Phil wrote: "I also remember a conversation about OS as a halfway technology. Do we simplify it more? Do we add more to it? So my point of curiosity is, is there anything within DesignShop that would augment our current way of thinking, our current skills sets, our current tools of the trade?"
As the originating culprit in the notion of OS as a half-way technology, I can at least say what I meant by the phrase. To me OS is half way to genuine simplicity. Which fits with my basic design principle during the "construction" of Open Space -- "think of one more thing NOT to do." So I guess I come out on the side of less is more. Minimalism with a vengeance, as it were. My question has always been, how little do you have to do in preparation for, in execution of, Open Space in order to achieve optimal results? This is not just a game with me -- but rather an exploration of the hidden potential of every human individual or group. I have found that every time you do something for somebody you effectively dis-empower them. Now it may be nice to do things, and I certainly like having nice things done for me. But I think the fact remains. With the best intentions in the world, we often deprive people of their own unique sense of personal power, passion, and responsibility. That doesn't mean, of course, that we can't learn from others. We have, will, and do (learn). And Matt has some great stuff in terms of data gathering and manipulation. But I find it too "out in front." Instead of being supportive, the technology tends (used to tend) to overwhelm and awe. If the Knowledge workers could become "totally present and absolutely invisible -- I would say Go for it. As for the "ideal Open Space Environment" -- if that means "only one" I think we may be barking up a tree.. Personally I have found every Open space environment to be perfect -- perfectly what it is. Sounds glib and cute I know, but it is true for me, and I have worked in some dismal places. But somehow the groups take it all in stride, and I think do better for it. I am by no means suggesting that intentionally find the most miserable place -- but when the papers fall off the wall (and they have) folks take responsibility for getting it back RIGHT. And when the Thunder Storm blows everything away and soaks it besides -- Folks are laughing in the rain, finding more open space. All the while learning that it is not the technique, magic markers, pieces of paper, post-its etc, etc that make an Open Space Sing and produce. It is the people! And learning that lesson may be the most valuable thing that happens. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 Phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Phil Culhane Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 2:57 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: MG Taylor and DesignShop Events - a step on the OS continuum or something completely different? Thanks for your thoughts, Chris. I've been reading Leaping the Abyss over the past couple days. Matt Taylor appears to come from a background of architecture, so puts a lot of emphasis on developing environments in which peak innovative/creative performance is possible. MG Taylor builds "NavCenters" for institutions. Borgess: http://navcenter.borgess.com/NavCenter/e_pages/Tour/Tour05.htm (don't these images look familiar?) Vanderbilt: http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/vcbh/ra_designshop.htm# Calgary(! - new!): www.matttaylor.com/public/new.htm Moreover, CGEY (Cap Gemini Ernst & Young) have licensed DesignShop and use it in 17 Accelerated Solutions Environments around the world! That's not small stuff! Participant quote: "In every instance we are getting done in three days what we would have historically accomplished in somewhere between six weeks and three months." Sound familiar? Don't you hate doing OS's in rooms where the tape doesn't seem to stick to the wall, the ceiling is too low, the coffee too cold and there's no windows? Don't you wonder what the ideal Open Space space might look like? Maybe Matt started from the OS tenets, but took a different step at some point? That said, when CGEY buys in, there (theoretically) must be something there. I find it fascinating to think of what an ideal OS environment might look like. One of my questions about DesignShop is whether the participants own the solution. Knowledge Workers (scribes) copy/record everything and prepare it - so there's a real risk that participants won't see their own words in the final product. And knowledge workers/facilitators can and apparently do become active in discussions - thereby relieving participants of some of the responsibility. There is something beautifully simple about OS. I love that. I also remember a conversation about OS as a halfway technology. Do we simplify it more? Do we add more to it? So my point of curiosity is, is there anything within DesignShop that would augment our current way of thinking, our current skills sets, our current tools of the trade? I would love to attend a 3 day DesignShop event to see what happens.... Hoping there's someone lurking who has a story to share with us all... Phil Culhane On Nov 16, Chris Corrigan <chris.corri...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I have no experience with DesignShop or their principles, so I Googled > it and found their book, Leaping the Abyss is online in its entirety: > > <a href='http://www.foresight.org/SrAssoc/99Gathering/lta_toc.html'>http://www. foresight.org/ SrAssoc/99Gathering/lta_toc.html</a> > > I have only taken a cursory glance through some of the chapters, and I > find myself agreeing with a lot of what they say about chaos, > complexity, self-organization, emergence, empowerment, collaboration > and so on. > > So far I can't figure out why they don't use Open Space. It does look > like they use this process to acheive specific outcomes though, like > cost cutting for example. And interestingly, participants talk about > "feeling empowered" as in "getting people to feel empowered" but none > of them have used the language I have heard in OST: "I am empowered." > > Here are the DesignShop axioms: > > 1. The future is rational only in hindsight. > 2. You can't get there from here but you can get here from there. > 3. Discovering you don't know something is the first step to knowing it. > 4. Everything someone tells you is true: they are reporting their > experience of reality. > 5. To argue with someone else's experience is a waste of time. > 6. To add someone else's experience to your experience--to create > a new experience--is possibly valuable. > 7. You understand the instructions only after you have assembled > the red wagon. > 8. Everyone in this room has the answer. The purpose of this > intense experience is to stimulate one, several, or all of us to > extract and remember what we already know. > 9. Creativity is the elimination of options. > 10. If you can't have fun with the problem, you will never solve it. > 11. The only valid test of an idea, concept or theory is what it > enables you to do. > 12. In every adverse condition there are hundreds of possible solutions. > 13. You fail until you succeed. > 14. Nothing fails like success. > > Again...cute but not much to quibble with, much like our own four > principles and one law. So I wonder why they use all the bells and > whistles, and what that does for a client organization? Is it about > Harrison's observation that more stuff justifies the price tag, or is > there something else...the illusion or reality of control that makes > people comfortable with a DesignShop event? > > I'm musing openly, but I'm genuinely curious. It seems that OST and > DesignShop start from the same basic field and exit from opposite > gates. What's going on here? Anyone experienced both processes and > care to comment? > > Chris > > > ------------------------- > CHRIS CORRIGAN > Consultation - Facilitation > Open Space Technology > > Weblog: <a href='http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot'>http://www.chriscorrigan.com/ parkinglot</a> > Site: <a href='http://www.chriscorrigan.com'>http://www.chriscorrigan.com</a> > > * > * > ========================================================== > osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: > <a href='http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html'>http://listserv.b oisestate.edu/ archives/oslist.html</a> > > To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: > <a href='http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist'>http://www.openspaceworld.org/os list</a> > * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
