Thomas -- I suspicion that not only is OS possible, but probably the only way to provide sufficient latitude for innovation combined with the essential focus to deliver something useful. And a group of 8-10 is certainly possible. BUT why the limit if there is all that other talent? That would be the 90 other folks who might just care to join in???
As you know the start up time for an Open Space is about 1 and 1/2 hours, then with the exception of a short time in the am (morning news) and something similar in the evening (Evening News) -- everything else just spreads itself naturally over the time available. So it is quite possible, indeed I have done it on multiple occasions, to basically make the whole company Open Space for the period. True, you do have to have an large meeting at the beginning -- but from there on out everybody sets their own schedule and thusly can integrate it with whatever else they need to do (client business, etc). I have done this in hospitals, power companies, and phone companies where you can't shut the whole thing down but it is possible to find a time when most people can get together for a short period. This usually turns out to be a the change of shifts times -- and one shift stays an hour longer, and the other comes in an hour earlier -- and presto... you have two hours together, which is more than sufficient to get the ball rolling. There are some complications, but people do work it out, as they always seem to do. And usually the whole place is just buzzing with a level of excitement that is rarely if ever seen on a "normal" business day. Fun! Harrison Winter Address 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, MD 20854 301-365-2093 Summer Address 189 Beaucaire Ave. Camden, ME 04843 207-763-3261 Websites www.openspaceworld.com www.ho-image.com OSLIST 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: OSList [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thomas Perret via OSList Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 12:55 PM To: [email protected] email list Subject: [OSList] Open Space for innovation with group of 8? Hi friends, I would like some help. I have been approached by a company who wants to find innovations within a certain technology. They are looking to have a team of 8-10 working for 2 or 3 days, and they have invited me to give them a suggestion for how to go about it. My questions: 1. Do you think OS is the best approach with only 8 people and this kind of mission? If not, how would you go about it? If yes, how have you had it work? 2. There are over 100 people in the company - how could one utilise this potential for the purpose without having to release everybody from client work for 2-3 days? 3. They would really want to explore new innovations more broadly, but are looking, for now, to look within a certain technology because they fear being more general will give less results. Thoughts on this? Gratefully, Thomas _______________________________________________ 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 .
