Dan --- Our organizations are definitely stodgy. Even the best of them seem to clunk along when compared to what they might be doing. God knows how you could ever produce any numbers to prove this assertion, but I have yet to met anybody (even the wildest enthusiast) who would affirm that their organization was running in top form. Good yes... but with lots of room for improvement. But I suspect that the critical issue is NOT a matter of “low level of development,” rather it is a case of self inflicted wounds causing radical sub-optimization. The “cure” would then be to stop the wounding, at least until we could see how things might go. Of course, if the situation really is terminal, then by all means, Bring it on! That could be SCRUM, Facilitation, Last Rites, whatever...
So what would an organization look like if it stopped being shot? How would it perform? Sounds pretty abstract and difficult to visualize... but I do believe we get the picture in wild living color, every time we have the privilege of opening the space for a damaged organization, where the trouble is real and palpable. I’m not talking about the two hour Open Space on some frilly, safe topic. I mean the real deal where the stakes are seriously high. Survival stuff. My experience is shared by many, and the stories are often told. My most recent encounter was with a very large US federal agency, which according to its director was so dysfunctional that “most of the people could not find their rear ends with both hands” (That’s a direct quote). They were in trouble by any standard, and the Chief was so out of options that Open Space sounded like a safe way to go – even though he had never seen one. Well we did it... and the organization I saw bore no relationship to the one that had been described to me. The people were all the same, the issues were familiar... but the behavior was brilliant. Total flowing conversation with real engagement and workable solutions. Mind Bending! And the chief was blown away – walking around with a silly grin on his face. I invited him to lunch because I wanted to feed him several drinks and ask a question. We had the lunch, and after the drinks, came the question: “What are you doing, Sir, as a matter of everyday business that converts 177 bright, engaged, competent people into blundering fools?” He looked a little surprised and I said, “I think you might want to stop doing it.” Dan – That’s my point. Before we do anything more, different, or otherwise – I sincerely believe we need to stop and appreciate what apparently happens very naturally, all by itself, with minimal or no assistance. And after that appreciative moment, we might think of a few things to do, but only a very few. 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 From: OSList [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Daniel Mezick via OSList Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2015 11:32 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [OSList] Agile-in-OpenSpace videos Harrison and All, Harrison you once said recently: "The real operating system is self-organization, Daniel. Everything else is an app. Open Space included!" I've just recently integrated this idea more fully into my thinking. I must admit it has taken "some time." That said, my current belief is: most organizations are at a very low level of development and can use/typically need the "app" of Open Space...and/or the "app" of Scrum... and/or the "app" of Sociocracy, what have you. I think [facilitation] does fit nicely as a kind of component or "widget" in each "app" (facilitation being part of OST, Scrum, Kanban) ...all of which run on the real OS of self-organization. So these are all self-org "apps." The "f" word does after all has the connotation of: "making it easy." At Frank Tino's company INTUIT, they have embraced the idea of creating "a culture of facilitation." This has resulted in some interesting team behaviors... ...Frank Tino's staff, for example, does this very impressively effective, brief daily-meeting called the 'daily huddle' at 430 PM each day and it's super short like 12 minutes... and someone plays in the facilitator role each time... and that f-role orbits/rotates around to someone new each day who jumps in to do it. And it seems to work pretty darned good. Everyone is a facilitator at one time or another. I often observe them completing each other's sentences in these 430PM meetings... I like the idea of having a goal of ELIMINATING the need to for any (facilitated!) 'Open Space' gatherings. These gatherings are after all simply apps running on the REAL operating system we call: "you-know-what." Daniel On 3/19/15 3:07 PM, Harrison via OSList wrote: I guess you could say that replying to your own note is rather like talking to yourself. Guilty as charged – but then I do it all the time (Talk to myself). Anyhow, I expressed the hope that Dan’s videos would not only inspire folks to emulate, but also to think about going to the next level wherever that might be. I’m not sure I know, but I did notice a little anomaly in the marvelous interviews, which might suggest a direction. Dan’s client obviously was moved by the Open Space – the quality of conversations, good ideas, actions generated, and all the good stuff. Presuming that Dan’s Open Space is just like always, those generative groups that the client so enjoyed did it all by themselves with not a facilitator in sight. No news here – but then in the final interview, the client waxed enthusedly about “facilitation” and said that from here on out he was always going to have a facilitator. Did I see a little disconnect here? A little anomaly? If the folks could “do it” in Open Space...why not every day, all the time? Perchance an opportunity to go to the next level? 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 From: OSList [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harrison via OSList Sent: Monday, March 16, 2015 4:57 PM To: 'Daniel Mezick'; 'World wide Open Space Technology email list' Subject: Re: [OSList] Agile-in-OpenSpace videos Dan – this is just wonderful! And to be clear... I never could have done what you have done. First off, I don’t speak Agile/Scrum/... I joke, but seriously. And to anybody else on this OSLIST, do yourself a favor. Watch Dan’s videos through. Not with the idea of replicating what happened (although that wouldn’t be bad) but to be inspired to take it all to a new level. I so look forward to whatever discussion... 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 From: OSList [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Daniel Mezick via OSList Sent: Monday, March 16, 2015 4:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [OSList] Agile-in-OpenSpace videos Greetings, Find below 15-minute videos of software industry executive Frank Tino, explaining his org's journey thru Open Space on the way to a genuine, rapid, lasting, enterprise-wide, "scaled" Agile adoption. Frank's 100-person company (now 150++ just one year layer) authorized several full-day before/after Open Space events. In between there was 100 days of experimentation and learning in between those gatherings. In these videos he explains the astonishing results obtained in just 100 days... ...Open Space is now part of the cultural fabric of his entire organization. And the coaches are GONE. <SHAMELESS HYPE WARNING> Is Open Agile Adoption something completely new? Well yes, it is actually. Thanks for asking! Explained here: Open Agile Adoption Theory and Components http://openagileadoption.com/open-agile-adoption-components/ </SHAMELESS HYPE WARNING> Here's the links to those executive videos: http://openagileadoption.com/open-agile-adoption-videos/ PART1: 15 mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWjNQM7q64o PART2: 15 mins http://youtu.be/UdSmGS9JTtU PART3: 15 mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9cpRPlLHYU Open Agile Adoption (OAA) is a new composition of powerful elements that work together to strongly encourage positive cultural change in organizations. Open Agile Adoption incorporates the power of invitation, Open Space, game mechanics, passage rites, storytelling and more…so your Agile adoption can actually take root. OAA is based on people, THEN practices. You can introduce any practice or framework with it. Open Agile Adoption is based on www.Prime-OS.com, which is social technology published under an open-source, free-to-the-world ("free culture") license from Creative Commons. www.OpenAgileAdoption.com www.Prime-OS.com Daniel Mezick, President New Technology Solutions Inc. (203) 915 7248 (cell) Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/> . <http://newtechusa.net/blog/> Blog. <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/> Twitter. Examine my new book: <http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/> The Culture Game : Tools for the Agile Manager. Explore Agile Team <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> Training and <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/> Coaching. Explore the <http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/> Agile Boston Community. _______________________________________________ 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 Past archives can be viewed here: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] -- Daniel Mezick, President New Technology Solutions Inc. (203) 915 7248 (cell) Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/> . <http://newtechusa.net/blog/> Blog. <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/> Twitter. Examine my new book: <http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/> The Culture Game : Tools for the Agile Manager. Explore Agile Team <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> Training and <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/> Coaching. Explore the <http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/> Agile Boston Community.
_______________________________________________ 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 Past archives can be viewed here: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
