One thing I suppose I sort-of-assumed-but-never-realized-the-extent-of
is how connected an agency is to what’s going on in the world. It’s an obvious
point to anyone in the industry, perhaps, so what follows might appear a little redundant. 

Planners especially have to keep track of what’s going on. Sure, they use conventional research to do
this (qualitative methods, for example). But I think one of the skills to
the job involves keeping your ear to the ground in a more passive sense –
quietly listening for changes in the wind amid a flurry of white noise.

When I first came in I laboured under the misconception
that this sort of trend watching meant seeking out the ‘newest of the new’. But
in fact it’s not really about the cutting edge, and much more about everyday
life; how most people use things, feel about things, and so on. Of course, weird bits of tech might be important signs of more general
change. But what’s relevant for
consumers at large – that’s the stuff that’s important for planners.

One particular project I’ve been working on
has allowed me to glimpse what a few real trends might look like. It’s a fascinating part of the job: when you start
to see this deep current moving through all sorts of near-similar stuff. But it's not just an abstract concept, rather, it's something that drives real-world behavior. Which is useful and cool at the same time.

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(Thoughts courtesy of Planning Placement newbie James.)