Brian Bainbridge and the fifth principle

Thu May 6 08:14:51 PDT 2010

Hi all--

Is not surprise another name for emergence, that is, self-organization?
If so, it is pretty central to OS.

			:- Doug.

On Thu, 2010-05-06 at 17:44 +1000, Andrew Rixon wrote:
> Dear All,
> 
>  
> 
> Something I’ve been reflecting and writing on is Christopher
> Alexander’s “A timeless way of building”...
> 
>  
> 
> Here’s a little clip from it and the 5th we’re talking about... ;)
> 
>  
> 
> “This hinges on a simple scientific proposition: the great complexity
> of an organic system, which is essential to its life, cannot be
> created from above directly; it can only be generated
> indirectly.”-p162
> 
>  
> 
> Letting the system get to work, with all voices heard, all views
> invited, all tangents relevant – the fifth principle of Open Space
> emerges: “Be prepared to be surprised.”
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Warm regards,
> 
> Andrew
> 
>  
> 
> --
> Andrew Rixon PhD
> Director
> Babel Fish Group Pty Ltd 
> Skype: AndrewJRixon 
> Mobile: 0400 352 809 
> Fax: (03) 8610 0162 
> Email: andrew at babelfishgroup.com 
> URL: http://www.babelfishgroup.com/ 
> 
> Don't miss the next "Celebrating Story: Bringing People and Work to
> Life" conference. Oct 7th and 8th. 
> 
>  
> 
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Artur Silva
> Sent: Wednesday, 5 May 2010 9:10 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [OSLIST] Brian Bainbridge and the fifth principle
> 
> 
>  
> 
> Chris (and all, in Melbourne and elsewhere)
> 
>  
> 
> I understand and respect your desire to honor Brian, which I used to
> call a friend, even if we have met only once. But one single face to
> face meeting is enough to develop a solid friendship, especially when
> one is prepared to be surprised...
> 
>  
> 
> As you all know my relationship with the principles is not easy, and I
> only can understand them as "what always happens" if one opens space -
> or in what Harrison used to call an "InterActive Organization".
> 
>  
> 
> Anyhow, for me, "Be Prepared..." is not something that always happens.
> Is a king of recommendation to open oneself to the space being opened.
> 
>  
> 
> My counter suggestion comes like this: OST has 1 Law (and a very
> powerful one), 4 principles (if we have to accept that...) and one
> recommendation (you may chose another name), that from now on can be
> called "Brian's Recommendation".
> 
>  
> 
> What do you all (in Melbourne and elsewhere) think about that?
> 
>  
> 
> Regards from a sunny Lisbon - happy because I will soon met a lot of
> friends in Berlin and unhappy as I will not have the possibility to
> met some others that will not come this time
> 
>  
> 
> Artur
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- On Mon, 5/3/10, Chris Corrigan <chris at chriscorrigan.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> From: Chris Corrigan <chris at chriscorrigan.com>
> Subject: [OSLIST] Brian Bainbridge and the fifth principle
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Date: Monday, May 3, 2010, 9:49 PM
> 
> Hello from Melbourne.  I've just opened space at a conference here
> with Viv McWaters, Geoff Brown, Anne Pattillo and Johnnie Moore.
> We've got a two day, full on participatory conference on evaluation
> with 179 people.  40 topics have gone up for our day and a half OS.
> 
> It's sweet for me being here in Melbourne, which for me is the
> spiritual home of Open Space in Australia (would you agree
> Brendan?  :-)).  Of course for me that impression largely comes from
> the fact that this was Father Brian Banibridge's  home, and I regret
> that I never made it here while he was alive, only able to meet him
> over the years at various OSonOS gatherings or when he stopped by our
> place on retreat or en route to elsewhere.
> 
> Brian of course was such a stalwart member of our community...he and
> Viv have hosted trainings in Australia for years and of course they
> took the mantle of hosting OSonOS X in 2002 after Laurel Doersam and I
> co-hosted it in Vancouver. It's such a pleasure to be here working
> with Viv and our team in this place, with Brian's presence very much
> in our mind.
> 
> And so as way of honouring Brian in our own little way today we took
> the unprecedented step of officially adding a fifth principle to the
> Open Space canon.  Of course the four principles are very important
> and probably all we need, but Brian always posted a fifth one up when
> he worked: Be Prepared to be Surprised.   For years I have also made a
> poster with that one on it and put it up in the room, but today in my
> opening I elevated that most excellent phrase by making it the third
> principle of five.  It comes right after Whoever comes... and Whatever
> happens...  Be Prepared to be Surprised.  And then When it starts...
> and when it's over...lovely.
> 
> It seems a perfectly natural place to put it, and, being here in
> Melbourne,  it seemed a perfectly natural act to just say out loud
> "Open Space has 5 principles and one law..."  Viv and I both got a
> little shiver up our spine, our own little testimonial to a great
> friend of our community of practice whose presence we miss dearly.
> 
> So from now on it'll be five principles for me, and in reciting them I
> always see in my own mind Harrison's call to simplicity, Anne
> Stadler's call to take simplicity seriously (which helped Harrison get
> the principles right - that IS the story, right?) and Brian's
> mischievous imperative to be open to surprise.
> 
> So as we prepare to gather here in Melbourne on May 11 for a little
> OSonOS with 40 or so local OS-workers, and our community of friends
> and colleagues gathers internationally in Berlin, Viv and I invite you
> to officially adopt Brian's fifth principle not for sentimental
> reasons, but just because it makes sense, and it lightens the
> invitation in just the right way.
> 
> It's all good.
> 
> Chris
> ----
> Chris Corrigan
> chris at chriscorrigan.com
> http://www.chriscorrigan.com
> 
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> 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
> 
> 
> * * ==========================================================
> 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