[OSList] Smallest group OS

Sat Jun 22 05:43:47 PDT 2013

Stéphane, withy pleasure!

Google hangouts is brilliant but we need to pay attention to a few context variables for optimal design in a hybrid meeting (majority face to face) and a few remote participants, like this one I had the honor to serve.

I was lucky because the meeting had an expected start in a small groups OS (thank you List) everybody wanted to stay in the same topic 'so the group sticked together' ... But after a couple rounds a parallel track emerged and in the closing circle the great learning emerged about meeting effectiveness and Law of two feet become clearer.

The parallel group e-mailed me there report so I added manually to the Hangouts report.

If it was not like this I had to have each group member with a Hangout session log in instead of sharing one session with the 9 people in the same room. 

Hangouts is designed for remote meetings where each participant has an individual login to the same shared space.

The surprise element in Hangouts is that Agile folks seem to be using it a lot so there is a free tool there that can be  adopted for OS Marketplace, provided each user as an individual login access or (in my case) if you use an interactive display where the group can touch and move themes directly from the shared screen with the same login.

My learning was:
- I underestimated the importance of the Opening Circle as an instrumental step to instill OS principles and the group behavioral norms they convey which are counter-cultural to participants in small groups and this is much more important than in large ones (specially as meeting format expectations are different)
- Opening Circle in hybrid meetings is even more critical when participants have never experienced a OS meeting the burden of explaining technology needs to be added. I would think about having a pre-OS with all remote participants have a sandbox session to play with the tools so when opening the circle everybody is already in the same page.

Hope this answers your question,
Best
Paul

From my iPhone

El 22/06/2013, a las 04:50, Stéphane Brodu <stefbrodu at gmail.com> escribió:

> Hi Paul
> 
> Can you tell us a little bit more about the setul you used for the remote people ?
> - In the IRL workshop, did you have an adapted setup like big screen, microphones, or just PC screen / webcam on a table ?
> - Did the teams in the workshop worked with the Google Hangout collaborative tools (aka shared drawing, text doc, etc.)?
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to share.
> Many thanks to all of you on this list : it always a pleasure to read all these experiences.
> 
> Stefan.
> 
> SB
> (envoyé en itinérance en mode de reconnaissance vocale)
> 
> Le 21 juin 2013 17:57, "Paul Nunesdea" <nunesdea at me.com> a écrit :
>> Dear List, 
>> 
>> Finally I can subscribe entirely to this learning.
>> 
>> My small OS meeting become an incredible 10 hours workspace (the challenge was to have 4 remote members that were online 10 hours we used google Hangouts and it works brilliantly). The meeting results essentially set the cornerstone for a true OS session with all the company.
>> 
>> Harrison, you are quite right - the full potential in Open Space is when we engage all concerned and in this case it has to be all the organization and this requires a lot of preparation!!!
>> At least from this small OS I have discovered there is already a powerful ingredient - lot of passion. I felt exactly as you describe your book... Drained not exhausted. 
>> 
>> Again thanks much all for your wisdom.
>> 
>> Enjoy the Summer solstice weekend!
>> 
>> Paul
>> 
>> From my iPad
>> 
>> On 20/06/2013, at 00:28, Thomas Herrmann <thomas at openspaceconsulting.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Good learning - pre-work is important - small or large group (-:
>>> All the best
>>> Thomas Herrmann
>>> 18 jun 2013 kl. 11:36 skrev Bhavesh Patel <bhavmail at gmail.com>:
>>> 
>>>> I just did one and it didn't seem to go that well... 13 people...
>>>> 
>>>> As I reflect on it I think:
>>>> it was not set up properly, the client who was the boss may not have informed everyone what the aim was
>>>> the participants felt that they already had 'these types of discussions' in the office and so didn't need to have them at a staff retreat
>>>> there didn't seem to be much energy around the topic
>>>> So I guess it goes back to making sure you have a topic that the participants really care about, that it is an invitation and not an obligation, at least at an intentional level, and to not assume that the sponsor or person you are talking to knows how to explain it to others. I did have an invitation which was sent out and the staff were so busy they didn't even read it!
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 12 June 2013 21:53, Erich Kolenaty <e.kolenaty at aon.at> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> At this occation I would remind you of the report of fabulous Lisa Heft who I guess 10 years ago gave a report to the list on the smallest open space ever been held in the world: Only one participant!
>>>>> 
>>>>> It must be able to find the story somewhere in the archives - perhaps Lisa would like to tell again ;-) ?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Erich from lovely Vienna
>>>>> 
>>>>> Am 11.06.2013 15:33, schrieb Michael M Pannwitz:
>>>>>> Dear Paul,
>>>>>> in my experience it does work, I have facilitated several.
>>>>>> The tendency for the whole group to go to a particular session is larger than in a large event but there are often many small or even very small groups, or groups of one. So the dynamic is basically the same albeit more intense.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> However, these requests for an OST event with a small group almost always end up being much larger after a planning meeting with the sponsor (in this case, all nine could constitute the planning group).
>>>>>> Basicall, in the Planning Meeting three major questions are answered:
>>>>>> 1. What are our expectations regarding the outcome of the OST event?
>>>>>> 2. What should be the heading for the event in light of our expectations?
>>>>>> 3. Who should be invited to the event in light of our expectations and the title of our event?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> So, I would encourage you to have a traditional planning meeting.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Greetings from Berlin
>>>>>> mmp
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 11.06.2013 14:10, Paul Nunesdea wrote:
>>>>>>> List,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Apologies if this is a recurrent question... Would opening space at
>>>>>>> management team level (9 persons) would work? The issue is a burning
>>>>>>> 'new company structure' eventually facing a downsize. I have
>>>>>>> experienced to host larger groups OS but wonder how it would be also
>>>>>>> useful in a smaller group context.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> My question is twofold: - would a OS session of 9 persons would work
>>>>>>> in terms of marketplace dynamics, would the sessions be too small? -
>>>>>>> If that works well, then I wonder if extending results to the
>>>>>>> remainder of the company not in the OS meeting would be effective?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Your experience would be much valued!
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Best Paul
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> From my iPad _______________________________________________ OSList
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