.
Link
If you're looking for scanning tech, there's a load of scan library software in this directory foresight resources which will help you get started.
There are various futures platforms, some are designed for corporate horizon scanning with various levels of support and AI-content search functionality. The enterprise platforms cost a bit more but some provide access to their own horizon scanning content and include great features like driver mapping and topic clustering.
There are various futures platforms, some are designed for corporate horizon scanning with various levels of support and AI-content search functionality. The enterprise platforms cost a bit more but some provide access to their own horizon scanning content and include great features like driver mapping and topic clustering.
There are also bookmark and web clipping platforms that might do the trick. There are a number of web clipping, social sharing + bookmark platforms which can do the job of collecting online scans. Although they’re not built specifically with foresight scanning in mind, they might be enough if you don’t need any fancy functionality or are just building a scan library for a project or one-off purpose.
There are also bookmark and web clipping platforms that might do the trick. There are a number of web clipping, social sharing + bookmark platforms which can do the job of collecting online scans. Although they’re not built specifically with foresight scanning in mind, they might be enough if you don’t need any fancy functionality or are just building a scan library for a project or one-off purpose.
When it comes to tagging we want a balance between flexibility (being able to add tags for a particular project) and structure, which enables us to search easily across our entire scanning database when we have hundreds or thousands of scan hits.
Global Tags: You’ll have some global tags which you’ll add for every scan hit. You might also want to indicate the scanner so that you can filter by scanner later.
Project Tags: You might want to add some additional tags which support the project you’re working on but you won't necessarily want to have the same tags for every scan all the time.
When it comes to tagging we want a balance between flexibility (being able to add tags for a particular project) and structure, which enables us to search easily across our entire scanning database when we have hundreds or thousands of scan hits.
Global Tags: You’ll have some global tags which you’ll add for every scan hit. You might also want to indicate the scanner so that you can filter by scanner later.
Project Tags: You might want to add some additional tags which support the project you’re working on but you won't necessarily want to have the same tags for every scan all the time.
For now, just focus on getting your head around a basic horizon scanning process but know that as you progress, you'll also want to consider:
Source Feeds where you're going to get your information from and how you're going to evaluate the scan hits from a source, and summarise, analyse and synthesise your findings.
Anticipatory Indicators are an important part of horizon scanning to ensure you're tracking more than just "news". We'll explore both of these aspects in greater depth further on.
For now, just focus on getting your head around a basic horizon scanning process but know that as you progress, you'll also want to consider:
Source Feeds where you're going to get your information from and how you're going to evaluate the scan hits from a source, and summarise, analyse and synthesise your findings.
Anticipatory Indicators are an important part of horizon scanning to ensure you're tracking more than just "news". We'll explore both of these aspects in greater depth further on.
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Last updated on
Dec
4,
2024
Last updated on
Dec
4,
2024