[OSList] Genuinely open Agile adoptions

[Harold Shinsato]

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>
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