Camps. Gatherings & Un-conferences

[Justin T. Sampson]

On 8/25/06, Diana Larsen <dlarsen at futureworksconsulting.com> wrote:

> As the person who opened and held the Space at Agile 2006.

Oh! I didn't know that; but perhaps if I did, I would have been
more delicate, and as a result would have learned less. :) Thank
you for holding the Open Space, and thank you for being frank in
your response!

> Everything you heard was true. (Lots of reasons I won't go into
> here.) With all its challenges, it still managed to be the most
> valuable part of the conference for a number of conference goers
> -- they told me so. However, it was largely invisible to many
> others, especially those who had never experienced it before and
> didn't think to seek it out.

Yes. We just had our monthly BayXP meeting here in San Francisco
on Wednesday of this week (for non-techies, "XP" is a subculture
in the "Agile" movement in the software industry, hence the
connection with the Agile 2006 conference where Diana opened and
held an Open Space session) -- the topic was Agile 2006, with four
people having attended the conference.

One who hadn't attended mentioned that he had heard something
about the Open Space being less satisfying, so we took up that
topic briefly toward the end of the evening. One who had attended
the conference both this year and in previous years was able to
offer some comparisons, such as the "second class" comment; he
said that previously the Open Space sessions had also run
concurrently with the rest of the conference, but the opening
circle in particular had been a distinct "stop the conference"
kind of event, whereas this year it was concurrent with other
planned sessions.

But along the lines of your observation, one of the other
attendees mentioned that the most meaningful session for him at
this year's conference was in fact one of those held in Open
Space. He described further that the convener of that session, the
author of the book that was the topic of the session, was actually
30 minutes "late", but someone else who had read the book and had
brought detailed notes stepped right up and started a lively
conversation that led very naturally into more advanced topics
when the author did arrive.

> Some of us had already planned to hold an all Open Space event
> on Agile topics in the NW (there's already one in Europe), and
> that experience solidified our determination.

Wonderful! Let me know how I can help. :)

> That's partly why I'm asking the question. The term "Open Space"
> in some circles is becoming associated with mildly satisfying
> group discussions that don't go through the program review
> process and, therefore, are of dubious value. I'd like to sneak
> up on those folks with the real power of self-organization. So,
> I'm seeking some sheep's clothing in which to hide my wolf. :-)

I think "Open Space on Agile Topics" would be a terrific name!
Maybe it's time to reclaim the name, as Harrison tried to do with
his letter to Nature?

Cheers,
Justin

P.S. I seem to be using exclamation points more than usual lately;
I'm on a bit of a learning high, here and elsewhere. :)

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