[OSList] Whatever happens...

Michael M Pannwitz via OSList oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Mon Feb 22 09:03:26 PST 2016


Dear Tony and all you others out there,

thanks for asking about the mutilation/abbreviation of "breakout space" 
(b/o space).
In this particular case the abbreviation sucks most of life and most of 
the juice out of one of the central aspects of OST.

Now OST, Open Space Technology, does not suffer a lot from being 
abbreviated... do we ever wonder, what it might "OST" might mean in 
other languages?

Imagine other central aspects of OST - or open space - treated in this 
fashion:

---cc for closing circle
---bb for bulletin board
---map for market place
---en for evening news
---ma for morning announcements
---l2f for Law of two feet
---bufs for butterflies
---bubs for bumble bees
---spins for space invaders

and the possible result:

"Shortly after the start of the ost-event, folks entered the map and 
moved to the bb. Applying the l2f, enjoying bufs and bubs, fending off 
spins and creating their own b/o spaces they assembled for en at the end 
of the first day... leaving the event on day three after cc."

To the idea of breakout spaces (actually disguised coffee breaks):
They are part of the setting of ost events.

All or some are planned according to assumptions on the number of issues 
expected. This number is affected by parameters such as

--- length of the event (known close to 100% of the time)
--- size of the group (often the size of the group is pretty well known 
if response to the invitation is requested)
--- input by the planning group of the sponsor regarding the size of the 
group
--- geometry of the ost-venue (if it takes place in a large gym, all on 
one level, all break-out spaces also in the central place and close to 
the bulletin board and the news wall it will require less time to move 
about  and orient oneself than if breakout spaces are spread over three 
levels in a school building)
--- etc

As already mentioned by other contributors, additional breakout spaces 
can be

--- planned (typically, post-its for those additional spaces are 
prepared by the os-team ahead of the event and appear on the bulletin 
board when all spaces that were initially available are occupied)
--- self-organized (in this case participants are asked to create their 
own post-its indicating where they propose to meet, at the bar, in the 
swimming pool, on a walk in the park, at a particular cafe in the 
neighborhood... I have seen some very unusual spaces and added the 
suggestion that folks can meet wherever they choose without using the 
prepared breakout spaces... true to the fact of life that "wherever it 
happens is the right place).

Greetings from Berlin
mmp

PS: The local paper of today (Tagesspiegel) has two news items that in a 
way show part of the spectrum of acitivites addressing the refugees 
challenge:

--- two days ago fire was set to a hotel that was set up for refugees in 
Bautzen, 2,5 hours by car south of Berlin, firefighters being obstructed 
by a mob which scanted "Let it burn to the ground" ...  two days 
earlier, a mob had blocked a bus with refugee families arriving in 
Clausnitz just 30 miles from Bautzen, spreading horror among the 
refugees, including many children (these two events keep getting full 
coverage) and also changing the central slogan of the GDR revolution "We 
are the people"
--- also two days ago, a brand new house with space for 124 refugees was 
opened in a suburb of Berlin with an open house event. Special about 
this place is that it is for lesbian, gay, bi-, trans- and intersexual 
refugees (this initiative made it to page 10 of the Tagesspiegel, it was 
peaceful)





