MG Taylor and DesignShop Events - a step on the OS continuum or something completely different?
Harrison Owen
hhowen at comcast.net
Tue Nov 16 13:34:02 PST 2004
Phil wrote: "I also remember a conversation about OS as a halfway
technology. Do we simplify it more? Do we add more to it? So my point of
curiosity is, is there anything within DesignShop that would augment our
current way of thinking, our current skills sets, our current tools of the
trade?"
As the originating culprit in the notion of OS as a half-way technology, I
can at least say what I meant by the phrase. To me OS is half way to genuine
simplicity. Which fits with my basic design principle during the
"construction" of Open Space -- "think of one more thing NOT to do." So I
guess I come out on the side of less is more. Minimalism with a vengeance,
as it were. My question has always been, how little do you have to do in
preparation for, in execution of, Open Space in order to achieve optimal
results? This is not just a game with me -- but rather an exploration of the
hidden potential of every human individual or group. I have found that every
time you do something for somebody you effectively dis-empower them. Now it
may be nice to do things, and I certainly like having nice things done for
me. But I think the fact remains. With the best intentions in the world, we
often deprive people of their own unique sense of personal power, passion,
and responsibility.
That doesn't mean, of course, that we can't learn from others. We have,
will, and do (learn). And Matt has some great stuff in terms of data
gathering and manipulation. But I find it too "out in front." Instead of
being supportive, the technology tends (used to tend) to overwhelm and awe.
If the Knowledge workers could become "totally present and absolutely
invisible -- I would say Go for it.
As for the "ideal Open Space Environment" -- if that means "only one" I
think we may be barking up a tree.. Personally I have found every Open space
environment to be perfect -- perfectly what it is. Sounds glib and cute I
know, but it is true for me, and I have worked in some dismal places. But
somehow the groups take it all in stride, and I think do better for it. I am
by no means suggesting that intentionally find the most miserable place --
but when the papers fall off the wall (and they have) folks take
responsibility for getting it back RIGHT. And when the Thunder Storm blows
everything away and soaks it besides -- Folks are laughing in the rain,
finding more open space. All the while learning that it is not the
technique, magic markers, pieces of paper, post-its etc, etc that make an
Open Space Sing and produce. It is the people! And learning that lesson may
be the most valuable thing that happens.
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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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Phil
Culhane
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 2:57 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: MG Taylor and DesignShop Events - a step on the OS continuum or
something completely different?
Thanks for your thoughts, Chris. I've been reading Leaping the Abyss over
the past couple
days. Matt Taylor appears to come from a background of architecture, so puts
a lot of
emphasis on developing environments in which peak innovative/creative
performance is
possible. MG Taylor builds "NavCenters" for institutions.
Borgess: http://navcenter.borgess.com/NavCenter/e_pages/Tour/Tour05.htm
(don't these
images look familiar?)
Vanderbilt: http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/vcbh/ra_designshop.htm#
Calgary(! - new!): www.matttaylor.com/public/new.htm
Moreover, CGEY (Cap Gemini Ernst & Young) have licensed DesignShop and use
it in 17
Accelerated Solutions Environments around the world! That's not small stuff!
Participant quote: "In every instance we are getting done in three days what
we would
have historically accomplished in somewhere between six weeks and three
months." Sound
familiar?
Don't you hate doing OS's in rooms where the tape doesn't seem to stick to
the wall, the
ceiling is too low, the coffee too cold and there's no windows? Don't you
wonder what the
ideal Open Space space might look like? Maybe Matt started from the OS
tenets, but took a
different step at some point? That said, when CGEY buys in, there
(theoretically) must be
something there.
I find it fascinating to think of what an ideal OS environment might look
like.
One of my questions about DesignShop is whether the participants own the
solution.
Knowledge Workers (scribes) copy/record everything and prepare it - so
there's a real
risk that participants won't see their own words in the final product. And
knowledge
workers/facilitators can and apparently do become active in discussions -
thereby
relieving participants of some of the responsibility.
There is something beautifully simple about OS. I love that. I also remember
a
conversation about OS as a halfway technology. Do we simplify it more? Do we
add more to
it? So my point of curiosity is, is there anything within DesignShop that
would augment
our current way of thinking, our current skills sets, our current tools of
the trade?
I would love to attend a 3 day DesignShop event to see what happens....
Hoping there's someone lurking who has a story to share with us all...
Phil Culhane
On Nov 16, Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have no experience with DesignShop or their principles, so I Googled
> it and found their book, Leaping the Abyss is online in its entirety:
>
> <a
href='http://www.foresight.org/SrAssoc/99Gathering/lta_toc.html'>http://www.
foresight.org/
SrAssoc/99Gathering/lta_toc.html</a>
>
> I have only taken a cursory glance through some of the chapters, and I
> find myself agreeing with a lot of what they say about chaos,
> complexity, self-organization, emergence, empowerment, collaboration
> and so on.
>
> So far I can't figure out why they don't use Open Space. It does look
> like they use this process to acheive specific outcomes though, like
> cost cutting for example. And interestingly, participants talk about
> "feeling empowered" as in "getting people to feel empowered" but none
> of them have used the language I have heard in OST: "I am empowered."
>
> Here are the DesignShop axioms:
>
> 1. The future is rational only in hindsight.
> 2. You can't get there from here but you can get here from there.
> 3. Discovering you don't know something is the first step to knowing
it.
> 4. Everything someone tells you is true: they are reporting their
> experience of reality.
> 5. To argue with someone else's experience is a waste of time.
> 6. To add someone else's experience to your experience--to create
> a new experience--is possibly valuable.
> 7. You understand the instructions only after you have assembled
> the red wagon.
> 8. Everyone in this room has the answer. The purpose of this
> intense experience is to stimulate one, several, or all of us to
> extract and remember what we already know.
> 9. Creativity is the elimination of options.
> 10. If you can't have fun with the problem, you will never solve it.
> 11. The only valid test of an idea, concept or theory is what it
> enables you to do.
> 12. In every adverse condition there are hundreds of possible
solutions.
> 13. You fail until you succeed.
> 14. Nothing fails like success.
>
> Again...cute but not much to quibble with, much like our own four
> principles and one law. So I wonder why they use all the bells and
> whistles, and what that does for a client organization? Is it about
> Harrison's observation that more stuff justifies the price tag, or is
> there something else...the illusion or reality of control that makes
> people comfortable with a DesignShop event?
>
> I'm musing openly, but I'm genuinely curious. It seems that OST and
> DesignShop start from the same basic field and exit from opposite
> gates. What's going on here? Anyone experienced both processes and
> care to comment?
>
> Chris
>
>
> -------------------------
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> Consultation - Facilitation
> Open Space Technology
>
> Weblog: <a
href='http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot'>http://www.chriscorrigan.com/
parkinglot</a>
> Site: <a
href='http://www.chriscorrigan.com'>http://www.chriscorrigan.com</a>
>
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