[OSList] The OST Game

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Mon Oct 14 12:54:34 PDT 2013


A marvelous conversation... and I have been absent a bit for a good cause, I
hope. I have been doing my homework, reading all the assigned material about
broken reality and culture hacking. Interesting journey! And along the way I
came upon an odd realization - I really just don't like games! Seems it had
something to do with early childhood trauma... my mother just loved games,
and she would beat me unmercifully. Oh well. Unfortunately that aversion
carried on into my adult life, particularly as it related to the so called
Group Dynamics games that we were all supposed to play prior to serious
discussion. Seems like you just couldn't have an adult interchange without
some "warm-up" to break the ice. Or so they said. Really bugged me. I just
couldn't believe that consenting adults could not communicate without some
elaborate foreplay - funny tools drawn from the omnipresent Facilitator's
Tool Box.

 

So much for my inherent pathology and prejudices, but there may be something
of a positive outcome. I simply had to believe that given reasonable
conditions, human beings could sit down and talk productively with each
other - all by themselves. As adults. It did take two martinis to get me
there... but "there" was (guess what) Open Space.  We have been doing that
ever since, and it turns out that children do just as well. 

 

What may have started as childish rebellion (against Mother, Facilitators,
etc) has only gotten worse. With increasing age and experience it has become
clearer and clearer that the less I do the better things work. It is not
that I have no agency or contribution, but it does turn out that the ambient
wisdom and capacity of the individuals and groups that I am privileged to
interact with so vastly exceeds my own that I would do very well to fold my
hands and shut my mouth. Anything else has me working much too hard, and
generally messing things up... Such are the eye glasses through which I view
my world. Distorted perhaps, and different for sure, but I'm stuck with it.
And it is through those glasses that I read my assignments, beginning with
"Reality is Broken." 

 

Jane McGonigal weaves a fascinating tale of the strange (to me) world of
Game Makers, Gaming, and Gamers. I can certainly understand why she has
created a stir, and I applaud her massive research and clear prose. That
said, my reaction was close to horror, and the thought that the world and
techniques she describes should become a model and a means to fix our world
was pretty close to terror. Doubtless much of this can be ascribed to my
aforementioned phobia - but I suspect that others might share such feelings.
Two points stand out in my mind-Gaming is addictive, a point she develops in
infinite detail, and secondly that good Game Makers actually capitalize on
this phenomenon and make every effort to enhance the addictive power.  Their
success is obvious and awesome. It seems that one massive, online game
attracted 5,000,000 man/years of attention. George Orwell, where are you now
that we need you?

 

I joke a bit - and my concerns run deeper. When Jane says, "Reality is
Broken," I feel constrained to ask, Who's reality? Not mine, for sure. It is
not that I experience every day as a walk in the park, but there have been
precious few moments when I have felt bored, without challenge,
non-productive and unappreciated/respected. And I have many friends and
colleagues around the world who seemingly have a similar experience.
Doubtless that makes us odd, perhaps aberrant, but there is a certain
consolation in numbers. We are not alone. 

 

When I think about the factors that positively contribute to my reality they
include such things as the indeterminacy of my surroundings. The moment I
think I know where it is all headed, I am confounded by the twists of
happenstance. Then there is the total lack of clarity when it comes to goals
and objectives. Certainly I have hopes and desires, but just about every
time I have locked on some particular outcome, it doesn't turn out that way
- usually better. And lastly, if there are clear cut rules, I certainly have
never found them. Of course there are moments when I think it is all a
dreadful mistake and I am scared to death. But even that has its positive: I
know I am alive. So for me, my reality is doing just fine. Exciting,
challenging, growthful, rewarding -- In fact it seems to be working
perfectly.

 

I am truly sorry for those who have a different experience, but if reality
for them is broken, it is reasonable to ask, Who broke it? Or could it be
that it isn't really broken, they just think it is, if only because it
doesn't measure up to their expectations. That would certainly be the case
if reality was supposed to work by clear cut rules, heading in a
pre-determined direction, always under somebody's control. That
understanding of reality is certainly alternate to anything I know anything
about. It just never happened, and if it did I believe it would be
unendingly boring. But that might account for the Game Maker's success - for
if I read Jane correctly, that is pretty much the reality they create. And
if that is the reality you want, no wonder people spend 5 million man/years
immersed in it!

