This paper shows how we combine and adapt methods from elite training, future studies, and collaborative design, and apply them to address significant problems in social networks. We focus on three such methods: we use Project Action Reviews to implement social perception, Causal Layered Analysis to implement social cognition, and Design Pattern Languages to implement social action. We present the results of two studies: firstly, we use Causal Layered Analysis to explore the ways in which the design pattern discourse has been evolving. Secondly, to illustrate the three methods in combination, we develop a case study, showing how we applied the methods to bootstrap a distributed cross-disciplinary research seminar. Building on these analyses, we elaborate several scenarios for the future use of design patterns in large-scale distributed collaboration. Our case study suggests ways in which progress could be made towards realizing these scenarios. We conclude that the combination of methods is robust to uncertainty, insofar as they support adaptations as circumstances change, and incorporate diverse perspectives. In particular, we show how methods drawn from other domains enrich and are enriched by design patterns; we believe the analysis will be of interest to all of the communities whose methods we draw upon.