Principles, Process, and People

[EVERETT813 at aol.com]

Harrison wrote:

"If Open Space had evolved as other such approaches seem to have evolved -
after 20 years we would have massive accretions and added complexities all
contained in thick manuals of detailed instructions."

One need look no further than what is happening to the Six Sigma movement in
Lean Thinking.   We are getting black belts, green belts, puce belts, and belt
belts.   We are getting 'certifications'; I was recently asked to help
develop a certification of practice for Six Sigma, which I impolitely refused and
wrote a long, scathing letter about the stupidity of doing so.   Haven't heard
back, strangely enough.   LOL.   Don't really expect to since the organization,
to which I belong, is one of the grand daddies of the improvement movement.
I'm sure they don't want to hear contervailing ideas to what they have so
grandly planned.

It reminds me of the old joke about the Devil and a human being, walking down
the road observing someone, just a bit further on, lean down, pick something
up, shout "Eureka" and go running off down the road.   The human asked the
Devil what he had found.   The Devil replied "He found truth."   The human asked
"Doesn't that bode ill for you?"   "No," the Devil replied, "I'm going help
him organize it."

Well, fortunately, in the main, OS has not become "organized" in any
accretive way.   I haven't spotted any manuals thicker than Harrison's books on the
subject. That's a good thing.

Paul

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