Looking Back from the Future

Purpose

Looking Back from the Future is a collaborative product game that uses prospective hindsight to unlock clearer thinking about what success looks like and how to achieve it. Participants mentally travel to a future where the project has succeeded wildly, then describe what happened — converting vague hopes into concrete, actionable milestones.

At a glance

• Group size: 4–20
• Duration: 25 minutes
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Facilitation style: Guided imagination, individual reflection then group share
• Setting: In-person or virtual

How to run

1. Set the future point (2 min). Choose a specific date — 6 months, 1 year, or 3 years from now. Ask participants to close their eyes and imagine they are at that date.
2. Guided prompt (3 min). “The project has been an extraordinary success. Everything went better than expected. What happened? What did we do? What did our users say? What metrics changed?”
3. Silent writing (8 min). Each participant writes down their ‘memories’ of the future — concrete events, decisions, outcomes. One per sticky note.
4. Share and cluster (8 min). Participants share their notes. The facilitator groups them into themes on the wall.
5. Extract priorities (4 min). Identify the most frequently mentioned milestones and actions. These become candidate goals for the roadmap.

Materials needed

• Sticky notes and markers
• Timer
• Large wall or digital whiteboard

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• Staying too abstract. Push participants to be specific: names, numbers, dates, actions.
• Rushing the imagination phase. Give people time to genuinely immerse themselves in the future scenario.
• Confusing wishes with memories. “I wish we had...” is a wish; “We launched X and it resulted in Y” is a memory.

Inclusion & accessibility

• Not everyone is comfortable closing their eyes in a group — offer “look at a fixed point” as an alternative.
• Allow both written and verbal sharing for different communication preferences.
• Provide the prompt in writing as well as spoken.

Variations

• Looking Back from the Future Interview: Run one-on-one with customers instead of in a group workshop.
• Pre-mortem combo: Follow with a pre-mortem (“the project failed — why?”) for balanced planning.
• Timeline version: Place memories on a shared timeline to create a rough roadmap.

When NOT to use this

• When the team needs to evaluate an existing plan, not imagine a new one.
• When participants have no context about the project and cannot meaningfully speculate.

Source & further reading

• Hohmann, L. (2006). *Innovation Games.* Addison-Wesley.
• Klein, G. (2007). Performing a Project Premortem. *Harvard Business Review.*