[OSList] [OSLIST}; The OST Theme...frame as a question?
Daniel Mezick
dan at newtechusa.net
Mon Mar 24 04:05:56 PDT 2014
Is the OST theme always defined as a question? Is it ever offered as a
statement? I'm not sure.
I'm not sure because in the USERS GUIDE TO OPEN SPACE book from
Harrison, the story about the theme "Fixing Arizona" is not a question.
So, I'm guessing a non-question is OK. For the record, I prefer a
question. And I tell clients to frame it as a question, on the
hypothesis that questions tend open space and statements tend to close
space...
THE BRIEF USERS GUIDE (http://www.openspaceworld.com/users_guide.htm) is
silent on the issue:
/<BEGIN>
THE THEME/ -- Creation of a powerful theme statement is critical, for it
will be the central mechanism for focusing discussion and inspiring
participation. The theme statement, however, cannot be a lengthy, dry,
recitation of goals and objectives. It must have the capacity to inspire
participation by being specific enough to indicate the direction, while
possessing sufficient openness to allow for the imagination of the group
to take over.
There is no pat formulation for doing this, for what inspires one group
will totally turn off another. One way of thinking about the theme
statement is as the opening paragraph of a truly exciting story. The
reader should have enough detail to know where the tale is headed and
what some of the possible adventures are likely to be. But "telling all"
in the beginning will make it quite unlikely that the reader will
proceed. After all, who would read a story they already know?
<END>
--
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.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140324/efda8a39/attachment-0008.htm>
More information about the OSList
mailing list