Coffee Pots

[Harrison Owen]

A friend sent the following, and I thought you all might enjoy -

Thought you might enjoy this quote, taken from Tom Stewart's latest book
(and reminds me of your story, about how you discovered self-organizing
people systems/Open Space):

"It is worth mentioning ... the piece of hardware that has been documented
to be the most effective means of sharing knowledge.  It is called a
coffeepot.  Coffeepots are cross-functional and nonhierarchical.  They
encourage informal discussion.  Serendipitous things happen around them.
They are part of one's daily routine, and, except for wimps who drink decaf,
are always stimulating.  However, they do not scale well; people on
different floors, in different offices, and in different time zones are
rarely found around the same coffeepot.  Also, some of what is shared around
a coffeepot may be unrelated to increasing shareholder value, and what
passes for knowledge might not always withstand rigorous analysis.  The
single greatest opportunity in knowledge management is to develop coffeepots
that avoid these problems."

Obviously Stewart (whoever he is) hasn't done Open Space, if so he would
know that the ultimate coffee pot had in fact been created.

Harrison

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

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>

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