Harrison,
About your statement "Open Space is a terrible way to introduce some new
process, and especially to assure 'buy in'".
You're clearing going directly against the heart of what Dan is trying
to promote. Maybe I invite disaster for myself by speaking an
alternative view from what you are saying given your founding status of
this community - but perhaps given my 12+ years working in the Agile
space - I have something worthwhile to say.
Harrison, you've been opposed to calling "Open Space" a tool. And I hear
Lisa Heft (the best Open Space trainer) talking about it being a tool
all the time.
I agree with both of you. Open Space is most emphatically *not* a tool
at it's heart. It's a set of values and principles. But it is also
definitely a tool. Or as Dan says, a 'game'. A beautifully designed game.
Agile is most DEFINITELY not a process. It's a set of values and
principles. You can see this in the Agile Manifesto
<http://agilemanifesto.org/> - especially the first item, we value
Individuals and Interactions *over* Processes and Tools. Yes, the Agile
community applies many very specific tools and processes. And very
heated debates happen around the application (or misapplication) of
those tools and processes, such as Scrum.
But oddly - even Scrum isn't *Really* a tool or a process. At the heart
of Scrum is also a set of principles and values. If you want to get a
sense of this - go to the end of the first book on Scrum, by Schwaber &
Beedle "Agile Software Development with Scrum" - where it lists the 5
values of Scrum - Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect & Courage. Or
read Tobias Meyer's "The People's Scrum". Very powerful assertion and
meditation on the core values and how to apply the processes to get
Open Space has already been used with great success to introduce,
promote and sustain Agile in the world through many uses of Open Space
in conferences such as the AgileOpen, Coaching Camps, and Open Agile
Adoption such as what Dan Mezick is explaining. From my vantage point,
Open Space is critical for helping the values and principles to be
successfully absorbed.
From my vantage point - Open Space Technology's values and principles
are eternal and aren't going away. The Universe won't suddenly stop
self-organizing. If anything, we'll only get better at understanding and
dancing with Order and Chaos. This dance, with the help of Open Space
Technology the Game (or Tool) has changed my life and infused it with
spirit. I'm eternally grateful to you, Harrison, to Lisa Heft, and to
and this community. And maybe Open Space Technology the game or tool
will pass away. The same goes for Agile values and principles. They're
eternal. They're not going away. The Process will never be more
important than the Individuals. The People are always more important
than the Game.
BUT - there are powerful forces behind trying to adopt agile as merely a
tool or a process, because it's easier to understand. And that invites
failure - and it's the exact kind of failure you're writing about,
Harrison, about how our creations are "inevitably clunky." To succeed,
any implementation of Agile or Scrum needs to be able to self-organize -
"Inspect and Adapt" is one of the anthems of the agile and scrum
communities. I hope that the Open Space community will step up and help
the Agile community to do that.
Thanks,
Harold
On 9/22/13 10:45 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
Dan wrote: "I've learned that there are actually more ways to fail
with Open Space in Agile adoptions than there are ways to succeed.
There are many ways to stumble when trying this."
Actually, Dan -- I am not at all surprised. I learned a long time ago
that Open Space is a terrible way to introduce some new process, and
especially to assure "buy in." Typically, problems arise because folks
take Open Space seriously. Instead of buying into the proposed
process, they begin to invent their own! Somewhere I wrote that OS was
a great way to design a new accounting system, but a horrible way to
"implement" it.
And just to be contrarian... I wonder whether the failure is a
function of Open Space or Agile (and/or the SCRUM flavor of Agile)? As
I think we have come to understand, Open Space is a total scam if
people mistake it for some process we invented or "do." It is simply
an invitation to be what we always have been -- self organizing. The
process itself (SO) has been around for some time, and apparently has
done quite well, witness the fact that we, along with all the rest of
the Cosmos are here and seemingly functional. In a "face off" between
a well functioning self-organizing system and any process we might
have designed to create the system, install the system, or enhance the
system -- the designed process doesn't have a chance. The reason is
simple. No matter how wise, careful, diligent or skillful we may be --
our creation is inevitably clunky. We may get the big blocks right,
even some of the finer points, but at the end of the day we always
miss the nuances -- and as always, the devil is in the details. Put
somewhat differently, our designed processes are always "averages" of
what we think the process should look like. And "averages" do not
exist anywhere in nature. To push an "average" on a natural system is
always to make it function at some sub-optimal level, and usually to
kill it.
So maybe the order of precedence should go the other way? Use Agile to
introduce Open Space, and then abolish Agile. Or, if you like ...
Self-Organization is the natural agility. It doesn't get any better
than that. Or something
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 04843
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com <www.openspaceworld.com%20>
www.ho-image.com <www.ho-image.com%20> (Personal Website)
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*From:*[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Daniel
Mezick
*Sent:* Thursday, September 19, 2013 11:26 AM
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* [OSList] Open Space with Agile: Failure patterns
Greetings to you,
In Paris this week at the Global Scrum Gathering I plan to issue
certain warning about specific failure patterns I have experienced
when working with Open Space inside Agile adoptions. I can tell you
right now that Open Space by itself is not a panacea for the complex
problems associated with Agile adoption.
Agile is actually a cover story about the wider act of bringing
culture change (a new and unfamiliar game) to an enterprise situation
(the old story we all want to cling to). The SPIRIT book pretty much
spells out the problem.
I've learned that there are actually more ways to fail with Open Space
in Agile adoptions than there are ways to succeed. There are many ways
to stumble when trying this. I'll be enumerating some of these subtle
Agile-related pitfalls and traps in the Paris keynote on Tuesday, and
in upcoming blog posts. Simply holding one or more canonical Open
Space meetings (with full pre-planning and post processing) is not
enough to neutralize the forces that oppose healthy and well Agile
adoptions. The game mechanics, storytelling and passage-rite-structure
elements must be present and robust for Open Space to be an effective
tool in Agile adoptions. Open Space and these elements are composed in
harmony with each other in the Open Agile Adoption technique.
If you offer training in Open Space for Facilitators and/or Sponsors,
I invite you to send me your links and I will make sure they are added
to the list of resources I am beginning to compile at
OpenAgileAdoption.com. I plan to list in the Paris slides some
specific French-language OST course offerings from French-speaking
instructors located in Europe, and Quebec.
Kind Regards,
Dan
--
Daniel Mezick, President
New Technology Solutions Inc.
(203) 915 7248 (cell)
Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog
<http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter
<http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
Examine my new book:The Culture Game
<http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the
Agile Manager.
Explore Agile Team Training
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching.
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>
Explore the Agile Boston <http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/>Community.
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Harold Shinsato
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http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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