Open Space Tech article on Wikipedia

[Michael Herman]

oh yes, lots of reasons to collaborate on this suzanne... and at the same
time, i had some energy to take a first swing at it.  no doubt got a good
bit of it wrong, too.  so plenty of room for fixing.

btw, i started with the history section, and what's posted there now is
pretty much a first draft stream.  i started iwth the history cuz it's easy
to attribute the basic story to harrison and the user's guide, i think
that's where that story lives, and because i think that the origin/history
says as much about ost as anything else.

thanks, m


--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

http://www.michaelherman.com
http://www.ronanparktrail.com
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
http://www.openspaceworld.org

312-280-7838 (mobile)


On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 4:25 PM, Suzanne Daigle <sdaigle4 at comcast.net>wrote:

> Thanks so very much Michael. Was not even home today as this Wikipedia post
> was swirling about.
> Still worthwhile perhaps to give this some collaborative attention without
> being rushed and if people have passion around it for many more reasons than
> Wikipedia.
> Suzanne
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
> ------------------------------
> *From: * Michael Herman <michael at michaelherman.com>
> *Date: *Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:05:10 -0600
> *To: *<OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> *Subject: *Re: Open Space Tech article on Wikipedia
>
> thanks, all.  while you've been adding to the thread here, i went and
> edited the opening overview and history sections of the wikipedia page.
> i've incorporated some of these new details you've sent.
>
> here's what i posted.  i'm better at storytelling than citations, but i
> tried to structure it in ways that would make citations easy.  if you can
> add to or correct any of this, just go do it in the page itself.  no sense
> tweaking this stuff here when it's open for public editing.  there are at
> least two or three other sections that need work, as well.
>
> mh
>
>
> --
>
> *Open Space Technology* (*OST*) is an approach for hosting meetings,
> conferences, corporate-style retreats and community summit events, focused
> on a specific and important purpose or task -- but *beginning* without any
> formal agenda, beyond the overall purpose or theme.
>
> Highly scalable and adaptable, it has been used in meetings of 5 to 5000
> people and is characterized by five basic mechanisms: (1) a broad, open
> invitation that articulates the purpose of the meeting; (2) participant
> chairs arranged in a circle; (3) a "bulletin board" of issues and
> opportunities posted by participants; (4) a "marketplace" with many breakout
> spaces that participants move freely between, learning and contributing as
> they "shop" for information and ideas; and (5) a "breathing" or "pulsation"
> pattern of flow, between plenary and small-group breakout sessions.
>
> The approach is most distinctive for it's *initial* lack of an agenda,
> which sets the stage for the meeting's participants to create the agenda for
> themselves, in the first 30-90 minutes of the meeting or event. Typically,
> an Open Space meeting will begin with short introductions by the sponsor
> (the official or acknowledged leader of the group) and usually a single
> facilitator. The sponsor introduces the purpose; the facilitator explains
> the "self-organizing" process called "Open Space." Then the group creates
> the working agenda, as individuals post their issues in bulletin board
> style. Each individual "convener" of a breakout session takes responsiblity
> for naming the issue, posting it on the bulletin board, assigning it a space
> and time to meet, and then later, showing up at that space and time, kicking
> off the conversation, and taking notes. These notes are usually compiled
> into a proceedings document that is distributed physically or electronically
> to all participants. Sometimes one or more additional approaches are used to
> sort through the notes, assign priorities and identify what actions should
> be taken next. Throughout the process, the ideal facilitator is described as
> being "fully present and totally invisible" (see Owen, User's Guide),
> "holding a space" for participants to self-organize, rather than managing or
> directing the conversations.
>
> Hundreds of open space meetings have been documented (
> http://www.openspaceworld.org; Open Space Institute US, STORIES
> Newsletter; http://www.openspaceworldscape.org; Tales from Open Space,
> edited by Harrison Owen, Abbott Publishing). In "Open Space Technology: A
> User's Guide," (and seven other books about Open Space), Harrison Owen
> explains that this approach works best when four conditions are present,
> namely high levels of (1) complexity, in term of the tasks to be done or
> outcomes achieved; (2) diversity, in terms of the people involved and/or
> needed to make any solution work; (3) real or potential conflict, meaning
> people really care about the central issue or purpose; and (4) urgency,
> meaning that the time to act was "yesterday."
>
> According to Harrison Owen, originator of the term and the approach, Open
> Space works because it harnesses and acknowledges the power of
> self-organization, which he suggests is substantially aligned with the
> deepest process of life itself, as described by leading-edge complexity
> science as well as ancient spiritual teachings. (Owen, Wave Rider, 2008)
>
>
> [edit<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open_Space_Technology&action=edit&section=1>
> ] History
>
> The history of Open Space Technology is detailed in the Introduction to
> "Open Space Technology: A User's Guide", by Harrison Owen. (Paperback: 192
