new to open space?

[Diana Larsen]

Speaking of people who are new to open space. Rebecca Wirfs-Brock was  
one of the hosts of Agile Open Northwest and had never (knowingly)  
participated in an OST event. Rebecca, who hosted entirely on faith  
and with a few nervous moments about whether it would really work,  
wrote a blog post about her take on the event. I think it provides a  
great look at how those who are not on this list experience open space.
http://www.wirfs-brock.com/rebeccasblog.html

Happy Valentine's Eve,
Diana

Diana Larsen
503-288-3550 www.futureworksconsulting.com
www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog

"Agile Retrospectives" Amazon Best Books of 2006!
Top Ten Editors' Picks: computer & internet http://tinyurl.com/ynacvb

Speaking March 13 at QCon in London
http://qcon.infoq.com/qcon/conference/


On Feb 13, 2007, at 1:53 PM, Michael Herman wrote:

> two posts caught my eye today.  suzanne mentioned finally having  
> experienced her first open space.  then bui was commenting on what  
> makes it work, admitting along the way that he'd not...
>
> so maybe this is just restating what ralph said so well last week  
> about "open space".
>
> but i'm going to suggest -- especially to all of the "never-been-in- 
> it" and "would love to try it someday" folks out there on the list  
> -- that we have all already been there.
>
> let's start with the law of two feet, which seems to be the core of  
> everything.
>
> having "been in open space" many times, i can say that it was a  
> familiar place.  the freedom and responsibility are not unlike when  
> i went away to college.  power, possibility.  not unlike when i am  
> solo hiking in the backcountry, bounded by my physical limits, for  
> sure, but able to go wherever my two feet would take me, to learn  
> about a territory and contribute to reaching some destination that  
> i chose for myself.
>
> it's not unlike any vacation where i leave teh computer and phone  
> at home.  not unlike the small space of an airline seat, where my  
> range might be severely limited, in at least one dimension, but  
> mind is free to wander and relax as it chooses.  not unlike the  
> time after a resignation but before actually leaving a job.
>
> sleeping in has a certain spacious quality for me, bucking the  
> pressure of a world that says work starts early.  staying up late  
> has a certain quality.  stopping in at churches or rivers or other  
> quiet places when travelling.  sitting at outside cafe's in the  
> summer time, even better with a sunday newspaper.
>
> in all of these places, there is a quality of being active and  
> doing nothing.  and these are just a few of the examples that come  
> to mind.  so i wonder... where else have you (and probably many  
> others of us) already been there???
>
> not to mention the four principles, which i often summarize as "how  
> things work when they really work."  what ordinary life conditions  
> and circumstances might remind you of the states that these lines  
> remind us about???
>
> as i look outside, there is a raging blizzard here in chicago.  my  
> wife's flight out to a big client meeting was cancelled, at 5am  
> this morning.  suddenly the whole of chicago and a bunch of places  
> connected by planes and phones and the like are running on  
> "whenever it starts"  or "whenever you can get here" ...is the  
> right time.  i've experienced a similar shift in other storms, like  
> having my dad in the hospital for heart surgeries, when we actively  
> take things one day, one moment, at a time.  like one step at a  
> time when hiking.
>
> thinking spatially or kinesthetically for a moment, it seems more  
> about stacking and scrambling than ladders and climbing.
>
> so i'm wondering if we can say some more about where it is that  
> we've all already been in open space.  where does or has space  
> already open in life as you're living it?
>
> michaelh
>
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
> 300 West North Ave #1105
> Chicago IL 60610 USA
>
> phone: 312-280-7838
> email: michael at michaelherman.com
> skype: globalchicago
>
> http://www.michaelherman.com
> http://www.openspaceworld.org
> http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org * *  
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