For weeks where the team is feeling overwhelmed or when we are all approaching tight deadlines, I like to keep the standup topics lighter and the “homework” to a minimum. One way to do that is to bring in pop culture, or to have the topic be video-based. This week’s does both!
In the late 80’s AT&T ran a campaign entitled “You Will” that was their vision of the future, and how AT&T was going to get us there. It’s hard to find high fidelity digital clips of ads that were VHS- taped decades ago, but this is one of the best compilations I’ve found. The campaign centered around connecting folks in new digital ways, but also ease of transactions in regular life, and efficiencies in the workplace. It was like science fiction when it was released - in a land of fax machines and newly-minted touchtone phones, suddenly someone was talking seriously about retinal scanners and satellite technology. But there is much to discuss in this beyond the technology. (And if you have a multi-generational team, it is great to see those who remember these ads originally playing discussing them with those who laugh at the idea of AT&T being a major technology player.)
STAND-UP EXERCISE
Watch the video and then discuss as a team. Some potential questions to get you started -
- What did AT&T get right? What of these technology concepts do we see today? What did they miss?
- How are our personalized versions of these technologies different user experiences than the more public versions or community versions that AT&T imagined?
- What does it mean to vision this bold and then fall short? AT&T itself didn’t bring us these technologies, but would we still have these functions if someone hadn’t publicized them?
- How do we gamble on vision versus practicality?