> pages, Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 3 edition (April 1, 2008), Language:
> English, ISBN-10: 1576754766, ISBN-13: 978-1576754764)
>
> In the early 1980's, Harrison Owen wrote a paper on what he called
> "Organization Transformation." He presented this paper at a traditional
> management conference. It was well enough received that a number of people
> urged Owen to organize a conference to specifically address the issues and
> opportunities he identified in his paper. Owen hosted the first annual
> Symposium on Organization Transformation in 1983, in a traditional
> conference format, in Monterrey, California. The event was a success,
> inasmuch as it was generally agreed that it should happen again. John Adams,
> a colleague of Owen, offered to organize the second annual symposium (OT-2)
> one year later, still in a traditional format.
>
> Harrison Owen agreed to organize OT-3 for the following year, but by his
> own account, did not relish another year of work to manage all the details.
> Upon volunteering to host the third symposium, he retreated to the bar,
> where he consistently claims to have discovered what he later called the
> "Open Space" approach to meetings and events, at the bottom of his second
> martini. His plan for the following year's symposium was informed by his
> experience as a biblical scholar, associate pastor, peace corps organizer in
> the villages of west Africa, and federal government staffer and organization
> development consultant in Washington DC.
>
> The following year, he sent out a simple, one-paraphraph invitation and
> more than 100 people showed up to discuss Organization Transformation. In
> his main meeting room he set the chairs one large circle and proceeded to
> explain that what participants could see in the room was the extent of his
> organizing work. If they had an issue or opportunity that they felt
> passionate about and wanted to discuss with other participants, they should
> come to the center of the circle, get a marker and paper, write their issue
> and their name, read that out, and post it on the wall. It took about 90
> minutes for the 100+ people to organize a 3-day agenda of conference
> sessions, each one titled, hosted, and scheduled by somebody in the group.
>
> Particpants at OT-1 and OT-2 said that the best part of the events was the
> coffee breaks, which Owen always pointed out was the one part of the event
> that he didn't plan and couldn't take credit for. His inspiration to
> articulate the theme, the larger purpose for the work of the symposium, in
> an invitation and then a brief opening comment, and then simply "open the
> space" for participants to self-organize around the issues and opportunities
> they saw as essential to that purpose, was a conscious decision to make
> "more of what works." His martini-based plan sought to minimize the grunt
> work by leadership (him) and assign responsibility for maximizing productive
> learning and contribution to his participants (everyone else).
>
> The approach worked well, in the 3-1/2 days symposium, where it was
> repeated annually through OT-20. Soon after the first "open space" event at
> OT-3, however, Owen tried the same approach with a consulting client, a
> large chemical firm and a group of polymer chemists. When it worked there,
> too, the participants of OT began trying it out with their clients, in a
> variety of different kinds of organizations, to address many different kinds
> of strategic and community issues, in countries around the world. They
> returned to the OT symposium each year to share learnings.
>
> Owen never trademarked or patented or certified "Open Space" in any way. He
> always claimed to have discovered, rather than invented, it. He said it
> could be practiced freely by anyone with a good head and good heart. From
> the beginning, he said only that those who used the approach and found it
> valuable, should share their stories and learnings as freely, as well.
>
> Twenty-five years later, Harrison Owen estimates that more than 100,000
> different "open space" meetings have taken place. The Open Space World Map (
> http://www.openspaceworldmap.org) documents that these events have taken
> place in more than 160 countries. In December 2009, the OSLIST email
> listserve (hosted by Boise State University at
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=OSLIST) for practitioners
> worldwide had 660+ members and more than 26,500 publicly searchable
> messages, relating to all aspects of practice. Information about Open Space
> is now posted in 21 different languages at Open Space World (http:
> www.openspaceworld.org). There are at least six different
> government-chartered associations or institutes (Canada, France, Germany,
> Portugal, Sweden and USA) promoting Open Space practice around the world.
> The german language yahoo group started February 2002, had 233 members at
> yearend 2009, mostly from Germany, Austria and Switzerland but also a bunch
> of German speakers from France, Spain, The Netherlands, Poland and
> elsewhere, with 3497 messages in its archive.
>
> Harrison Owen originally used the term "open space" for his
> "self-organizing meetings". One of the earliest implementations of the
> approach was for a conference theme of "The business of business is
> learning," in Goa, India. The organizer of the conference was interviewed by
> the local media and described the simple process. When asked what the
> process was called, he embellished it a bit, with the more important
> sounding "Open Space Technology." The story was picked up by the New York
> Times (need date, c. 1985), and so "Open Space" became "Open Space
> Technology."
>
>
>
>
>
>
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