I learned this phrase in the context of meditation, Arno. I've heard
meditation teachers say about meditation practice that if we just "do
the practice" we'll get the results... usually this is in contrast to
simply talking about the practice or listening to teachings. This is
akin to saying "anyone with a good head and good heart can do open
space..." anyone who does the practice can get the same results that
os teachers/practitioners, from harrison onward, have gotten. Does
this help?
On Friday, September 27, 2013, Arno Baltin wrote:
Hi!
I like this conversation about what OS is. And this practice
notion is a bit complicated. I as non Enlgish speaker I looked for
the meanings of the word and got confused. Could you Michael say
it in other words what you mean that OS is practice (first of
all). Especially when I read "do the practice" I cant understand
the meaning.
Be well,
Arno
**
2013/9/25 Michael Herman <[email protected]
<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', '[email protected]');>>
When I hear folks simplifying open space into a tool or
technique, my usual response is to point out that circle is a
tool, bulletin board is a tool, etc. Open Space is a
/practice/, incorporating a number of these different tools.
And hopefully, my use of them together is getting more and
more skillful over time. To me, "practice" includes the
suggestion that we do it once, as best we can, and then we try
again, and again, learning and refining as we go.
My felt sense of this is a little different from "values and
principles" though I don't think calling OS or agile or scrum
that is incorrect. For me the difference is that I hold
values and principles, but practice is something that /holds me/.
I also like to suggest that open space is a robust practice, a
sufficient practice. Everything that's needed is there in the
basic story and mechanisms. We don't need to do anything
more, add in different things. Just do the practice and we
get the experience, get the learning, the performance, the
self-organizing, the breathing.
Thanks for your story, Harold.
M
--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)
http://MichaelHerman.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 12:58 PM, Peggy Holman
<[email protected] <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
'[email protected]');>> wrote:
Harold,
Thanks for bringing your knowledgable and eloquent
perspective.
Great to see these two communities working through an
understanding of each other. With you and others as
translators, I think Agile is in good hands.
Peggy
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On Sep 23, 2013, at 7:53 AM, Harold Shinsato
<[email protected] <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
'[email protected]');>> wrote:
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
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USA
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*From:*[email protected]
<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
'[email protected]');>
[mailto:[email protected]
<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
'[email protected]');>] *On Behalf
Of *Daniel Mezick
*Sent:* Thursday, September 19, 2013 11:26 AM
*To:* [email protected] <javascript:_e({},
'cvml', '[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
<http://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
--
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(203) 915 7248 <tel:%28203%29%20915%207248> (cell)
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