# Working Forward Looking Backwards By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-09-26 All research and data are about the past. When one reads a book, one is reading something that has already been written. When one collects data, one is analyzing historical information. All information is from the past. Sometimes, one collects this information to understand what happened to substantiate facts and understandings. Other times, one is collecting historical information to make some form of prediction about the future. These predictions can range from spot on to the wildly inaccurate. Much of what we do within organizations is working forward, looking backward. Most of the talk about strategy and vision is spent making sense of the past and using that understanding to deal with the present and attempt to peer into the future. The problem is that historical data only reveals what has been done—all advancements were outside of available data at the time of occurrence. Looking backward for too long constrains one’s thinking. It limits what seems possible. Historical context helps understand the problem. It doesn’t reflect what is possible. It only reflects what has been done to a particular point in time. Something isn’t impossible simply because it has not been accomplished yet. Look backward to understand; look forward to being inspired. At its best, data can only give one part of the picture. #### Related Items [[Data]] [[Past]] [[Research]] [[Organization]] [[Constraints]] [[History]]