Most civic tech projects (like most other tech projects) start from a problem and push forward. But strategy works the other way. It begins with a clear vision of where you want to end up and reasons backward to the steps that get you there. Bit by bit, asking "what would that require?" until you arrive at the present with a roadmap. Backcasting resists the pull of incrementalism and the tyranny of what currently seems feasible, forcing a project to name the future it's actually trying to build.

Key Question/s: what does it look like to design a civic tech intervention by starting from the world you want and working back to today's first move?

Backcasting has been a key strategic principle for me for 15 years, through numerous development cycles as a startup founder and product lead. Adapted from sustainability work, the practice is not dissimilar to traditional strategic planning, except that it takes a more assertive approach to the future. Instead of relying on forecasting to tell you the future and then working backwards. It starts with an ideal. I think that’s incredibly important. And I’d love to work with fellows that have (or want to develop) unapologetically big and bold ideas.