[OSList] Open Agile Adoption experience report

Wed Aug 6 05:52:54 PDT 2014

Hi Rosa,

/
//"...it's amazing how much energy can be freed up, when people are 
willing to reconsider the assumption of needing to come up with "a 
single action"/

Yes, and I notice that when the invite is really sincere, and people 
feel they can opt-out with no sanctions, that is exactly what some of 
the folks do. Especially the 2nd meeting, the one with far less novelty 
about it. They just do what they want to do. "Everyone gets what they 
want" from a sincere invite to Open Space.

Now, there are no formal sanctions (from the org) for not attending. 
People are people and when the passionate and responsible show up, for 
sure they notice who is and is not also present. Right? And what they do 
with that information is up to them right? How each individual responds 
to the new info is part of the process of continuous self-organization 
and org-wide integration of the learning.

One of my current beliefs is that, when OST is used in organizations, it 
has a huge "spectator sport" dimension to it. By this I mean one of the 
great things that happens is the org gets new information about itself, 
and what it wants, merely by observing and watching.

I notice that the 2nd meeting usually has more intensity. The people 
have some experience with experiments now, and OST, and they pretty much 
know who is passionate and who is not. There are usually fewer sessions 
on the wall, and those sessions are much more focused on a few 
known-to-be-very-important topics, and the sessions are typically much 
more provocative.
/
//
//"...and instead begin to open to the possibility of having a 
multiplicity of actions emerge."/

Yes, and so interesting: The people who end up in the closing circle of 
the 2nd Open Space typically start DOING THINGS after that meeting. Not 
just ONE thing. Individuals acting alone and more often in small groups 
of 2,3,4 etc start DOING different THINGS, typically without seeking 
"permission" (aka "authorization") from anyone whatsoever.

Its all very curious and mysterious.

On 8/5/14 11:18 PM, Rosa Zubizarreta wrote:
> Yes, great story, Daniel!
>
> One of the ways that my experiences with OST have profoundly 
> influenced me,
> is in making very apparent, the futility and sheer madness of 
> attempting to "get everyone to agree" to anything...
>
> One place where I often find people still deluded into thinking that 
> it's "how many" that matters,
> is in some old-style social change circles... it's amazing how much 
> energy can be freed up, when people
> are willing to reconsider the assumption of needing to come up with "a 
> single action" that everyone will subscribe to...
> and instead begin to open to the possibility of having a multiplicity 
> of actions emerge.
>
> The old idea of "strength in numbers" can be a hard one for people to 
> let go of.. and yet there can be so much more power in small committed 
> groups of people following their own inspiration... especially when 
> there is reasonable communication among them.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 4, 2014 at 6:01 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net 
> <mailto:hhowen at verizon.net>> wrote:
>
>     Wonderful story, and marvelous lesson: It is never about "how
>     many" -- but always about "Who cares, and how much." Those who
>     care ALWAYS make the difference. I think. Have fun!
>
>     Harrison
>
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>     *From:*OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>     <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>] *On Behalf Of
>     *Daniel Mezick
>     *Sent:* Monday, August 04, 2014 4:50 PM
>     *To:* oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>     <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
>     *Subject:* [OSList] Open Agile Adoption experience report
>
>     As some of you may know, ASCAP (The American Society of Composers
>     Authors and Publishers) recently won the coveted CIO100 award from
>     CIO MAGAZINE.
>
>
>     You can learn more about that here:
>
>     http://www.ascap.com/press/2014/0610-ascap-to-receive-cio-100-award.aspx
>
>     ASCAP is an organization that uses Open Agile Adoption with Open
>     Space. They are one of the 1^st to stick their necks out, and
>     avoid mandates, and try the self-organized approach to figuring
>     out what Agile adoption might actually mean to their organization.
>
>     When we did the 2^nd Open Space ("OST2") at ASCAP, the event was
>     not as well attended, and had a smaller closing circle than the
>     1^st OAA Open Space or "OST1".
>
>
>     At the time, I felt like we failed. However, a couple of
>     interesting patterns emerged:
>
>     ·The people who participated all the way to the closing circle
>     were full of passion and responsibility
>
>     ·Those same people were the people who took the whole Agile
>     adoption forward from there !
>
>     Imagine my astonishment as ASCAP completed their mission-critical
>     task of delivering a new business operating system- the system
>     that pays royalties to hundreds of thousands of members. AND they
>     got this done at a time when the business was under tremendous
>     pressure to perform. Furthermore they got this done using agile
>     ideas inside a 100-year-old-culture that was highly resistant to
>     change.
>
>     What looked like a total failure in the closing Open Space was
>     actually the beginning of very significant culture change inside
>     the company.
>
>
>
>     The next client to use OAA was a progressive, FORTUNE Top-20
>     employer, a software company. You would think they would NOT have
>     a 2^nd Open Space that was less attended than the 1^st , but they
>     did. I recognized the pattern again---the really passionate and
>     responsible people were there, in the closing circle. Furthermore,
>     while the numbers of people were down, the level of intensity was
>     way UP---one participant remarking in the closing circle said "I
>     don't understand why the whole company isn't here right now. We
>     are making tremendous improvements!"
>
>     Moral of Story: If you use Open Agile Adoption, expect the 2^nd
>     Open Space (about 3 to 4 months later) to have lower attendance.
>     This is a normal pattern. The people who are present in the
>     closing circle are your new leaders- the people who are going to
>     carry the culture change forward.
>
>     I welcome your questions as you ponder the futility of mandates
>     (and the power of invitation) in your own work with organizations
>     that are working hard to improve their culture-- and their results.
>
>     -- 
>
>     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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-- 

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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