FW: Muddling Through

Masud Sheikh masheikh at cogeco.ca
Fri Nov 5 07:58:31 PST 2004


How about a slight variation of your thoughts, Harrison?:

We have spent so many decades "strategizing" (the word seems to have become
a "holy cow") that it is time to give greater respect to "muddling through"
- a trait that some consider particularly Canadian.

A true ideologue (religious or secular) cannot be true learner. A time may
come when future generations will cycle back from an excess of muddling
through. Put another way, we may get to "simplicity the other side of
complexity", but we are not there today.

Masud Sheikh

Those who elect to be free in thought and deed must not hanker after the
rewards, which the world offers those who put up with its fetters - T.H.
Huxley

-----Original Message-----
From: Harrison Owen [mailto:hhowen at comcast.net]
Sent: November 4, 2004 8:51 AM
Subject: Muddling Through

Lucus Wrote: My feeling is that "muddling through" is all that we've got
left. We may even become good at it, I hope!

Lucus seems to be suggesting that "muddling through" may be our last option.
I rather think it is the only option, and always has been. And becoming good
"muddlers" should be our first priority. For those of you unacquainted with
British-speak "Muddling through" is what happens when all plans fail and
still a positive result emerges. It seems to be mysterious, particularly
when one assumes that careful planning and detailed execution is the only
way to move forward.

I am by no means suggesting that planning and good execution is irrelevant,
but I think it is incredibly important to fully understand the nature and
limitations of both planning and execution. There are those who see planning
as an exercise in creating the future -- and therefore execution becomes the
implementation of that desired future. Implicit in that understanding is the
assumption that we could actually comprehend/understand the myriad forces
and variables in our world and therefore come up with an accurate plan
leading naturally to effective execution. Nice idea, but fatally flawed.

I think the good news of the moment is that the limitations of our
capacities are becoming painfully obvious. We do not, will not, nor have we
ever had sufficient grasp of the complex and fast moving elements in our
world/country/company/organization (what I have called "raplexity") to
enable the creation of effective plans which lead naturally to elegant
execution. This is a real blow to the old ego (individually and
collectively) but, I believe, an essential first step towards dealing with
our lives, to say nothing of our sanity. When reality and our perception of
reality are wildly out of phase, that is indeed crazy making, and may in
fact be the definition of insanity itself. We call that a "break with
reality."

Plans (at best) are rough approximations of the territory that lies ahead.
They are man-made maps, and like all such things -- good as far as they go,
but never mistaken for the territory they depict. To think otherwise is to
invite disaster -- as is painfully exemplified by the current American
adventure in Iraq.

On the subject of muddling through -- I do believe we can (and must) become
good muddlers. Not as a matter of last resort, but rather as a first
priority and possibly the beginning of wisdom. Our own adventures in Open
Space may be well characterized as a School for Muddlers. I think we have
learned a lot.

Thoughts?

Harrison



Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20845
Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
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