OS format flexibility?

Wed Dec 17 10:12:50 PST 2003

As you have gathered – folks do everything under the Sun from 1 hour to
three or four days. And it also seems that some basic rules of thumb can
be helpful. Just remember it takes an hour and a bit to get going (open
the space, post the issues, etc) so if you only have three hours, I find
you are cutting things a little close. To be sure you can have 3  45 min
sessions, and with a group that is experienced with Open Space, one hour
can cover a lot of ground. That said, I also find that with anything
less than a day the participants will discover that they feel rather
like two little boys on a rainy Saturday --- just about the time they
have all the toys out and are really having a good time, Mother comes in
with the clean-up call, and it is all over. Basic rules of thumb for me
are: 1 Day – you will get most of the issues out, but not terribly
deeply. 2 Days – There will be a few more issues discussed (posted) and
almost all of them will be dealt with in some depth. 2 and ½ Days and
you can get everything in priority order, related issues converged, and
actions planned. I have gone on as long as 4 days, but I find the
fatigue level begins to show. There are two other things I try to keep
in mind when talking with the client about “How Long?” First is the
level of complexity and conflict. If you have a hugely complex issue
laced with lots of conflict, I just wouldn’t think about anything less
that 2 or better 2 ½ days. I know this can sound like a lot of time, but
when the stakes are high, people will spend the time. And there are also
lots of cases where groups have done in 2 days what they knew could not
be accomplished in less than a year. So it ends up being time well
spent. A second thing I bring to people’s attention is the whole
question of Proceedings. Records of conversation can certainly be done
in a 1 day setting, but I find the level of quality vastly improves when
two days are allotted. Lastly – I think you will find most of what I
just outlined in Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide” :-)

Harrison

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Dominique Proudhon
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 10:33 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: OS format flexibility?

Here is another question I have: 
It is not always easy to gather a group of people on a given issue for a
full day, less 2 or 3. 
For example, if a city council wants to use OS to involve citizens in
resolving a given issue, it seems difficult to propose a full day or
two. In such settings, meetings usually happen in the evenings after
work hours. What experiences have been done, if any, around splitting OS
events in smaller time periods? I guess some momentum would be lost, but
would the process still work? Or is the best option to just refuse to
organize a less than a day event? 

All the best, 
Dominique.

Dominique Proudhon
Group Facilitation
Problem solving
Conflict resolution
Dampierre
38470 Notre Dame de l'Osier
(33) 4 76 36 71 34
(33) 6 78 91 48 77

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Catherine Pfaehler
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 4:56 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: AW: New member

Dear Dominique

What you write resonates very much with me, all of it. Welcome to the
list, and keep your spirits up
 Wonderful what you share about your
first OS experiences. Congratulations!

You might find a lot of kindred spirits in France who would love to
participate in a public OS on the topics you raised in your first
paragraph. Can you find a city council who would be interested in such
input from its inhabitants?

Love, Catherine

Catherine Pfaehler
Kellersriedweg 8
CH - 2503 Biel/Bienne
T/F/B ++41 - (0)32 - 365 68 41

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]Im Auftrag von
Dominique Proudhon
Gesendet: Dienstag, 16. Dezember 2003 08:58
An: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Betreff: New member

Good day all,

I joined the OSlist a few days ago and have been lurking for a while. I
am very impressed with the quality of the exchanges on this list and
find myself drawn to participate. Several threads called my attention;
in particular the one questioning the list itself (what are we doing?
Aren’t we loosing our spirit, Should we split?) –I find these
conversations very healthy. And also the one about Civil Conversation,
which resonates with an old questioning of mine around ways to implement
real participative democracy – I am dreaming of initiating some real
debate around the question “what world do we chose to build for
tomorrow?”. I believe we humans are caught up in our own contradictions:
after centuries of evolving faster and faster technically, and having
more transformative power than ever, we are now facing the essential
question of  Meaning: How do we participate in the world and to what
end? What is our responsibility in regard to what is happening in our
world? Especially all the “not so nice” little things like irreversible
destruction of earth resources, loss of entire species, wars and weapon
builders, starving, and all that noisy ongoing disconnected stupidity on
our tv and radio shows that take people away from being
  I believe that
for the first time, we, at least in “developed” countries, have won the
freedom to look beyond simply working for survival, to ask ourselves:
how do I want to also make this place a little better? 

Anyway. I’ll stop here for today. My goal was actually to introduce
myself: 
I am French and leave in Grenoble. After a PhD in molecular/cellular
biology and 6 years of research. I decided to do something else with my
life and moved to human resources development. I actually did that
career move in the US: I lived 10 years in North Carolina. I wanted to
understand why people so often get into conflicts because of “films”
they make in their heads that have little to do with reality. I wanted
to find ways to work on re-establishing lost connections, especially in
the workplace, where they could serve common projects and goals. I
trained with Will Schutz, originator of the Human Element, became a
mediator, trained in various psychometric tools and got to work with
various groups. Two years ago, just before I came back to France, I
bought a book that called my attention: Open Space Technology, a user’s
guide. I read it in the plane. It was one of those “ha ha”: I found
something I was looking for. A piece of extreme simplicity that called
on very ecological principles to set the stage for real connection
between people and for meaning to happen. On top of that, this approach
was shared openly without any bind, just as a gift to humanity, which
seduced me even more...  I decided to try it as soon as I would get the
opportunity, here, in France. Starting a new business as a group
facilitator/team consultant has not been easy thing. Things are slow
going and I often get discouraged. But I finally got the opportunity to
run two different open space events for two different clients in the
last year (30 people and 36 people). Both very energizing experiences
and both around the question “How could we improve the way we function
as a team?”: I loved the first moments of surprise in people’s eyes, and
then the sudden rush to bring up issues as they understood that the
event was theirs. Several persons approached me at the end telling me
how much this work had moved them from a negative reactive position to
an engaged position and telling me about a number of places they would
see such work as useful. Thanks to Harrison, they got a gift they
deserved. Felt quite good to serve in such a meaningful way. I’ll
continue. I now would like to share this approach with others in France
and starting a French Open Space Institute (web site in preparation for
sometime next year). Of course, I have plenty of questions around OST,
but I’ll wait: This post is already long enough, you guys are busy, and
I need to read more of the documentation to make sure I am not asking
questions that have already been answered 20 times. 

All the best to each of you,
Dominique

Note: I am a guy, for those who would wonder.

Dominique Proudhon
Group Facilitation
Problem solving
Conflict resolution
Dampierre
38470 Notre Dame de l'Osier
(33) 4 76 36 71 34
(33) 6 78 91 48 77

* * ==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: 
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * *
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: 

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * *
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: 

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * *
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: 

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20031217/9a5dfa33/attachment-0016.htm>