Future day

Overview

This is a simple, low-cost way to create a picture of a typical working day. You can then compare the typical day to a day where changes have been incorporated to see their effect; the issues they raise and any practices that would need to be improved.

Benefits

Useful for small teams, this helps build new ideas and identify new practices and resources. It gives observers/reflectors the chance to notice otherwise overlooked elements of routines. By walking them through a day in the life of someone who will have to live with proposed changes, participants can examine the possible impacts of their decisions beforehand.

Preparation

• Schedule the activity with participants to allow them time to gather data.
• Spend some time familiarising yourself with the steps below to ensure it all goes to plan:

Materials

• Time worksheets - a day diary divided into 15- or 30-minute segments
• Day routine sheets - timesheets with bigger time segments.

What you do

Stage 1 - record details of the typical day

Ask participants to use a timesheet to note their activities at 15-minute intervals throughout a whole day - including 'mundane' activities, as detail is important. (Recalling activities at the end of a day is still useful but less accurate).

Stage 2 - workshop activity

• Use the data from Stage 1 to create a picture of the typical day in a day routine worksheet. Provide examples of activities that take longer, and bring together views from different people. Create a few combined 'typical days' based on everyone's actual time worksheets.
• Day routines' provide a way to 'play out' decisions to see how they might affect typical days. Use questions such as 'How will this decision affect this practice?', 'Will this decision solve this problem?' etc.
• The group can now create an 'ideal future day' routine. Use fresh copies of the day routine worksheets to highlight new aims and future resources (new buildings, ICT etc) - including as much detail as possible to bring the exercise to life.
• Compare the activities on the real day routine and the ideal future day routine:
  • Are the real activities all appropriate and achievable in the 'ideal future day'?
  • Are there new activities that are done in the 'ideal future day'?
  • Aim to ensure that even small details are accounted for, iron out any challenges, find out what people agree will work, and to make informed decisions about intended changes.
  • Create an action plan for changes to be taken forwards.

Top tips for your group activities

• Be well prepared
• Consider changing your usual meeting environment
• Know what you want to come away with before you start
• Break the ice with a warm up
• Give people enough time to get into and do the activities
• Keep people engaged and motivated
• Encourage and proactively get input from everyone
• Think about how your going to capture the notes
• Use flip charts, coloured post its, coloured pens, paper, stickers
• If possible use a flexible and effective facilitator

Time worksheet download

Day routine worksheet download