The User's Guide in San Francisco

Wed Jan 2 11:58:28 PST 2008

We of the wosonos host team around San Francisco think it's totally awesome that Harrison will be here for a special evening on July 22 to celebrate the new User's Guide and our friend its author.

If you are going to San Francisco (reminds me of a song) be sure to leave space in your luggage to take home your 3rd edition Users Guide. Whether we have a book signing, or some kind of blessing ceremony with smudge and sprinkled water, your copy of the book will be a favorite memento of the journey. (Next to the little tin cable car of course.)

http://www.cablecarmuseum.org/store/toys.html

Until we see you ~
Jeff Aitken
Little Italy, San Francisco

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> Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 16:45:50 -0500
> From: hhowen at verizon.net
> Subject: New Year's Resolutions
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>
> Happy New Year everybody; what a year it has been! And 2008 and is just
> around the corner (literally), and for sure there will be all sorts of
> issues and opportunities for us to explore. I for one am definitely looking
> forward to our sharing and good conversations
>
> For me, 2008 will be some sort of record year with two books coming out. One
> is sort of "cheater" in as much as it is the 3rd Edition of the User's
> Guide. That book will be coming out in the Spring and whether you are just
> arrived in Open Space or an old timer I think you will find something of
> interest and use. It is hard to believe that we have been at this strange
> business called Open Space for 22, soon to be 23, years. And from where I
> have been sitting, it only gets richer and deeper. Just about the time we
> think we have answered the last question a whole new world of possibilities
> opens up. That is what I call fun!
>
> The second book with the current title, "Wave Riders" will make its debut in
> the fall.  I confess that it has taken me longer to write this book than any
> other previous effort which may have something to do with advancing years
> and the fact the old neurons and synapses don't click as quickly as they
> used to. And actually it is not done yet as the good folks at
> Berrett-Koehler have now started their "review and revise" process. For
> whatever it is worth, I can tell you that if you want to get the old ego
> fractured, this process will do it. All those lovely words and ideas are
> subject to rigorous critique and more than a few don't make it through. :-(
> The reviewers say they are doing their job "sympathetically" but I have
> always noticed a degree of sadism. But that is just an author talking with
> an obvious degree of bias.
>
> Wave Riders is, in many ways a sequel to my last book - The Practice of
> Peace. I and many others have noticed that somehow in Open Space, massive
> levels of conflict find useful resolution - not by the elimination of
> conflict but by creating an environment in which conflicting forces find the
> way to a complementary flow. You might call it Peace. The deeper learning,
> at least for me, has been that the "magic" is not Open Space Technology, but
> rather that which seemingly empowers OST - namely self-organization. It
> therefore makes sense to eliminate the middle man (OST) and learn how to
> directly apply (work with) that deep power, no longer as an "event" of
> several day's duration - but every day and all the days 24X7X365. I believe
> we can do that and the result is what I have called, The Practice of Peace.
> Needless to say there is an infinite amount to be learned and explored, and
> given the current shape of the Planet and it peoples, there are no shortage
> of possibilities for application. For the New Year I would hope that we can
> go deeper still. Call that a New Year's Resolution!
>
> The new book, Wave Riders, shares much of the logic of The Practice of
> Peace, but it starts from a different place. It has been a common experience
> in Open Space that work groups achieve levels of performance they can hardly
> believe. A hard nosed AT&T executive once called it "magic" when his team
> managed to accomplish in 2 days what they knew "must" take at least 10
> months. Were this to have happened just once, that would be interesting, but
> in my own experience it is almost common place. I suppose something of the
> sort happens every time space is opened, but when the folks are engaged in a
> project with definite end points, as in designing a building, or creating a
> new product, the high level of performance becomes almost overwhelming. It
> won't surprise you to learn that I think we can, and should, eliminate the
> middle man and go straight to the source.
>
> Our good friend, Chris Corrigan has referred to Open Space Technology as
> "training wheels" - those funny little appendages you attach to a child's
> bike. But hopefully the day will come when you can take the training wheels
> off and just ride. I believe that day has arrived and it is my hope that
> 2008 will be the time that we collectively take the leap. There is so much
> to learn and even more to do. Call it a Resolution. Can't wait!
>
> Of course, there must always be a place here on good old OSLIST for new
> comers who are just edging into Open Space. It is true that we now have a
> large body of experience - but it is also true that every time an "old
> question" is asked some new space is opened and we are all the richer.
>
> Happy New Year!
>
> Harrison
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland   20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
>
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
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> 
>
>
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