[OSList] Management and Organization

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Thu Aug 7 14:39:19 PDT 2014


Dan there is some good news. Folks in the DOD are starting (slowly) to deal
with the complex (uncontrollable) world in which they operate. That they
didn't acknowledge that multiple others (us, for example) have been there
for a while is not surprising. Actually a lot of "us" were there with the US
Military 25 years ago. Involved in a strange thing called The Delta Force -
it was a network (electronic) based think tank. Definitely had its weird
parts... lot of New Age Stuff. But thoughts were thinking and stuff
happened. I don't recognize the current authors, but I suspect there is a
lineal decadence, perhaps unacknowledged.   The whole story got pretty well
"weirded out" with the movie, "Men who stare at Goats."  So if I were the
current authors, I wouldn't mention all "the rest of us" either. Could be
bad for their press. But nice to see that they are moving along.

 

Harrison

 

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From: OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
Daniel Mezick
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2014 10:41 AM
To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Subject: Re: [OSList] Management and Organization

 

Greetings Rob,

Thanks for posting this narrative. 

So interesting that the military is now focusing on much of what you have
written here, about open systems etc.

In fact, here is a link to a free PDF download of a book entitled, "The
Agile Organization":
http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Atkinson_Agile.pdf

What is super interesting is the fact that the book never references
software agility, or the 'agile movement', not even one time.

Chapter 2 starts with these entries:

Open Systems
Self Organization
...and...
Self Organizing Social Groups

The whole www.dodccrp.org web site might be of interest to many here as
well. 

Here is the link to the other useful and free publications found there:
http://www.dodccrp.org/html4/books_downloads.html

Regards,
Daniel



On 8/6/14 11:53 PM, R Chaffe wrote:

I have been following this thread with interest.  Some may recall OSonOS
gathering in Marysville in November 2002 when we went out into the forest to
see and hear the night creatures.  As we walked into the forest the only
sound was the sound of our feet on the earth and despite the best efforts of
a highly skilled ranger no night creatures could be found.  All the
components were in place, well organised and managed.  No night creatures!
The forest was silent.

 

Everyone went away with their own thoughts including disbelief that the
Australian forest is alive at night.  There was a strong sense of
disappointment - it did not work!

 

Before the month had ended the environment responded with a series of wild
fires that included over 6million hectares of high rainfall and alpine
forest and the National Capital city was invaded by fire.  Complex self
organising systems at work.

 

The question then goes back to that silent night.   Some of us listened to
the silence and with a deep sense of dread realising that all was not well.
There was no "silver bullet" quick fix it was a systemic issue way beyond
control or management.  What we did was prepare the things we had control
over  in readiness for the fires that would come.  Little did I know that I
would spend most of 57 days in an incident control centre coordinating
information and advice to the community about the sate of a rapidly
changing  mostly unpredictable wild fire.  The result in Victoria was less
that 10 homes lost and on the day a rain storm eventually controlled the
fire a young lady was drowned when her vehicle was washed into a stream by
flood waters - yes in a drought and after nearly two months of fire.

 

What did I learn about complex systems, management and control?  

 

First wild fire cannot be "controlled" by man.  We stay at the edges and do
the best to protect assets, we mop up and clear up, we do our best to give
the people the best information to make informed decisions about what they
will do. (In the end it is their choice).   Mostly people organise
themselves well, some better than others but in the end, good or bad, the
decisions are theirs.

 

Second willing participants in an "open" environment can achieve outstanding
things way beyond what expectations might be.  How they do it is up to them,
they have some guidelines but the process that evolves is theirs.   Again
sometimes it works and sometimes..... Despite what I think or do.

 

In a major incident "co-ordination" centre  there is structure with key
decision points (people) a time table (plan mostly to ensure others needs
are respected) a massive amount of self organising and adjustment to
constant change.  Change that could be fatal, change that does not allow the
luxury of time out to plan a process or select a model and change that needs
a response now.  Within the organisation the one thing that was most
controllable was the selection and support of the people working there. The
outcome was a sense of team with each member working to dovetail into the
work of others to remove frustration and reach consensus with the best
possible outcome.

 

In some sense the team meetings each day were an open space event with each
bringing their issues and concerns acting with commitment and accepting a
high level of responsibility.  The report from the meeting formed the game
plan until the next change, which at times may only be only minutes away -
on one night meetings were being held every 15 minutes with broadcasts over
national and regional radios to inform the community of the changes that may
impact on them so that they could do what they needed to do (not command or
control just advice).

 

12 years later I have spent too much time in incident coordination centres
yet remarkably, or not so, a similar pattern emerged.  The most successful
always being where leadership focused on creating and environment where
individuals could perform at their best while respecting a diversity of
responses to change that reflect the complexity of the natural, human and
economic environment the change was taking place in.

 

What can Open Space technology really offer?  What control do I really have?
What I am responsible for?

 

As I see it the reality is that as the Facilitator all that I can promise is
to provide an opportunity for the group to meet and an opportunity to
participate in dealing with a particular topic.   I can influence the choice
of the topic, the invitation to participate and the creation of the safe
space including the structure of the event (environment, food, and other
safety needs that form the base of Maslow's hierarchy of needs to free the
participants from these concerns and focus on the purpose of the meeting).

 

I cannot  promise any solutions, or reports, proceedings, quality of input
or output, satisfaction and the ongoing relationships between the
participants.   These are the responsibilities of the sponsor or the
organisation or community who chose to attend.   I may influence the methods
that groups may choose to explore their agenda item but in the end they must
do it their way including the law of two feet.

 

I do not have a simple solution, quick fix, or a "silver bullet".  I do have
the experience to share, that just as in the parable of the mustard seed
there will be outcomes way beyond what we can imagine.  The mustard seed
grows into a tree, so what! The tree becomes an entire habitat for all types
of life (macro and micro) way beyond a simple tree.  Some of the things that
come from planting the seed eventually lead to the death of the tree, but if
you do not plant the seed the tree will never grow and you will never know
what possibilities / opportunities you have lost including the genetic
change in the new seed crop that may grow into a new tree, not quite the
same as the old.  The question then becomes, is the "sponsor" willing to
allow the "seed" to be planted and are they willing to assist the nurture of
the "tree"as it grows to what ever it will be?

 

I see my task is in the preparation of the event and ensure the seed is
planted in the best possible way then, allow the passion and responsibility
of the sponsor and participants to do what they do.  If there is respect for
diversity and a will to include all as best as possible there is a real
possibility that the "organisation" will be successful in their own terms.  

 

One implication is that there is always something of me left behind as I
opened the space and, if I have done my job, the participants will be
confident that they did it their way.

 

Regards

Rob






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