"Focus groups confirm what you already know," sociologist Eva Steensig told the New York Times. This is why more companies are turning to trend spotting trying to figure out what’s next.

Trend spotters mix demographics, cultural anthropology, participant observation, psychographics, scenario planning and unquenchable curiosity to guess at what’s in the cultural (and commercial) pipeline. The trick, of course, is telling the difference between trivia and deeply significant trends — which just may make the difference between jumping on the bandwagon in a parade that’s nearly over and arriving at the right time and place to meet customers with products, services and experiences that really add value.

We’ve followed trend spotting for a while at InsideWork. Here are a few of our favorite questions, insights and resources:

• Favorite trend spotting aphorism, from David Kelley at IDEO: Don’t listen to your customers, they can’t tell you what you need to know. Instead, watch your customers.
• Favorite trend spotting newsletters: Trendwatching and Springwise
• Favorite trend spotting novel (yes, novel): Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
• Favorite trend spotting nonfiction: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and The Art of the Long View by Peter Schwartz
• Who’s paying attention to what your customers are doing (besides your competitors, we mean)?
• How ready are you to capitalize on a trend if you were to spot one?
• What are the real barriers to recognizing challenges and opportunities for your business?
• If someone asked which way you think the wind is blowing, how would you answer? And if they asked how confident you are about that answer?