 

And on to a related question: Is OST a game? Possibly, but not according to
Jane's rules/criteria. To be sure, there is a correlation with Jane's first
criteria: Opt in = Voluntary Self Selection, and  a second one relating to
Good Feedback (we might say documentation). But it seems to me it all goes
downhill from there. If there are any rules in Open Space, I have yet to
encounter them. To be sure there are 5 principles and a law, but none of
them are things you have to do. In fact they all seem to emerge no matter
what you do - all by themselves. As for a clear goal, I think you have
precisely the opposite. Everything begins with a question, and under the
best of circumstances there is no attachment to outcomes. As we say,
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.

 

Just to drive a little deeper. If OST is not a game - what is it?

 

Drum roll... Cutting edge revelation...

 

OST... is ... Life. 

 

It does not bring anything new. Represents no mind bending revelation. In
fact it doesn't DO a thing. Nothing. OST simply and quietly invites us to
be, fully, what we already are - ourselves. It really is shocking. Just be
yourself as you really are. Drawn by a question (Quest) - you are invited to
explore what you really care about. No foregone conclusions. No prior
exclusions (givens). No rules prescribed (by somebody else). Just be
yourself and take it from there. Of course it helps to be honest. What do
you really care about? And if you care, take responsibility for what you
care about. Nobody else will. And you don't need an act of Congress,
Parliament, the Legislature, or the writings of the latest Guru. It's just
you. 

 

But not just you. Who shares your passion? Who will join you in the assumed
responsibility? In advance you simply don't know, nor can you predict. But
when it happens, you know it happens. Life not only goes on - it gets deeper
and richer with the shared passions and responsibilities that weave the rich
tapestry of the human odyssey.

 

I know you have heard this song before, but I think it bears re-singing. The
temptation to change this simple invitation into some complex process,
procedure, structure is almost overwhelming, driven I am sure by our hope to
improve and also  perhaps to make it something we own or do. Something that
requires the professional touch, as it were. But the truth of the matter, I
believe, is that there really isn't anything to improve and still less to
do. Above all, Don't fix it if it ain't broke, and always think of one less
thing to do.

 

So where does all this discussion leave Agile and OST, or more exactly the
relationship between the two? Closely united, I believe - but perhaps not in
the way that Dan and others seem to be suggesting, even though that way
appears to be eminently rational and definitely a good plan.

 

I understand that Agile (as described in the Agile Manifesto) is an elegant
set of principles which await implementation (adoption) through some method
or process, SCRUM for example. The principles are magnificent and represent
the latest iteration of a longish tradition beginning perhaps with Quality
Circles, and passing through Excellent Organizations (Tom Peters et al),
Learning Organizations, with possibly a side trip through Process
Re-Engineering. In every case, elaborate processes, procedures, and
protocols were designed in order to bring the noble ideas into everyday
practice. In every case the energy and enthusiasm surrounding the several
efforts was considerable (aided I suspect by the fat consulting fees that
could be generated). And in every case I believe we learned many useful
lessons. However, in terms of the desired outcome, which might be described
as "enhanced organizational function," I think the record is less than
positive. Only people of a certain age will even remember Quality Circles,
Excellent Organizations seem evident mostly by their absence, The Society of
Organizational Learning disbanded last year, and Process Engineering has
been retired by general consensus as an embarrassing failure. Jane McGonigal
may just have written the epitaph, "Reality is Broken." Whether Agile and
its several implementation procedures (SCRUM, etc) will meet a similar fate
remains to be seen.

 

Reasonable people might well ask, how could we invest so much and accomplish
so little? Doubtless there are multiple answers, but one stands out for me.
We've been trying to organize self organizing systems. This is a thankless
task if only because we will never get it right; the systems involved (our
businesses, countries, organizations) are so complex, inter-related, and
fast moving that we can't even think at that level - let alone effectively
structure and control them. Even worse it seems all too often that our best
efforts and intentions make the situation worse - our fixes end up with
painful unintended consequences. But worst of all our efforts are not needed
because the system itself, all by itself, can do a better job.  Frankly our
efforts are just plain clunky.

