Why OST helps us solve wicked problems

Mon May 2 17:17:52 PDT 2005

Right on Chris - In a paper I shared a bit back I compared Open Space to Ant
Colonies. Although it is a little long, the pertinent passage follows - just
the Ant part. For the direct comparison to Open Space, check out the paper
at http://www.openspaceworld.com/Opening%20Space%20for%20The%20Question.htm 

Harrison

The adaptive process is also visible in higher level systems, for example
ant colonies.[1] These tiny creatures, without benefit of anything that we
might call a brain, construct architectural wonders, engage in hugely
complex social behaviors, and manage to sustain themselves in a constantly
changing world. And they learn with great rapidity and quickly apply the
fruits of their learning.

Each day as the dawn breaks (metaphorically, for it seems the ants
discovered 24X7 long before their human neighbors) the ants emerge from
their home. Although they march forth in a single column (ant hills usually
have but a single entrance), the column quickly breaks ranks and the
individual ants disperse across the landscape in a seemingly random and
chaotic fashion - but there is a purpose, a quest, a question - and it is
called FOOD! And there is an abundance of Nichtwissen. If the goal is food,
the location and nature of that food is unknown, lost we might say in a
great cloud of unknowing.

And how do you get there from here? Judging from the ants' behavior a
straight line approach is not part of the strategy. Each individual ant
picks its own way. No tightly controlled "matrix search" for these
creatures. Each ant is on its own, does its own thing - back and forth
across the landscape.

What seems random for the individual is in fact a concerted effort for the
collective. However, to achieve the hoped for results (food) certain basics
are required: Lots of space. Lots of ants. Lots of redundancy. 

The space is what I have called Possibility Space. To the casual (or
uninformed) observer it would appear that there was nothing there. This is a
profound error, for the space is literally full - of possibility. While
nothing may be visible at the moment lots of things could be there. And the
more space, the more possibility. Of course, there are no guarantees, save
one. If you limit the space, you will limit the possibilities. Under ideal
circumstances, the Possibility Space would be absolutely unlimited. This of
course, would mean that the possibilities (of finding food) are unlimited.

Unlimited possibility is a wonderful ideal, but realizing that ideal can be
a problem, unless you have available an infinite number of "space
explorers." Mother Nature doesn't quite do "infinite," but the numbers are
definitely impressive, as every picnicker realizes to their discomfort when
the ants invade their picnic.  From nowhere and everywhere the thousands
invade, and just as you manage to choke off one point of entry, the
persistent hordes find another. At that point it will dawn upon you that
what appears as random (pointless?) behavior is extraordinarily effective.
For the ants, the infinite Possibility Space in now full of substance. The
end of their quest is in view: FOOD.

Beneath all of the activity, there is a secret weapon in operation. And like
many good secrets, it is hidden in plain sight. The secret is redundancy.
Individual ants repeat, and repeat, and repeat the basic actions of their
fellows. There are minor variations for sure, caused by the peculiar
characteristics of each ant (yes, ants are different) and the terrain being
negotiated, but the fundamental action is the same in every case. But
differences, even very small differences, do make a difference.[2] The small
variations in apparently identical behavior effectively expand the area of
search, and so by seemingly doing the same thing over and over again, new
territory is explored, new Possibility Space is encountered. Redundancy is
powerful.

To many people in the modern world, particularly managers and executives,
redundancy seems to be the ultimate waste of time, the epitome of
inefficiency. For apparently good reasons major efforts are devoted to the
elimination of redundancy. And indeed, when you actually know what you are
doing, redundant behavior is wasteful. However, when the objective is the
pursuit of knowledge, the exploration of Possibility Space - redundancy is
not only useful, it is a marvel of efficiency, as we are rediscovering with
the advent of massively redundant computer systems. Parallel processing
beats serial processing every time. And massively parallel (redundant)
processing is unquestionably the king of the heap.

