Thread by @swardley

X : Are you doing physical events this year?
Me : Not intending to.
X : COVID?
Me : Nope. Reducing carbon usage and increasing inclusivity. I have no intention of not continuing to adapt to the new world that COVID has accelerated us into.

X : Accelerated?
Me : Yep. That shift from physical to virtual space was happening slowly anyway due to industrialisation of underlying tech - virtual conferencing etc. COVID acted as a forcing function and accelerated this.

X : Hybrid?
Me : Hybrid normally means "some future plus a bit of the past" e.g. hybrid cloud of public and private. It normally represents an unwillingness to adapt hidden behind arguments that certain niche cases are in fact the majority. It doesn't last long ... 10-15 years.

X : But there are niches?
Me : Whilst the arguments over hybrid don't last long, there are always holdouts and genuine niche cases. I know of one organisation that still uses punch cards. That doesn't mean punch cards are the future ...

... or take cloud today, the arguments for hybrid (public + private) still exist but I find few that genuinely believe them. They are more of a "what do we do with all this stuff we've bought and said was the future" argument about political capital.

X : Most are returning to in person or hybrid.
Me : Some are certainly trying to recreate the past, to avoid adapting. I don't think it's wise. We should instead focus our efforts on adapting which is not easy, there are lots of social issues (housing etc) that need sorting.

X : What's that table?
Me : List of behaviours for two different types of organisation found in the wild. One represents the future. You don't get a choice on this. You will become more next generation over time - like it or not.

X : Web3?
Me : Nope. That tries to combine cryptocurrencies with the changes that are happening. Think more metaverse.
X : How long?
Me : Assuming you're an exec, mid 50s+ then you've got plenty of time to ignore it and retire.

X : If I'm not a mid 50s+ exec?
Me : Don't spend the next 15 years working for a company that says "The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works"

X : Online events aren't as good.
Me : I'd disagree but more importantly I'd say that the practices are still emerging. Physical events aren't going to get much better (the practices are well established) but online events will ... fairly rapidly.

X : Most jobs cannot be done online.
Me : That depends upon who you ask and mostly fails to consider adaptation.

X : You don't think physical meetings will happen?
Me : Of course they will but I suspect they will become something special and not the everyday.

X : End of the office?
Me : Office is everywhere but you'll refer to it as "home".
X : What jobs will adapt?
Me : Expect a future of celebrity designers for virtual offices, bounty hunter for stolen designs and machine psychologists to name but a few - blog.gardeviance.org/2015/04/near-f…

X : Did you see BMW created a colour changing car - gizmodo.com/bmw-created-a-…
Me : They are such an obvious and dull company. Still waiting for the day they do something original.

X : You're not keen on self driving cars?
Me : Eh, what? Yes, I'm keen but you also need to think about the wider issues such as embedding social inequality through digital subscriptions etc. See "A question of privilege" in the following post - blog.gardeviance.org/2017/08/better…