Agility is an attribute of high performance teams.
High performance is a result
of OST, which allows self-organization to create order through chaos.
To amply agility and high
performance, open more space.
"The process does me.
" life is self-organized in me.
"I think, therefore I
am."
I open space, therefore I
live.
Chuni Li, inspired by the exchange among
Jenifer, Dan and Harrison
________________________________
From: Harrison Owen <[email protected]>
To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
<[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 10:59 AM
Subject: Re: [OSList] OST / Gaming
Dan – I guess it is time for me to come clean and reveal all my ulterior
motives. Frankly, I could care less if you and others use OS by way of an
introduction to Agile/Scrum. I have some reservations that, to the extent that
SCRUM is a prescribed process (whether entered voluntarily or not), OST may not
be quite what you want. My experience has been that when a group is introduced
to a definite process and OST is part of the equation, the net result is often
that the process itself is treated like anything else in OST – up for
discussion. That said, it surely can’t hurt and is probably much better than
whatever alternatives. As an old Swedish friend of mine put it, “OST is the
WD-40 of group work. One shot will loosen up just about anything.”
But all that is just the tip of the iceberg. I think the discussion will really
get interesting and fruitful when we begin to take hard look at what I might
call the “Agility Function” of OST. How does it work and why? How can we
amplify the effect? I suggested that agility is a natural act. True? If so,
could it become an everyday natural act?
On your “favorite question” – OST as a Spiritual practice... I did write a
paper some years ago for a book that never happened titled, “Open Space and
Spirit shows up.” http://openspaceworld.com/spirt_shows.htm I confess that I
share Linda Stevenson’s unease with talking about OS and Spirituality. But then
again...
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.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
From:[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Daniel Mezick
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 9:41 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [OSList] OST / Gaming
Jenifer,
Yes, and if you feel claustrophobic *reading* about Agile, let's imagine how
claustrophobic the people inside these 'agile' organizations feel...
...when they are told by an entirely well-meaning authority,
that they must "do" something, and even "be" something...entirely
unfamilar...without their explicit consent.
Is this or is this not the definition of a closed space?
And finally, my favorite question: Is OST actually a group-spiritual practice?
Dan
http://newtechusa.net/agile/spirit/
We all want rapid and lasting Agile adoptions.The Open Agile Adoption technique
(OAA) can help. The OAA technique is drawing deeply from the book SPIRIT by
Harrison Owen. It’s an amazing and even essential book for any person who is
serious about achieving a rapid and lasting Agile adoption. In a very real
sense the book SPIRIT by Harrison Owen, first published in 1986, is the first
(and perhaps the only) book written on how to achieve a rapid and lasting Agile
adoption.
"...I have written this book for friends and colleagues, known and unknown, who
find themselves in the midst of a transforming world, and are resolved to look
beneath the surface to the underlying source of change. This source, which has
become manifest in the form and structure of our organizations, I call Spirit."
– Harrison Owen, Prologue, SPIRIT: Development and Transformation in
Organizations. (Circa 1986)
www.OpenAgileAdoption.com
http://www.infoq.com/articles/open-agile-adoption-1
http://www.infoq.com/articles/open-agile-adoption-2
On 10/22/13 8:14 AM, Jenifer Toksvig wrote:
Harrison, you said:
>
>>> ... our conversation always seems to have (must have?) some frame of
>>> reference with certain metaphors and images. [...] It is not so much about
>>> right or wrong but rather capacity to communicate. <<
>
>It’s all about Story, yes, absolutely. I was just saying to Dan in an email
>that I had never heard of Agile until this conversation, so I went to read all
>about it... and then had to stop reading about it because, as a story, it
>makes me feel claustrophobic. Especially as a story that is being linked to
>OST.
>
>OST is my guide in so many ways. It’s my comparison story: the thing against
>which I find myself measuring life stuff.
>
>- because it’s not a story. Oddly, I think I made that strong connection with
>OST because it seems to me that it is just how things are, rather than how
>anyone might want to say things are. Which is not that odd at all, actually,
>now I come to think about it.
>
>Although I am not in any way religious, perhaps those who are feel the same
>way: that their belief system is not a story, but the core truth of the world.
>It seems strange to me that they wouldn’t challenge it to make sure it isn’t a
>story in disguise, though. I challenge OST every day.
>
>In fact, maybe that’s what I mean by ‘comparison’. I don’t measure life
>against it, so much as measure it against life, and I am continuously
>delighted to find that it is simply a description of how life happens, nothing
>more and nothing less.
>
>How wonderful, how refreshing to find a true *description* in a world full of
>takes and truths.
>
>When I write stories, I think the characters already exist in the place of
>potential, and all they do is choose me to be their conduit onto the page; I’m
>the right conduit for a specific few. I am not at all surprised that OST chose
>you. Thank you for being open to being chosen, and for staying open when you
>recognised it for what it was.
>
>Jen x
>
>Jenifer Toksvig
>www.acompletelossforwords.com
>
>The Copenhagen Interpretation
>www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk
>
>
>
>
>
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--
Daniel Mezick, President
New Technology Solutions Inc.
(203) 915 7248 (cell)
Bio. Blog. Twitter.
Examine my new book: The Culture Game : Tools for the Agile Manager.
Explore Agile Team Training and Coaching.
Explore the Agile Boston Community.
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