 

It is precisely at the point where I think other efforts have been less than
successful that OST may enable Agile to succeed -- but not by facilitating
the adoption Agile as a set of principles, but in a much more immediate and
direct fashion: by enabling Agility. The principles are definitely nice, but
what we truly care about is real, meaningful, organizational agility, which
others might call High Performance, and Open Space demonstrably delivers on
that score. My favorite story, of course is the AT&T design team for the '96
Olympic Pavilion. In 2 days they designed a $200,000,000 structure which had
taken them 10 months on a previous effort. That is a 15,000% increase in
productivity. Not bad. 

 

If that were the only instance of such a phenomenon it would be interesting
but not helpful, but there are others, a lot. And how does all that work? It
is just a well functioning self organizing system. And if you ask whether it
is all scalable - the answer is it is already scaled to the highest levels.
Been around for 13.7 billion years, and the Cosmos (along with everything
else) is the product. Don't adopt Agile, BE agile. Honestly, it is a natural
condition if we stop trying to fix it. 

 

So I think we have some very good news here. Reality ain't broke and serious
Agility is available any time we want to open the space to let it happen.
And if you were wondering who all those friends and colleagues around the
world who know that their reality is unbroken (albeit painful sometimes) you
can start by looking in a mirror. Yes, I am talking about all those folks
who have wandered into Open Space to discover, many times in spite of
themselves - that deep, meaningful, productive, playful, respectful
encounters with their fellows can and do happen. That is just a taste, of
course - but it can happen all the time -- 24X7. I know.

 

Harrison

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

 

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 04843

 

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

 

www.openspaceworld.com 

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Harold Shinsato
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 6:46 PM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] The OST Game

 

Oh Diane - thank you! I had been hoping you would write something. I'm also
very grateful for your comprehensive history here only some of which I was
aware of.

A deep bow of appreciation for the Agile Open series. I'd love to go to
every one of those because of the fun, engagement, high level of learning -
but mostly from the awesome people I've met and how it has enriched my
lives. You've been one of the greatest enrichers of my professional life,
Diane! I'm quite excited to be going to Agile Open in Berkeley next week!
And the Portland/Seattle Agile Open Northwest is one of the high points of
my year.

As Harrison said - please ramble more. I've been intrigued and intimidated
by the depth I've seen in the Human System Dynamics work and would love
especially to hear you speak more about the intersection of OST and HSD - or
maybe more appropos to this thread how Finite and Infinite Games is a formal
basis for HSD - and that might benefit OST facilitation. 

    Thanks!
    Harold

On 10/9/13 3:21 PM, Diana Larsen wrote:

Harold, Michael, Harrison, and all,   

 

I've been lurking on the sidelines of this conversation. Honestly, hoping a
bit that it would go away. (Not sure about my motivations there.) However,
the turn the thread has taken recently prompts me to speak up again. 

 

I'd like to remind you about the Agile Open series of conferences (goes back
to Europe in 2004 and still continuing) and the Agile Open Program supported
by the Agile Alliance (since 2010) and before those the open space formats
of Consultants' Camp (started by Jerry Weinberg decades ago), the
Consultants' Retreats (Norm Kerth begun in 1997), and Retrospective
Faciltators' Gatherings (Norm, Esther Derby, Linda Rising, and me, 2002),
all still continuing and having touched many people in the Agile community
over the years. What is now the Agile 20xx conferences have had an open
space/open jam component since the beginning. As well as John Engle's,
Harrison's, & Suzanne's involvement with a variety of Agile conferences.
Coming to a Scrum Gathering in Boulder straight from having attended the
US-OS on OS in San Antonio TX in 2005(?), I opened the first open space for
Scrum (that I know of). Michael opened space at the XP/Agile Universe
conference ten years ago and showed everyone there what self-organizing
could look like in the moment. (I was there, thank you Michael.) 

