[OSList] The OST Game

Daniel Mezick dan at newtechusa.net
Sun Oct 6 10:02:17 PDT 2013


Skye,

You say:
"...each of us forming it each time uniquely with both particular and 
universal operatives. Unique to the entities in the forming circle,  the 
space time event forming the circle and so on and so on"

Yes, and I join with you in the idea that every moment is unique.



On Games:

Now, the word "game" is a loaded term, and loaded terms are one of the 
many problems with language.

Words are often over-loaded with confusing meanings; perhaps pictures 
can serve us better...

Here are two animals of different species 'communicating' about 'something'.
What are the essentials of their emergent, organic, non-mechanistic, 
without-words co-creation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7OsL_mixnA


On 10/6/13 11:44 AM, Skye Hirst wrote:
> I guess I want to play in this "game".   Feedback implies mechanistic 
> processes that have been identified through cause and effect 
> responses.  This is where we get into trouble. Life is not machine 
> like,  in any way.  It is complex and not complicated as a set of 
> gears and cogs can become if there are too many trying to interact.  
> However processes of living require new metaphors to capture or even 
> point to the "game" of living process where each entity and 
> combination of entities initiate to form a group, organization or 
> society and have formed to "experience satisfaction" or find effective 
> actions separately and together.  The constraints emerge from what the 
> individuals and the collective discover as useful temporary rules of 
> the moment - they can take habit if they are useful beyond the 
> moment.  Some where in the process someone decides to "name"  the 
> rule, the process and everyone nods in agreement to call what they 
> have shared in common by "that word" (i.e. jargon) Then someone else 
> comes along who perhaps was not in the experience and take up the name 
> and they pass it along as the "rule"  that must be the container for 
> that process and try to create the same process starting with the rule 
> instead of the initiating impulse to come together.
>
> Well I think you can see an ephemeral organic process that is ever 
> changing gets bogged down with words,  the names and with labels, 
> however useful they may be for a bit. GAme on,  as they say,  yet,  
> all I'm suggesting is that we stop trying to name, and control with 
> naming a process beyond anything but pointers we can use to share a 
> common experience - each of us forming it each time uniquely with both 
> particular and universal operatives. Unique to the entities in the 
> forming circle,  the space time event forming the circle and so on and 
> so on
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Oct 6, 2013 at 10:41 AM, Daniel Mezick <dan at newtechusa.net 
> <mailto:dan at newtechusa.net>> wrote:
>
>     Hi Harold,
>
>     In THE CULTURE GAME book I make the radical/heretical claim that
>     culture is a game...and every meeting...a game.... and in fact
>     every interaction... is a game.
>
>     In the book there are examples that support the idea that all
>     meetings are games.
>
>     According to this theory, if OST is a type of meeting, then OST is
>     a type of game.
>     Games have: Goal, Rules, Feedback mechanisms, Opt-in Participation.
>
>     The OST Game:
>
>     The Goal:
>     Explore the Theme-Question.
>
>     The Rules:
>     1 Law, 4/5 Principles, some defined Roles, a few other
>     suggestions. A supporting slogan...
>
>     The Feedback Mechanics:
>     Continuous, rich feedback via all of the senses, in real time for
>     each individual and group-as-a-whole.
>
>     Opt-In Participation:
>     YES
>
>     By these measures, OST is a beautifully designed meeting-game.
>
>
>     Here is a specific quote from your message, below:
>
>     "But I'd never heard anyone describe Open Space Technology as a
>     beautifully designed game before."
>
>     The reality is that Harrison mentions the word [game] when
>     discussing High Play & High Learning as it pertains to
>     self-organizing social systems... it shows up in the book Wave
>     Rider. OST encourages a social system to reach higher levels of
>     self-organization...Hmmm.
>
>     Here is the quote (emphasis added...):
>
>     "...High play is the antidote to dogmatic thinking & therefore an
>     essential companion to High Learning. It is also fun. In 'X"
>     Company,  PLAY is strictly prohibited, for after all there is work
>     to be done and it is always very serious. Even worse, PLAY, almost
>     by definition, is out of control- which is what makes if fun. Can
>     you imagine anything worse than PLAYING A GAME where the results
>     are already known in advance? Boring! "
>     -H.O., Wave Rider, page 132
>
>
>     On 9/4/13 6:23 PM, Harold Shinsato wrote:
>>     Dan,
>>
>>     Thank you for forwarding that interview. I've worked with your
>>     interviewer Amr Elssamadisy before in Dr. Christopher Avery's
>>     "Leadership Gift" program. Great to hear his voice. Thought he
>>     did a great job bringing forward your insights.
>>
>>     It's hard for me to express how deeply your thinking aligned with
>>     what I see as the essence of Open Space, and what I feel emerging
>>     in my own psyche and that in the collective when we spoke and I
