[OSList] Conversation today with Brian Burt of MaestroConference

[Harold Shinsato]

There's a lot of great input. As a software developer myself, and I know 
Maestro is basically software, I'm wanting to warn against attempting to 
"get it right" the first go. I hope Burt is aware of agile software 
techniques, iterative approaches, and simple design. User Story Mapping 
<http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920019879.do>would be a great way 
to look at this big suite of functionality by having the product people 
(Maestro) talk to customers (us), and visualize the various needs.

One core idea in user story mapping and an iterative approach (as well 
as Lean Startup ideas) is beginning with the Minimal Viable Product. In 
this case, I believe the key feature here is letting people move 
themselves around, rather than be moved. And rather than calling it an 
"Open Space Platform" with all the controversy that may rightly arouse, 
you could just start with providing the needed "raw materials", and let 
the meeting facilitators and event designers either make it "valid" Open 
Space, or something else.

I think Maestro already has tools that let you make the opening plenary 
and the evening news session (or event closing). After people line up 
and announce their sessions - it's not too hard to put up a grid on a 
wiki or a Google Doc that the attendees could share. This is probably 
the second most important feature Maestro would need to offer - so 
people didn't have to go somewhere else. But it might also be nice to 
have a phone keypad method to select sessions and preview currently 
posted ones. But I bet you could find creative ways to help with 
accessibility with helpful people at a keyboard and the phone - maybe 
with a schedule helper "room" or two.

Michael Herman and I are two of the software people on the list. I agree 
with him, keep it simple - at first. I could definitely use Maestro for 
Open Space if it only added a feature that lets people move themselves 
to different rooms. And don't worry about rooms getting too crowded. The 
Law of Two Feet takes care of that. Self-Organization makes the 
facilitators job much easier in terms of work, even if it challenges the 
facilitators need for control!

-- 
Harold Shinsato
harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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