Hi Dan, My experience is that off-limit subjects are "in" as soon as you put them explicitly "off-limits". And that's in Open Space as well as in numerous other contexts.
What does your mind dwell on, if I ask you to NOT think of a pink elephant... It would appear that our sub-consciousness simply does not recognize negatives. Best regards + Chris iDeA Coaching @ iDeA-Link La Bovarde 37 1091 Grandvaux Suisse +41 33 533 31 34 +41 78 935 31 34 [email protected] Le 13 juil. 2011 à 15:08, Harrison Owen a écrit : > Welcome Dan! > > Restricting conversation is something that some people have tried. And I > guess they think it works. But that has never been my experience. Of course, > every Open Space needs a theme to define the general area of discourse. > That, after all, is why people come -- or don't. Your Agile community would > scarcely show up for a gathering focused on "The Future of American > Dentistry." And I doubt that the dentists would be too intrigued with the > "Agile Passions." > > But once the general theme has been determined, everything else is "fair > game" in my book. The reasons are several. First, when you limit the areas > of exploration you also limit the possibility of innovation and renewal, > which in my book is the major objective. And if it isn't -- why get together > anyhow? > > A second reason, which is the clincher for me... is that even if you tell > everybody that "certain areas" are off limits -- there is not much chance > that they will actually pay attention. Especially if the areas are > interesting. As a matter of fact, I suspect that by proscribing certain > discussion, you actually insure that it will come up. I guess you could call > that the "forbidden fruit" syndrome. Or maybe "beans in the nose" (Never > tell a child not to put beans in their nose, because they will surely do > it.) > > So the "forbidden fruit" will be discussed, but perhaps not publically. And > that just creates more problems. I think that is the way you grow elephants, > and other nasty creatures that lurk in the shadows. > > So I have never found any reason or profit in limiting the conversation. > > Harrison > > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Dr. > Potomac, MD 20854 > USA > > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) > Camden, Maine 20854 > > Phone 301-365-2093 > (summer) 207-763-3261 > > www.openspaceworld.com > www.ho-image.com (Personal Website) > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST > Go to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dan Mezick > Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 11:30 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [OSList] Intro and inquiry: Open Space with some off-limits topics > > Hi, > > I am a respectful lurker who now has an inquiry, so it is time to > introduce myself. > > Hi! I am Dan Mezick, coach to Agile teams, their sponsors, and executive > management. I live in CT. I am friendly, curious and playful. I enjoy > conducting frequent experiments. I like to be surprised and learn. I > have a history of software development. I receive a software patent in > 1999. In 2003, I run an elaborate search engine optimization experiment > that results in over 120,000 unsolicited, incoming web links from all > around the world, in 20 days. Those 120,00++ links-in result in a #1 > Google rank for over 7 years. > > Now I am curious about Open Space. I play with it. I read all the books > from Harrison. I experience many surprises as I read these books. I > convene five OST events in Boston since 2009. The largest is the Agile > Boston Open Space in Sept 2010 where 275 people participate. I have > experience directly facilitating some smaller OST meetings for clients > recently. > > I am currently quite fascinated with Open Space and OST dynamics. > > This list is very awesome and awe-inspiring. I am very happy to be here. > > If you like to be surprised, you may enjoy this: > http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/esp.html > > > Here is my inquiry: > > > My Inquiry > ========= > > "Let' s not go there." > > This is a common utterance used in conversation, one that clearly > signals that the space is closed to that topic. > > Open Space, limited by only a broad Theme, is not very limiting. > Authority often is concerned with this wide-ranging freedom to explore > "just about anything" when considering OST, and what might result from > that afterward. > > I wonder if any of us have experience with doing OST with some sections > in the discussion-space explicitly closed. > > I wonder how these limits are expressed-in-fact; for example inside the > Invite or in the composition of the Theme. > > I wonder how the "explicitly stated as closed" space is then > successfully maintained in an OST setting. I then wonder how much fun > the event is, when some space is closed. > > I wonder also, if this is an oxymoron, that just does not work very > well, ever. > > I think have read here somewhere here, in a passing comment, that > sometimes, certain topics are closed in OS meeting. > > I wonder if anyone has experience trying this, and if any specific > knowledge about this is documented explicitly anywhere. > > Thank you for your help ! I am preparing to be surprised. > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org >
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