When redundancy and numbers triumph Possibility Space reveals its treasure.
For the ants this means FOOD, and for you it means keeping a special watch
on that sticky tart you were saving for desert. It could be gone. In an
instant, the apparently random behavior of the ants transforms into a single
column of industrious ants demolishing the tart piece by piece and carrying
the prize home. The secret is simple, accurate, and quick communication.
According to the people who study such things, the ants use a potent
combination of  little dances and trace chemicals to inform their fellows
not only that the search is successful, but also the most direct route to
the food and back to the hill. Random behavior becomes concerted action.
Your tart is history.

What we learn about learning from the ants may be summarized as follows.
Given large numbers and redundant action, all combined with simple, accurate
and quick communication, Possibility Space will yield its treasure. For the
ants the fruits of knowledge are quite concrete: dinner. It is also worth
while noting that this marvelously complex, albeit elegantly simple,
exercise in learning and knowledge generation happens all by itself. There
is not a professor in sight, nor a curriculum management committee. A
Complex Adaptive System is a Learning Organization, which might suggest that
special efforts to create Learning Organizations are rather a wasted effort.
If the science is correct, Learning Organizations have been in existence
from the beginning - all 14 billion years. 

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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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Chris
Corrigan
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 2:06 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Why OST helps us solve wicked problems

In my post on Friday, I mused about the depth we access in Open Space.
Today, I read a paper which most of you will find useful, at the very least
because it makes a stunning case for OST.  I've posted this at my weblog
too:

In the Open Space world, we talk about the four pre-conditions that make for
great open space events: diversity, complexity, passion and urgency.  The
more you have of these, the juicier the event becomes.  That is counter
intuitive to most ways of thinking, because in most cases it seems that
problem solving processes aim to homogenize, simplify, rationalize and slow
down.  If we can just get a handle on the problem, the thinking goes, we can
apply the best possible solution.

This mechanistic view does not work with so-called "wicked problems."  It
can generate solutions or options or ways forward which are reductionist.
For me, it is the kind of thinking that arrives at one vision statement for
an organization of 100 people instead of a multi-faceted vision that is
inclusive and brings everyone along.  

So via elearning <http://www.elearningpost.com/archives/007124.asp>  post,
today I came across this paper (http://www.touchstone.com/tr/wp/wicked.html)
that looks at how wicked problems are solved by non-linear processes:

"The natural pattern of human problem solving appears chaotic on the
surface, but it is the chaos of an earthquake or the breaking of an ocean
wave. It reveals deeper forces and flows that have their own order and
pattern. The non-linear pattern of activity that expert designers follow
gives us fresh insight into what happens when we work on a complex problem.
It reveals that in normal problem-solving behaviour, we may seem to wander
about, making only halting progress toward the solution. This non-linear
process is not a defect, not a sign of stupidity or lack of training, but
rather the mark of a natural learning process. It suggests that humans are
oriented more toward learning (a process that leaves us changed) than toward
problem solving (a process focused on changing our surroundings)."

Designers who work this way, in the experiment discussed in this paper
exhibit the following strategies:

They would start by trying to understand the problem, but would immediately
jump to formulating potential solutions. Then they would go back to refining
their understanding of the problem. Rather than being orderly and linear,
the line plotting the course of their thinking looked more like a
seismograph for a major earthquake... We call this pattern both chaotic, for
obvious reasons, and opportunity-driven, because in each moment the
designers are seeking the best opportunity to progress toward a solution.

I note two things about this quote.  First, the fact that designers working
on a wicked problem are engaged in an iterative relationship with the
definition of the problem itself.  Second, the pattern is
"opportunity-driven" meaning that exposure to new ideas at any point in the
process can contribute to breakthroughs.  

This chaotic strategy is exactly the argument for Open Space Technology.  We
need people working in these ways to solve these problems,  OST provides the
space in a very short period of time to exercise the strategies that
contribute to solving wicked problems.  In fact, the time constraints in
Open Space (1.5 hour conversations over a day or two) mean that there ISN'T
time to engage in linear thinking, and this may be why OST creates the
conditions for people to access the depth and resourcefulness that is needed
to move forward on this tough issues.

Chris
-- 

CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com * *
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[1]  See Johnson, Steven, Emergence, Scribner, 2001

[2] With thanks to Gregory Bateson for this profound insight. See Bateson,
Gregory, Mind and Nature, E.P. Dutton, 1979

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