DESCRIPTION
Sci-Fi Story Thinking is a method that uses the tools of science-fiction storytelling (future worlds, speculative technology, alternative realities) as a structured approach to business innovation, strategic foresight and storytelling. By crafting narratives of plausible futures, stakeholders can explore the implications of change, test scenarios, reveal hidden assumptions and shape strategic direction.
Its super power is the combination of imagination & structure: rather than only incremental planning it allows teams to think boldly about what could be, then reflect back into what should be. The narrative aspect makes it memorable and provides a “north star” vision.
The prototyping aspect makes it even actionable and testable. In business storytelling it’s used to create compelling future scenarios, align teams around transformational vision, and embed innovation culture.
ORIGIN
One formalized version is “Science Fiction Prototyping” (SFP) and was created by the Creative Science Foundation. Also referenced as “Sci-Fi Thinking” by agencies such as Perception in their design/innovation practice.
No single year or author is cited for “Science Fiction Story Thinking” as a widely adopted business method, but it emerges from foresight, design fiction and science-fiction practice.
Approximately needed time
- Step 1: 1 hours
- Step 2: 1.5 hours
- Step 3: 1 hours
- Step 4: 1.5 hours
- Step 5: 1 hours
- TOTAL: 6 hours
METHOD
MATERIAL YOU COULD NEED: Whatever helps you to be creative…
STEPS
UNDERSTAND TODAY
To create a meaningful future story, you must ground it in current realities: context, tensions, unsolved problems, stakeholder needs. Without this, the speculative future becomes irrelevant.
Map current business model, challenges, trends, user needs.
Identify key uncertainties or drivers (technology, regulation, culture). Define characters (users or customers) and their motives in the current world.
Example: A tech company identifies that “customer data overload leads to churn” and chooses to focus on “digital wellbeing” as a key tension.
CREATE FUTURE
This is where imagination is unleashed: by projecting into the future you surface hidden assumptions, create new possibilities, and engage the team emotionally.
Build a future world (5-10 years ahead) where the key driver has changed dramatically (e.g., data autonomy, AI assistants).
Write story and scene: user in that world, what they do, how value is created/changed, what system is different.
Identify turning-points, implications, emotional dimensions.
Example: In the scenario above: envision a future where customers have “personal data vaults” and choose what brands access. This changes business models, user relationships, data ethics.
MAKE IT TANGIBLE
A story alone may inspire, but a tangible prototype or artefact makes it real and testable. It helps stakeholders believe, engage and critique.
Create a prototype: interface mock-up, storyboard sequence, interactive simulation of future scenario.
Use visuals, narrative hooks, categories: what product or service does, how users interact. Explore feasibility, constraints, business implications.
Example: For the data-vault future: build storyboard of user choosing data sharing, brand responding, new revenue model. Use mock-UI screens or role-play if available.
INSPIRE AND BELIEVE
For change to happen, people must believe the future is credible and desirable. This step converts imagination into conviction and alignment.
Present the future story & prototype to stakeholders: board, teams, partners. Use immersive presentation: narrative video, role-play, walkthrough of future use-case. Capture emotional buy-in, test resonance: ask “Would you want to live in this future?” “Would customers?”
Example: Team presents future vision to C-suite: “In 2030 our customers own their data; we sell services, not just access.”. Stakeholders respond, ask questions, commit.
BACK TO TODAY
The future story must inform present actions, otherwise it remains speculative. This step turns insight into strategy and narrative into roadmap.
Identify early indicators/signals: what to monitor? Map strategic moves: pilots, partnerships, changes in business model, brand narrative. Document the story’s lessons: what assumptions broke? what capabilities needed? what communication story arises now?
Example: After the data-vault future, the telecom team sets pilot programme for 2025, forms partnerships with data-privacy platforms, updates brand story to emphasize “data autonomy”.
Science Fiction Thinking overlaps with design fiction, futures studies and scenario planning. It’s powerful because narrative & speculation help overcome cognitive bias (e.g., status-quo bias, presentism) and enable teams to explore beyond incremental change.
It should be balanced: while imagination is free, it needs anchoring in plausible trends, constraints and business logic to avoid falling into mere fantasy.
The method is particularly useful in disruptive innovation, corporate transformation, strategy off-sites, and aligning cross-functional teams around “future vision”.
To embed it in storytelling: treat the future world as your “hero’s journey”, the speculative change as the conflict and the innovation as the resolution.
ANECDOTES:
The Hieroglyph Project at Arizona State University paired writers and engineers to craft optimistic science-fiction stories that inspire “moonshot” inventions.
An innovation agency reported that when they used the “Sci-Fi Thinking” method for a digital transformation client, a 2-hour story-workshop produced a future narrative so compelling that the senior leadership immediately initiated a new business unit to realize it.
In education, students using Science Fiction Prototyping reported higher creativity, stronger technology foresight and more radical idea generation than traditional scenario-planning peers.