>>     got to be present at your session in Nashville at Agile 2013 last
>>     month. I continue to find your material to be a critical piece in
>>     helping bridge the Open Space and Agile communities - something
>>     Peggy Holman called "Sister Communities" at the World Open Space
>>     on Open Space in St. Petersburg back in May.
>>
>>     I'd heard your thinking before and it continues to astound me the
>>     relevance and power in getting these two communities to work
>>     together.
>>
>>     Open Space truly is the "secret sauce" making possible successful
>>     Agile adoptions. The science behind this awareness goes deep. The
>>     timing of it feels like perfection. You seem to be getting just
>>     the right audiences to engage with this idea. And what you posted
>>     earlier in terms of a framework for adoption involving
>>     interspersed Open Space events to help promote agency and
>>     engagement - very exciting. Very simple. Truly elegant. And
>>     phrased in a way the holders of the bottom line can "get it".
>>
>>     What's new about your stuff?
>>
>>     Perhaps it's been mentioned before - but here are some points I
>>     find most critical.
>>
>>     1) The Mandate. Perhaps Open Space Technology came out of
>>     Organizational Development (and Organizational Transformation).
>>     But most attempts to transform the organization that I've seen
>>     have been "rolled out". Kind of like a steam roller. It's
>>     definitely mandated. You went into great depth in your Agile 2013
>>     presentation how Mandated Agile goes fundamentally against the
>>     values and principles in the Agile Manifesto. Open Space can help
>>     us bring back the original thinking of the signatories of the
>>     Agile Manifesto.
>>
>>     2) Games and engagement. Jane McGonigal's book "Reality Is
>>     Broken", and the whole arena of Gamification, has become a focal
>>     point of driving home ideas from positive psychology, and is also
>>     driving many huge wheels of industry (and dollars). Because
>>     getting people excited about using your products is important.
>>     Getting employees excited about contributing to your products -
>>     also critical. But I'd never heard anyone describe Open Space
>>     Technology as a beautifully designed game before. This perception
>>     I think plays directly with the TOOL versus PHILOSOPHY debate in
>>     our community.
>>
>>     3) Agency. This might have been a significant idea as well in
>>     Paolo Friere's book - "The Pedagogy of the Oppressed". Without
>>     people feeling like they have some say in how they apply their
>>     blood, sweat, and tears - engagement is not going to happen. Open
>>     Space is a critical way to nurture agency in people.
>>
>>     I'm so thankful that you've started posting on the OSList and I
>>     look forward to how things unfold. From what I see you saying,
>>     and how I see people are hearing you, it seems as if we're on
>>     target for a much more explicit chapter in the relationship
>>     between the Agile and Open Space "sister communities".
>>
>>         Thanks!
>>         Harold
>>
>>
>>     On 9/4/13 2:37 PM, Daniel Mezick wrote:
>>>     Here's a 16-minute video that explains the crisis of
>>>     disengagement in Agile adoptions, and how the time to act was
>>>     yesterday, and how Open Space can help...
>>>     http://www.infoq.com/interviews/dan-mezick-qcon-new-york-2013
>>>
>>>     -- 
>>>
>>>     Daniel Mezick, President
>>>
>>>     New Technology Solutions Inc.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     -- 
>>>     Harold Shinsato
>>>     harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
>>>     http://shinsato.com
>>>     twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
>
>     -- 
>
>     Daniel Mezick, President
>
>     New Technology Solutions Inc.
>
>     (203) 915 7248 <tel:%28203%29%20915%207248> (cell)
>
>     Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog
>     <http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter
>     <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
>
>     Examine my new book:The Culture Game
>     <http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for
>     the Agile Manager.
>
>     Explore Agile Team Training
>     <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and
>     Coaching. <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>
>
>     Explore the Agile Boston
>     <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.
>
>
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>
>
> -- 
> *Skye Hirst, PhD*
> President - The Autognomics Institute
> /Conversations in the Ways of Life-itself/
> www.autognomics.org <http://www.autognomics.org>
> @autognomics
>
> New Phone Number:
> 207-593-8074
>
>
>
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-- 

Daniel Mezick, President

New Technology Solutions Inc.

(203) 915 7248 (cell)

Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog 
<http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.

Examine my new book:The Culture Game 
<http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the 
Agile Manager.

Explore Agile Team Training 
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching. 
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>

Explore the Agile Boston <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.

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