 

All of which has made fertile ground for Dan's advocacy to take hold in the
Agile community. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. Dan may be the
most vocal advocate at the moment (and I applaud his visibility), but I
wouldn't say he's the most potent advocate. Agile and Open Space have a
long, rich and entwined history together. 

 

Some of us have been quietly applying Open Space principles in our Agile
adoption work for many years. We haven't codified it or named it, but it's
been a central part of what we do. Charlie Poole and others have opened
space in organizations as a way of introducing, modeling, and applying Agile
and self-organization. 

 

The theoretical basis of Carse's _Finite and Infinite Games_ underlies much
of the thinking in Human Systems Dynamics as well. The idea that the degree
to which a system is open or closed, multi-dimensional or single
dimensional, non-linear or linear gives us clues about the patterns that may
fit the purpose or not, and whether we'd like to shift those patterns or
not. Alistair Cockburn used Carse's model to think about competitive and
cooperative games, and proposed the idea that software development would do
well to think more in terms of cooperation among stakeholders. It's one of
the reasons I was drawn into the Agile space. 

 

Some in the Agile community have embraced this idea of games as metaphor,
games/play as learning tool, but they often do not incorporate (are not
aware of?) the deeper meanings from Carse and Cockburn and the complexity
sciences. They do it because it's more fun. And that's okay too. 

 

It may or may not be a metaphor, explanation or tool that works for the Open
Space community. 

 

Gratitude for your patience with my rambling, 

Diana

 

 

**************
Diana Larsen

http://futureworksconsulting.com

 

Envisioning a world where everyone at every level of the organization can
say, "I love my work; this is the best job EVER!"

 

Read the books: 

Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great 

Liftoff: Launching Agile Teams and Projects 

QuickStart Guide to Five Rules of Accelerated Learning
https://leanpub.com/fiverules

********************





 

On Oct 9, 2013, at 1:08 PM, Harold Shinsato wrote:





Hi Michael,

No fun to hear I'm failing - but it hasn't stopped me before. Try and try
again (even if it takes years).

I'm not saying OST *is* a game. I'm not saying OST is anything.

What I see is that there is value in the metaphor of OST as a game.

So Dan is already speaking about OST as a game to Agile circles and making
some good cheese with it. And maybe the Agile community has a bit of a leg
up on us here because Alistair Cockburn used the game metaphor in his first
book in the 1990's about this. And Alistair is one of the signatories of the
Agile Manifesto that started the whole "Agile" (with capital letter)
conversation. But Alistair wasn't talking specifically about software as in
an obscure coding thing thing that will make everyone's eyes glaze over. He
was speaking about a different way to look at work and at teams.

So I've been in the Agile conversation for over a decade. And it's not
always been fun. Much of it has been butting up against minds that were very
shut, and it's still not an uncommon experience for advocates to run into a
wall. And maybe this might not seem relevant here, but much of that "Agile"
conversation has been about people. People people people. It's even a
frequent complaint I hear for the techies, because a minority who show up at
conferences are only interested in the coding aspect. But they're the
minority. The first line of the Agile Manifesto <http://agilemanifesto.org/>
- "Individuals and interactions over processes and tools."

Yes - I do live in that world of code. But I also live in this world of Open
Space, improving human dynamics in teams, OD type stuff etc. And often times
having a foot in both worlds causes cognitive dissonance because not too
many are comfortable in this lonely between space. Finding language to bring
together the contasting perspectives can be difficult.

But living in both worlds - I see so much in common. I see so much common
ground. I see so many ways that the Agile crowd can help the OST/OD crowd,
and most certainly visa versa.

The thing is - the Agile universe is already embracing Open Space in a huge
way. And not always with the direct help and support and understanding of
the folks here. Which is not always a good thing.

One last thing - the Agile community is not homogeneous. There are many
innovations that cause controversy and big huge disruptions. I'm seeing some
of Dan's work in this community as being potentially hugely powerful and
disrupting - and in a large way due to his being the most potent advocate of
Open Space in Agile today. And this game perspective is part of how he got
there.