On 22.02.2016 02:34, Jeff Aitken via OSList wrote:
> Breakout spaces.
>
> On Feb 21, 2016 5:14 PM, "Tony Budak via OSList"
> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>>
> wrote:
>
>     Hi Brendan,
>     What are "b/o spaces"?
>     Newbie,
>     Tony
>
>     On 2/19/2016 9:33 PM, Brendan McKeague via OSList wrote:
>>     Hi Stuart
>>
>>     A simple technique from my early learnings in OS - can’t remember the source - I usually put up at least 2 or 3 additional ‘post-it’ notes in each time slot that say SPE (Some Place Else) and when I’m explaining what that means (i.e. if there are not enough b/o spaces on the grid already, or if you don’t like the places that have been nominated as b/o spaces, then you are invited to nominate SPE - outside under a tree, in the foyer, the bar…- so that the point is clearly made about the group being able to create as many spaces as they chose.
>>
>>     Over to them….
>>
>>     Cheers
>>     Brendan
>>
>>
>>>     On 13 Feb 2016, at 3:52 PM, Stuart Turner via OSList<oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
>>>     <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>  wrote:
>>>
>>>     Dear Michael
>>>
>>>     Thank you for your detailed response. There’s a lot of valuable suggestions and explanations in there I’ll use in future.
>>>
>>>     Stuart
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     On 3 Feb 2016, at 1:17 am, Michael M Pannwitz<mmpannwitz at gmail.com> <mailto:mmpannwitz at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>>     Dear Stuart,
>>>
>>>     in my facilitation practice and that of many others, there were always preparations made for more issues than would be held by the places and timeslots. Almost always, there were additional breakout space planned and could quickly be set up when the need arose during marketplace or later. Beginning times are more limited but regularly participants would creat additional beginning times before, during and after the "regular" beginning and ending times of the day.
>>>
>>>     In a multiple day event which then also has several gatherings of all participants for evening news and morning announcements (in a three day event that would be 4 occasions: first evening, following morning, second evening, second morning... not (officially) on the last evening before the third day which is reserved for Action Planning (also called Action Space)... ok, in a multiple day event pariticpans are invited to post additional issues at each of the 4 occasions in this example AND throughout the entire event (this would require the posted issues to all remain on the bulletin board throughout the event).
>>>
>>>     In this way you might have many more isssues and the need for spaces.
>>>
>>>     When you have a "regular" planning process before the event with a "planning group" including the sponsor, questions such as number of spaces, length of breakout sessions (sometimes these are of different lengths and since they are not from lets say 10 to 11:30 but only have beginning times such as 10, 11.30, 14, 15:30 etc leaving it up to the specific requirements of the breakouts)... ok, if you have a planning phase, lots of these details are worked on in the planning group and noty "set" by the facilitator all by him- or herself.
>>>     (For issues coming up after all the published space is used up, typically extra postits for additional spaces are published after all the published space is used up... this always worked but it needs to be planned for so everyone involved can quickly arrange/set up the spaces... a good example is the large os with 2000+ participants back in 2003 in Wuerzburg where we had "predicted" 150 issues spread over three time slots requiring 50 "spaces"... it turned out there were 220+ issues requiring 75 spaces... fortunately the whole spaces set up was done with numbered balloons spread all over the venue (in an "orderly" way), so we just added numbers 51 through 75 and let the participants set up the additional spaces (the large team on the premises did not have to help other than blowing up the balloons and numbering them and attaching them to 1kg sand bags to keep them from floating wherever).
>>>
>>>
>>>     Over the years, the bulletin board has changed from earlier versions (such as the one your tried) to a version that only has times across the top and no room slots, the room slots arranged through postits that have the time and room symbol and can be stuck to the issues (and, of course, easily moved to other issues... or the issues being moved from one beginning time to another),
>>>
>>>     That provided for more flexibility doing away with any need by anyone to rearrange a structure, the structure itself bein easily modiefied by the participants.
>>>
>>>     This might all sound pretty complex... once you are into it you will notice, or at least I have, that participants thrive in that kind of environment: Space and time are theirs, and it seems to provide just the right conditions for the force of selforganisation to have a balle: No or very little control.
>>>
>>>     In your example your move to just let the participants figure it out is the best thing you could have done and as far as I know its also the only thing you could have... you would have never figured it out yourself for them. I would not have predicted that they would do what they did in your case BUT when they ran into some trouble (at least to the observer) they were already well advanced into the field of selforganisation and solved it in some unpredictable way (be prepared to be surprised) which was their structure that nobody could have thunk up for them.
>>>
>>>     Greetings from Berlin and keep having productive fun!
>>>     mmp
>>>
>>>     PS: Even if you dont read German you might profit from looking at "Meine open space Praxis" which is also available as ebook with loads of bright colour pictures showing a myriad of bulleting boards, market place and such esoteric stuff. Go here
>>>     hardcopy
>>>>     https://www.westkreuz-verlag.de/de/Meine-open-space-Praxis
