My Microsoft experience

Sat Nov 22 08:46:09 PST 2008

Doc -- It is truly gratifying to be totally present and absolutely
invisible. Congratulations! And I am always curious about the Microsofts of
this world and their relations to Open Space. Either they have never heard
of it or "it didn't work." Of course they are big places and funny things do
happen - like folks want to try a "little bit of Open space." However, as it
happened, I opened some space in January with MS folks who were redesigning
the way they approach Data Centers. Just about the same size group you had,
and pretty much the same sorts of people (even a few VPs). Two days of
wild/wooley creativity - all written up in the corporate rag. And they never
heard of it!?! 

I have seen the same sort of thing happening with another Seattle Corporate
giant. I know for a fact that Open space was used very successfully in
excess of 400 times. However, if you went into the HR dept - guess what?
They never heard of it. I suppose I am getting old and curmudgeonly but it
has occurred to me that if Open Space actually worked, a great deal of what
the HR folks, along with most of the managers, were doing probably didn't
need doing. That could be embarrassing.

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20854

Phone 301-365-2093

Skype hhowen

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

Open Space Institute  <http://www.openspaceworld.org/>
www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website  <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com 

OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit:  <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Steven
"Doc" List
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 2:00 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: My Microsoft experience

Hello, my friends.

I've just finished an interesting couple of days.

As you may or may not know, Microsoft has a highly tarnished reputation when
it comes to Open Space.  They've tried, and pretty much botched it a couple
of highly visible times.

This week was their Strategic Architect Forum, put on by the same fellow who
had me do their Open Space in Redmond in April.

284 software architects and managers from 34 countries and 190 different
organizations/companies.

Roughly 260 of them had no idea what Open Space was about, many of them
being skeptical (as usual :-)).

I had faith, as always, that it would all come together, and it did.  I'm
learning, each time, the importance of what I refer to as the set-up.
Walking the circle, explaining why they're there and what they have a chance
to do and then how they're going to do it - that's the "set-up", combined
with the process of crafting the invitation (thanks, Michael!).

This was my largest event to date.  Three concentric circles of chairs in
the opening and closing circles.  Some reluctance on the part of many of
them to propose topics.  A microphone as the talking stick/token in the
closing circle, passed as often as used to speak.

And afterward, the energy and excitement.

But between the beginning of the closing circle and the "afterward", I
achieved something important for the first time.

I recall Harrison saying something along the lines of "if they thank you at
the end, you haven't done the job of facilitation right."

Always before, someone - or several someones - has thanked me in the closing
circle, praising me, recognizing me.  I admit that I was skeptical about the
whole idea of not being thanked, since it has always seemed that they're all
so aware of me, even as I have worked to be invisibly present.

Today, at the end of the closing circle, I realized that no one had
mentioned my name, thanked me, recognized me in any way.

And I realized that my contribution was in enabling them to have a unique
and meaningful experience, and that by doing so effectively, I had achieved
something new.  I had finally become only a part of the overall experience,
contributing and enabling, but taking a back seat to the community and its
experience.

And along the way, I helped to introduce a wider group to the pleasures of
Open Space Technology, and might get to do so again with some of them.

Wow.

Thanks, Harrison.

..Doc

--

Steven "Doc" List, Principal Consultant, ThoughtWorks NA
Mobile: +1 (512) 924-9248 | Skype: steven.list | Yahoo: dadjester
email: doc at thoughtworks.com | doc at anotherthought.com | web:
www.thoughtworks.com

Watch me being interviewed about Open Space Technology:
http://www.infoq.com/interviews/Open-Spaces-Steven-List

Everyone should know it's the month of Movember! Please donate to the 

cause of men's health at http://ca.movember.com/mospace/1794841

* * ==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe,
unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20081122/b04b1136/attachment-0016.htm>