Will be doing and Will have done

The Big Picture

Think of a point in the future. Two questions come up:

1. What will be happening at that moment? (an action in progress)
2. What will have happened before that moment? (an action already complete)

Those two questions give you the future continuous and the future perfect.

Here is a quick workplace example:

It is 2 p.m. now. The project review starts at 3 p.m. and lasts one hour.

• At 3.30, the team will be reviewing the project. (in the middle of it)
• At 4.15, the team will have finished the review. (it is done)

Will be doing (Future Continuous)

Will be doing means you will be in the middle of an action at a particular time in the future.

Subject	Form	Short form
I / you / we / they	will be working	I‘ll be working
he / she / it	will be working	she‘ll be working

Examples

• This time next week I’ll be on holiday. I‘ll be lying on the beach.
• Don’t call between 12 and 1. We‘ll be eating.
• You have no chance of getting that contract. You‘ll be wasting your time if you submit a bid.

Compare: will be doing vs. will do

The difference is whether the action is seen as already in progress or as something that starts at that point.

will be doing (in the middle of it)	will do (starting or deciding)
Don’t phone between 7 and 8. We‘ll be eating.	Let’s wait for Liz to arrive and then we‘ll eat.

In the first sentence, eating is already underway when you might call. In the second, eating has not started yet — it begins after Liz arrives.

The Continuous Pattern Across Tenses

The future continuous follows the same logic as the past continuous and present continuous. All three describe an action in progress at a particular moment — only the time changes.

Tense	Example
Past continuous	At 10 o’clock yesterday, she was working in her office.
Present continuous	It’s 10 o’clock now. She is working in her office.
Future continuous	At 10 o’clock tomorrow, she will be working in her office.

Will be doing for Planned Future Events

You can also use will be doing to talk about planned or expected events in the future, not just actions in progress. Used this way, it is close in meaning to will do or going to do.

• The director will be making a statement about the restructuring later today.
• Later in the meeting, I‘ll be talking to the head of marketing.
• The lead engineer is sick and won’t be joining the call on Friday.

This is common in announcements and schedules. It sounds natural and neutral — you are simply saying what is expected to happen.

Will have done (Future Perfect)

Will have done means something will be complete before a time in the future.

Subject	Form	Short form
I / you / we / they	will have finished	I‘ll have finished
he / she / it	will have finished	she‘ll have finished

Examples

• The manager always leaves at 8.30. She won’t be here at 9 — she‘ll have gone to the office already.
• We’re late. The presentation will already have started by the time we get to the conference room.

The Perfect Pattern Across Tenses

Like the continuous pattern, the perfect tenses all do the same job — they look back from a reference point. The difference is where that reference point sits.

Tense	Example
Present perfect	Ted and Amy have been married for 24 years.
Future perfect	Next year they will have been married for 25 years.
Past perfect	When their son was born, they had been married for three years.

Common Workplace Uses

Here are situations where these forms come up at work:

Future continuous — ongoing actions at a future time:

• At 3 p.m. tomorrow, I‘ll be presenting the quarterly numbers.
• This time next month, the new hires will be going through onboarding.
• She won’t be attending the conference — she has a client visit.

Future perfect — completed actions before a deadline:

• By Friday, we‘ll have shipped all the orders.
• By the end of the quarter, the team will have closed 40 deals.
• He‘ll have finished the report by the time you get back from lunch.

Quick Self-Check