convergence with "stickie dots"

[Peggy Holman]

I feel compelled to add my 2 cents worth on this question of convergence, because it is a question that's been near and dear to me since my earliest exposure to OS.  Voting just never felt right to me.  I also have a comment on the mathematics of dots just because.


I've used Open Space for convergence for several years now and love it!  As both Michaels have already said, it is a clear reminder that action comes from people taking responsibility for what they care about.  

I think a seminal conversation on convergence took place at OSonOS in Toronto in 1997.  I just pulled the paper copy of the proceedings to look at a session called "'Day 3' of Open Space".  (Day 3 was a short hand for convergence.)  Michael Herman, myself, Diane Gibeault, Jay Vogt, Winston Kinch are some of the folks who were there that are on the list.  Here's a quote from the notes:

>The Aha
>The amazing realization we had was that synthesis [rather than voting and prioritizing] can be acheived by doing an open space within the open >space; with a little different theme.  The Day 3 question is about opening the space for action: what is possible now?  It is bounded by what is >real for us now.  
>
>The Day 3 open space benefits from the time spent in divergence in which truths were spoken, mooses are put on the table and perspectives >shift.  It reminds everyone that open space goes beyond the event and is iterative (cyclic?) in nature.  Day 3 done this way both grounds people >in "what's next" and reminds them that the space is always open."


So, 6 years later, I think the seeds of this conversation have firmly taken root.



And for no other reason than my own need to share silly data, I knew that there was a way of calculating the number of dots that I learned in my Total Quality days.  It takes 2 steps, but here it is:

Round 1:  everyone votes as many times as they want.  

Round 2:  You keep only the items that receive half or more of the votes.  You take the items left and divide by 2.  That's the number of dots.  

As you can see, it's based on the number of items to be voted upon not the number of participants.  I wish I could remember the rationale.  It has something to do with adequate weight amongst multiple items so that something that constitutes a consensus emerges.

So, history and trivia...my gifts for the day!

Peggy


P.S.  To Michael Pannwitz's invitation to Berlin.  Go if you can!  I went to the future search workshop in Berlin several years ago that Michael hosted and Marv and Sandra conducted. Silly for an American to go so far to attend a workshop with Americans?  I had the privilege of getting a glimpse into another culture during the workshop as we used the future of Berlin (slimly disguised as B-A-City) as our topic.  With East and West Germans, indeed, Eastern and Western Europeans there, it was powerful.  The workshop was also right before the Jewish holidays.  There was something about being there at that time of year for me that was quite poignant.   One evening, one of the other participants asked me why I came. Three of us, a German, an Austrian and an American Jew had a conversation about the Holocaust and speaking and being silent that will be with me always.  It is an experience well worth the travel.  Not to mention Michael is a WONDERFUL host!


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lisa Heft 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 4:41 PM
  Subject: convergence with "stickie dots"


  Hello, all -

   

  When prioritization of key issues is part of the design in an Open Space event, sometimes people post the original topic/issues signs (the ones from the agenda wall) around the room.  Participants either read the hand-written notes placed under each topic (if a book of proceedings has not been printed) or read in their books for an hour or so.  Then they place a colored adhesive dot on the "x" number of key issues (these defined according to the design the facilitator creates with the client -five things we can do on Monday, things we can do with no money, things we want to move forward as hot issues to the so-and-so committee).  Or they can make a mark on the items they feel should be moved forward.  Of course there are other ways to see how the group feels about key issues, such as reopening the space, creating affinity groups by standing by the one issue they wish to champion, using voting software, etc.

   

  For the method using dots or marks, does anyone have a mathematical formula for deciding how many dots each participant should be given for a certain number of key issues as an outcome?  For example - if you want the group to highlight the 5 top issues for this group right now, how many dots do you give each participant if you have 20 people, if you have 200, etc.  And maybe you don't need to show the 5 top issues, maybe you need to show the whatever-rises-to-the-top issues - you won't limit the number but will call anything that is clearly a majority of votes a key issue.  Does the math change?

   

  I'm writing a paper on convergence.ideally you'll see it on my future website if I ever can sculpt it (the paper - the website's coming closer) into a manageable shape.

   

  Thank you, dear colleagues,

   

  Lisa

   

  L i s a   H e f t

  Consultant, facilitator, educator

  O p e n i n g  S p a c e

  2325 Oregon 

  Berkeley, California

  94705-1106   USA

  (+01) 510 548-8449

  lisaheft at pacbell.net

  (coming soon: www.openingspace.net)

   

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