My Love Affair continues

Wed Sep 29 23:52:00 PDT 2010

Thank you, Suzanne, loved your story.  Still no 
task too big.  May there be many more "nows" 
expanded.

Greetings from Taiwan.

Gail

>At the very beginning, the recovered "Miss Fix 
>it" that I was with "No task too big" from the 
>corporate world, becoming an Open Space 
>facilitator seemed like a climb to Mount 
>Everest. This weekend supported by so many 
>friends (Christine Whitney Sanchez, Harold 
>Shinsato, Lisa Heft, Larry Peterson, Diane 
>Gibeault, Harrison of course, Alan Stewart, Juan 
>Luis Walker and so many others), I felt I peaked 
>at a Base Camp level with an absolutely 
>wonderful team: members of the Scrum Technology 
>community and their many allies. Indeed I have 
>facilitated many Open Space events but this one 
>in Phoenix AZ was truly unique and special.
>
>For this two day event, there was community 
>before we even met. (The true spirit of pre-work 
>as Ms Heft would call it). Weeks before, topics 
>were flying on the internet around this theme of 
>"Scrum beyond Software" on blogs, on twitter, on 
>facebook and everywhere. Dreams were starting to 
>crystallize, anticipation was building and the 
>spirit of welcome was in the air.
>
>I'll admit that I was somewhat trepidatious in 
>this chaotic, "who's doing what" shared 
>leadership, self-organizing world with my new 
>techie friends. I breathed in and breathed out, 
>knowing that what they have done to change the 
>world in technology, in community, as free 
>agents and free spirits to make this global 
>world a smaller place, through technology change 
>and large system change, well I knew they had 
>something precious to share with the rest of the 
>world. And share they did.
>
>>From California to Serbia, Canada to the Eastern 
>US, from the Mid-West to the Far-West, they 
>came. The banner and welcome signs became works 
>of art, the chairs quickly arranged in circle, 
>everything was ready the night before. 
>Comfortably settled in this incredible place 
>called "Gangplank", certainly worth reading 
>about 
>(<http://gangplankhq.com/>http://gangplankhq.com/ 
>) that could not have been better chosen for all 
>its principles and values which parallel so much 
>of who we are in Open Space, the conversations 
>began. Quickly participants bounded to the 
>center, many still infused with the Orlando 
>event last March that Harrison hosted. The 
>topics just kept coming, too many to really 
>count because it really didn't matter. It was 
>the passion behind the words that mattered most.
>
>What I realized in that instant is that when 
>there is a spirit of welcome, a diverse group, 
>people who are there because they want to be 
>there, a sense of urgency because the world 
>needs this and a complex topic that sparks and 
>ignites, well indeed magic or real life happens. 
>People quickly shed their facades, threw caution 
>to the wind, and they got to work. In my opening 
>remarks, I talked about nervous energy (for 
>those who had never sat in a circle like this in 
>Open Space) and pent-up energy (for those who 
>just wanted to get on with it so pressing were 
>the topics they wanted to discuss) suggesting 
>that these were the perfect ingredients for 
>innovation and creativity. I invited all to 
>pause, to look around that giant circle as if 
>seated in the Arizona desert to see who was 
>there and to leave room from within for the 4 
>principles and the Law of 2 feet to do their 
>thing. Leave some space to be surprised, I said, 
>and let go of pre-determined expectations. These 
>principles and this law, would be some of the 
>precious take-aways to be used in our life 
>beyond this event.
>
>No sooner were those words spoken than my job 
>was done. I truly became invisible (with a 
>slight tad of sadness I'll admit) knowing that 
>passion and responsibility had found their place 
>and there was truly nothing left to do. Yes in 
>some cases, there were concerns: were people 
>documenting their reports, were we capturing the 
>names of all the participantsŠand I chose to 
>simply smile knowing that I could not interrupt 
>the intense conversations (butterflies, bumble 
>bees and participants) as it would perhaps crash 
>the one magical moment where individuals were 
>connecting and creating something greater than I 
>could imagine. I had no doubt that everything 
>would be alright, that responsibility would 
>combine with passion and that action would 
>naturally emerge which it did and will.
>
>So I stood back and quietly watched the intense 
>expressions, the energy bouncing off the walls 
>(exhausting at times), the charged discussions, 
>the markers flying on the flip chart sheets, the 
>smart phone video cameras capturing the action 
>in the moment, the live stream twitter comments 
>enticing folks outside the room to respond. It 
>was exciting; it was exhilarating! Anyone 
>interested, have a peak (blogs and live stream) 
><http://phoenix.scrumgathering.org/>http://phoenix.scrumgathering.org/
>
>And then at some point, I shed my facilitator 
>role too and had a few wonderful and life 
>changing conversations with a few butterflies.
>
>As we closed the circle after two days asking 
>people to say not what they thought but rather 
>to describe how they "felt" about what had 
>happened, I knew then just as I had experienced 
>it at the Wave Rider event in Toronto and also 
>at WOSonOS in Taiwan that these moments would 
>never happen again. This is it and this is now! 
>Certainly what happened in those two days 
>borrowing from the title of one of Harrison's 
>books is that for those two days in Phoenix, we 
>were "Expanding our Now" and I, for one, will be 
>forever grateful to have had a small part in 
>making this happen with others. My love affair 
>with Open Space continues.
>
>Suzanne
>--
>Suzanne Daigle
>NuFocus Strategic Group
>7159 Victoria Circle
>University Park, FL 34201
>FL 941-359-8877;
>CT 203-722-2009
><http://www.nufocusgroup.com>www.nufocusgroup.com
><mailto:s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com>s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
>
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-- 
Gail West
ICA
3F, No. 12, Lane 5, Tien Mou West Road
Taipei, Taiwan 111
8862) 2871-3150
SKYPE   gwestica

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