The Constellation

On 10 September, you spent a morning describing what Digital Engineering should make true for VIDA by 2031, first sifting the themes from your interviews, then writing future focused statements in your own words, then voting for the ones you most wanted to see pursued. This page takes you through what we've done, and seeks your input on candidate north stars ahead of Session Two.

Session One · 10 September Session Two · 24 September
First — what matters most

The themes you started from

Before anyone wrote a north star, each table took the themes drawn from your interviews and chose the three they believed mattered most for 2031. Here's how the room voted, with the themes in order of how many tables picked them.

Two printed themes didn't make any table's top three. They didn't disappear — they run underneath the statements you'll see next.

Then — in your own words

Every future focused statement, before the shortlist

With those themes in mind, you then wrote 83 single sentences describing what someone would experience in 2031: the outcome, not the technology. Here they all are, drifting past; hover to pause and read.

After that — the constellation vote

The sixteen you shortlisted, and how you voted

Each table agreed a shortlist, and everyone had three anonymous votes to spend on the futures they most wanted. These are those sixteen, with the votes each one attracted.

And now: the candidate constellation

These new, five north stars are drawn from your interview themes, your statements and your votes.

A north star statement describes a future worth heading towards: what Digital Engineering will make true for VIDA by 2031, written as something you'd experience, not the technology behind it. Its purpose is to point the way, line up effort, and help make decisions.

The constellation is a few bright points that, together, describe the future we're steering by. It's a direction rather than a plan.

We read back across your interview themes, your eighty-three statements and your votes, and drew out five candidates that, together, seem to capture the future you described. Each one gathers several of the statements you wrote. Tell us where they land with you by commenting to back one, or to suggest how it could be optimised.

What we've left open

These five don't try to say everything. A few themes ran through your interviews that were deliberately left out: how far to standardise versus right-size to each project; who owns Digital Engineering across the organisation; and what to call it. These can be incorporated into the roadmap, or added as a new statement below, if you believe one needs to be represented at that level.

Finally — over to you

A north star we've missed?

If there's a future the five don't capture, add it. Describe what Digital Engineering should make possible by 2031 in one plain sentence. It should be clear enough to answer yes or no to it being true in 2031. Anything you add is visible to everyone, and carried into Session Two.