>>>     ebook (pictures really come well as compared to the printed version
>>>>     https://www.westkreuz-verlag.de/de/Meine-open-space-Praxis-E-Book
>>>
>>>
>>>     On 02.02.2016 17:20, Stuart Turner via OSList wrote:
>>>>     Dear Harrison
>>>>
>>>>     Thanks for the suggestion. It being the facilitator’s decision to
>>>>     decide the number of spaces and the number and length of the
>>>>     time-slots when creating the marketplace has never felt comfortable
>>>>     whether I was facilitating or watching someone else. It seemed the
>>>>     facilitator needed to do more than minimal thinking and could
>>>>     actually be considered planning/predicting, when who knows what would
>>>>     happen, how many sessions would be identified, etc.
>>>>
>>>>     I know people facilitate this in different ways, and my experience
>>>>     might be considered an invitation for others to share their
>>>>     experience of doing this. I haven’t seen anyone invite people to
>>>>     create more spaces or time slots on the agenda before but have seen
>>>>     them emerge without being on the marketplace.
>>>>
>>>>     I did consider whether to have another space when creating the
>>>>     initial marketplace but once I opened it to the group I didn’t think
>>>>     of facilitating making an adjustment.
>>>>
>>>>     I also haven’t seen many additional topics be created after the
>>>>     initial marketplace has been created.
>>>>
>>>>     I’m wondering if anyone will share when else, acting as a
>>>>     facilitator, they might invite a modification to the marketplace.
>>>>
>>>>     Stuart
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>     On 2 Feb 2016, at 10:51 pm, Harrison Owen<hhowen at verizon.net> <mailto:hhowen at verizon.net>
>>>>     wrote:
>>>>
>>>>     Small suggestion Stuart... next time you find yourself cramped for
>>>>     time/spaces just invite everybody to create more time/space. No
>>>>     hassle. No haggle... Just announce your issues, take a blank post-it
>>>>     (you will need some blanks) describe a time, choose a space (the
>>>>     Piano, patio, bar for examples) and post it on the wall. No sweat and
>>>>     you will have plenty of time for a break.
>>>>
>>>>     ho
>>>>
>>>>     Winter Address 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, MD 20854301-365-2093 <tel:301-365-2093>
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>>     unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go
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>>>>
>>>>     -----Original Message----- From: OSList
>>>>     [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Stuart
>>>>     Turner via OSList Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 4:33 AM To:
>>>>     oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>>>>     <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>  Subject: [OSList] Whatever happens...
>>>>
>>>>     Yesterday I facilitated a two-hour open space at the end of a
>>>>     training course for 30 people. I explained the principles, the law,
>>>>     etc. and described the marketplace. The marketplace had four time
>>>>     slots across the top and four locations down the side. After they had
>>>>     filled the marketplace with about 25 sessions, they asked me what
>>>>     they should do. I said “It’s up to you”. They started swapping the
>>>>     headings so times now went down the side and locations went across
>>>>     the top.
>>>>
>>>>     Thinking of the many suggestions to "get out of the way” and “make it
>>>>     obvious you’re not an authority”, I decided to take a bathroom
>>>>     break.
>>>>
>>>>     On my return I approached one of the spaces to find several of the
>>>>     sessions pasted on the wall. I turned to look at the marketplace to
>>>>     discover only the time slots and locations remained. Each location
>>>>     had all its sessions stuck on the wall.
>>>>
>>>>     Whatever happens, I thought.
>>>>
>>>>     After noticing there was some confusion about trying to discuss all
>>>>     sessions at the same time, conversations moved to become about a more
>>>>     defined topic (at least of few of which were not one of the topics on
>>>>     the wall).
>>>>
>>>>     The closing circle had about half the participants speak, with many
>>>>     sounding quite enthusiastic about their experience and what the theme
>>>>     meant for their organisation. I noticed many of the people were
>>>>     directing their summary to the most senior person in the room. Some
>>>>     even referred to that person specifically “I don’t know if I should
>>>>     say this while the boss is here”, and similar comments.
>>>>
>>>>     I wondered whether the space was beginning to close at that time.
>>>>
>>>>     Perhaps I could have done a better job of facilitating or explaining,
>>>>     during the introduction. Regardless, it’s probably the only thing
>>>>     that could have happened.
>>>>
>>>>     Stuart _______________________________________________ OSList mailing
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>>>>
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>>>>
>>>     --
>>>     Michael M Pannwitz
>>>     Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
>>>     ++49 - 30-772 8000 <tel:%2B%2B49%20-%2030-772%208000>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 402 resident Open
>>>     Space Workers in 67 countries working in a total of 143 countries
>>>     worldwide:www.openspaceworldmap.org <http://www.openspaceworldmap.org>
>>>
>>>
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>
>     --
>     Regards,
>     *Tony Budak
>     <http://www.linkedin.com/in/tonybudak>**
>     <http://tbmw.org/>*
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>
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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-772 8000



Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 402 resident Open 
Space Workers in 67 countries working in a total of 143 countries 
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