I'm not fully there and understanding his metaphor of OST as a game - and it
looks like I'll need to converse with him outside this forum to fully get
it. I guess I was hoping for a warmer reception from the voices of authority
and seniority on this list. But at least, having attended WOSonOS in Florida
and knowing some of what is happening in the Open Space world because of
being part of the Open Space Institute/U.S. - I do know that many of us are
catching more of the agile mojo and that it will continue to mature.

Well, anyway - not sure I just helped you Michael but thanks for giving me
an excuse to rant. :-)

    Cheers,
    Harold



On 10/9/13 11:58 AM, Michael Herman wrote:

Not sure you actually accomlished "Against," Harold.  I think I just read
OST is life, a finite slice of Life.   

 

And if the conversation happens in a room full of people who think and talk
about games, that's great to say OST is a game cuz everyone in that room or
community knows what that means. Probably doesn't work as well on CNN or at
an ODN mtg. 

 

I guess it still a bit confusing to me if this conversation is about how to
talk OST in agile community or how to talk OST in other/larger communities.
Translation is always possible, but the game lingo doesn't seem native to
the folks I'm usually talking with. Actually, finding some native
understanding of (and native language for) OS seems like half the game in
many instances. 

 

m

 

 


On Wednesday, October 9, 2013, Harold Shinsato wrote:

Harrison,

Ok, I'll take your word from previous posts that I won't be in trouble if I
risk going up against you again - or maybe it's just a hope that this thread
won't be shut down due to misunderstandings.

The statement "OST is a game" actually doesn't work for me so much because
it uncomfortably reduces all the ideas and philosophy (and practice) of OST
into a word that unfortunately has for many negative connotations. But
perhaps I'll invite thinking about OST *as* a game instead. Perhaps that can
help prevent cognitive dissonance and allow for this conversation to
continue.

My understanding of the word game as used by Daniel Mezick and others comes
from game theory - and could open up many benefits.

The briefest way I think to hope to keep this particular door open for those
in this community who might find the word game unpleasant would be to
suggest the book "Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and
Possibility" by James P. Carse. Mr. Carse actually is a professor of history
and literature of religion - and his thinking in that book is very poetic
and beautiful. And it reminds me much of Open Space thinking - and I won't
even attempt to dive into his thesis any more than to look at what I think
sums up the thinking being the final sentence in the book. "There is only
one infinite game."

The bigger game of Open Space is the game of life - the unending story - the
"one infinite game". And an OST meeting or conference is a finite game which
seems to open up an experience of the infinite game in a beautiful way. And
yet, there's still value in seeing the finite game aspects of OST in that
context.

Alas, perhaps this attempt will be futile. But I hold out hope that others
won't be discouraged from this perspective on OST as a game and it's
benefits.

    Harold

On 10/7/13 1:25 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:

Dan - Using the word, "game" as you do, I guess it sort of works with OS,
but I do confess a certain feeling of cognitive dissonance, which I suspect
may be shared by some of my colleagues. In any event, it certainly would not
be a word I would use. But that doesn't mean a great deal. However, when you
say, "Leaders choose to play OST. Or not," I do feel called upon to say
something like... Oh Yes? 

 

Some people refer to the "Game of Life," but it is scarcely a game you
choose to play (or not). Not playing is called suicide, I think, and while
some people do make that choice it is not a choice that most folks would
considered good, useful, or positive. It is more like canceling all choices.
Out of the Game, so to speak.

 

I feel rather the same way about OS, and for all the same reasons. OS for me
is not a process we choose to do or not do - quite simply it is what we are
--  Self organizing, and OS is only an invitation to be ourselves fully and
purposefully. We can chose to be ourselves with distinction, despair, or
something in between --  but so long as we remain on the planet in some
viable form, we got no choice. We are what we are, what we are. Put a little
differently, OS is not something new and different, it is just a small name
change for what has been around for quite a while: life.  I guess you can
call it a game, but somehow that seems to miss some of the nuances.

 

Harrison 

 

 

 

-- 
Harold Shinsato
harold at shinsato.com
<javascript:_e(%7b%7d,%20'cvml',%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%2
0%20'harold at shinsato.com');> 
http://shinsato.com <http://shinsato.com/> 
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush> 



-- 
Michael Herman
MichaelHerman.com
(312) 280-7838 

Sent from my iPhone






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