[OSList] Open Space with Agile: Failure patterns

Mon Sep 23 10:58:04 PDT 2013

Harold,

Thanks for bringing your knowledgable and eloquent perspective.  

Great to see these two communities working through an understanding of each other.  With you and others as translators, I think Agile is in good hands.

Peggy

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On Sep 23, 2013, at 7:53 AM, Harold Shinsato <harold at SHINSATO.COM> wrote:

> Harrison,
> 
> About your statement "Open Space is a terrible way to introduce some new process, and especially to assure 'buy in'".
> 
> You're clearing going directly against the heart of what Dan is trying to promote. Maybe I invite disaster for myself by speaking an alternative view from what you are saying given your founding status of this community - but perhaps given my 12+ years working in the Agile space - I have something worthwhile to say.
> 
> Harrison, you've been opposed to calling "Open Space" a tool. And I hear Lisa Heft (the best Open Space trainer) talking about it being a tool all the time.
> 
> I agree with both of you. Open Space is most emphatically *not* a tool at it's heart. It's a set of values and principles. But it is also definitely a tool. Or as Dan says, a 'game'. A beautifully designed game.
> 
> Agile is most DEFINITELY not a process. It's a set of values and principles. You can see this in the Agile Manifesto - especially the first item, we value Individuals and Interactions *over* Processes and Tools. Yes, the Agile community applies many very specific tools and processes. And very heated debates happen around the application (or misapplication) of those tools and processes, such as Scrum.
> 
> But oddly - even Scrum isn't *Really* a tool or a process. At the heart of Scrum is also a set of principles and values. If you want to get a sense of this - go to the end of the first book on Scrum, by Schwaber & Beedle "Agile Software Development with Scrum" - where it lists the 5 values of Scrum - Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect & Courage. Or read Tobias Meyer's "The People's Scrum". Very powerful assertion and meditation on the core values and how to apply the processes to get 
> 
> Open Space has already been used with great success to introduce, promote and sustain Agile in the world through many uses of Open Space in conferences such as the AgileOpen, Coaching Camps, and Open Agile Adoption such as what Dan Mezick is explaining. From my vantage point, Open Space is critical for helping the values and principles to be successfully absorbed.
> 
> From my vantage point - Open Space Technology's values and principles are eternal and aren't going away. The Universe won't suddenly stop self-organizing. If anything, we'll only get better at understanding and dancing with Order and Chaos. This dance, with the help of Open Space Technology the Game (or Tool) has changed my life and infused it with spirit. I'm eternally grateful to you, Harrison, to Lisa Heft, and to and this community. And maybe Open Space Technology the game or tool will pass away. The same goes for Agile values and principles. They're eternal. They're not going away. The Process will never be more important than the Individuals. The People are always more important than the Game.
> 
> BUT - there are powerful forces behind trying to adopt agile as merely a tool or a process, because it's easier to understand. And that invites failure - and it's the exact kind of failure you're writing about, Harrison, about how our creations are "inevitably clunky." To succeed, any implementation of Agile or Scrum needs to be able to self-organize - "Inspect and Adapt" is one of the anthems of the agile and scrum communities. I hope that the Open Space community will step up and help the Agile community to do that.
> 
>     Thanks,
>     Harold
> 
> 
> On 9/22/13 10:45 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
>> Dan wrote: “I've learned that there are actually more ways to fail with Open Space in Agile adoptions than there are ways to succeed. There are many ways to stumble when trying this.”
>>  
>> Actually, Dan – I am not at all surprised. I learned a long time ago that Open Space is a terrible way to introduce some new process, and especially to assure “buy in.” Typically, problems arise because folks take Open Space seriously. Instead of buying into the proposed process, they begin to invent their own! Somewhere I wrote that OS was a great way to design a new accounting system, but a horrible way to “implement” it.
>>  
>> And just to be contrarian... I wonder whether the failure is a function of Open Space or Agile (and/or the SCRUM flavor of Agile)? As I think we have come to understand, Open Space is a total scam if people mistake it for some process we invented or “do.” It is simply an invitation to be what we always have been – self organizing. The process itself (SO) has been around for some time, and apparently has done quite well, witness the fact that we, along with all the rest of the Cosmos are here and seemingly functional. In a “face off” between a well functioning self-organizing system and any process we might have designed to create the system, install the system, or enhance the system – the designed process doesn’t have a chance. The reason is simple. No matter how wise, careful, diligent or skillful we may be – our creation is inevitably clunky. We may get the big blocks right, even some of the finer points, but at the end of the day we always miss the nuances – and as always, the devil is in the details. Put somewhat differently, our designed processes are always “averages” of what we think the process should look like. And “averages” do not exist anywhere in nature. To push an “average” on a natural system is always to make it function at some sub-optimal level, and usually to kill it.
>>  
>> So maybe the order of precedence should go the other way? Use Agile to introduce Open Space, and then abolish Agile. Or, if you like ... Self-Organization is the natural agility. It doesn’t get any better than that. Or something
>>  
>> 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)
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>>  
>> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Daniel Mezick
>> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2013 11:26 AM
>> To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>> Subject: [OSList] Open Space with Agile: Failure patterns
>>  
>> Greetings to you,
>> 
>> In Paris this week at the Global Scrum Gathering I plan to issue certain warning about specific failure patterns I have experienced when working with Open Space inside Agile adoptions. I can tell you right now that Open Space by itself is not a panacea for the complex problems associated with Agile adoption. 
>> 
>> Agile is actually a cover story about the wider act of bringing culture change (a new and unfamiliar game) to an enterprise situation (the old story we all want to cling to). The SPIRIT book pretty much spells out the problem. 
>> 
>> I've learned that there are actually more ways to fail with Open Space in Agile adoptions than there are ways to succeed. There are many ways to stumble when trying this. I'll be enumerating some of these subtle Agile-related pitfalls and traps in the Paris keynote on Tuesday, and in upcoming blog posts. Simply holding one or more canonical Open Space meetings (with full pre-planning and post processing) is not enough to neutralize the forces that oppose healthy and well Agile adoptions. The game mechanics, storytelling and passage-rite-structure elements must be present and robust for Open Space to be an effective tool in Agile adoptions. Open Space and these elements are composed in harmony with each other in the Open Agile Adoption technique.
>> 
>> If you offer training in Open Space for Facilitators and/or Sponsors, I invite you to send me your links and I will make sure they are added to the list of resources I am beginning to compile at OpenAgileAdoption.com. I plan to list in the Paris slides some specific French-language OST course offerings from French-speaking instructors located in Europe, and Quebec.
>> 
>> Kind Regards,
>> Dan
>> 
>> -- 
>> 
>> Daniel Mezick, President
>> New Technology Solutions Inc.
>> (203) 915 7248 (cell)
>> Bio. Blog. Twitter. 
>> Examine my new book:  The Culture Game : Tools for the Agile Manager.
>> Explore Agile Team Training and Coaching.
>> Explore the Agile Boston Community. 
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Harold Shinsato
> harold at shinsato.com
> http://shinsato.com
> twitter: @hajush
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