[OSList] How long for opening for smaller group?

Michael M Pannwitz mmpannwitz at gmail.com
Fri Apr 12 04:41:09 PDT 2019


Dear Juliand,

aspects such as "time-slots" and other stuff around the Bulletin Board 
and the Marketplace are very subtle.

I, for instance, never speak of "time-slots" but rather of the "starting 
time" for a session and not about the time when it closes. And add a 
little stuff about what might happen "when it is over" and "when it is 
not over" in a breakout session. Actually I have done this in 
conjunction with talking about "When its over/not over" (Vorbei/nicht 
vorbei)... and also address, very briefly, the situation when you face 
the next bunch coming into the  breakout space and the bunch there is in 
the middle of an issue.


And the "Whenever it starts is the right time" (Es fängt an, wenn die 
Zeit reif ist) is also subtle. It has different connotations also in 
different languages, I suppose, from "It starts when it starts / it ends 
when it ends"...

Looking back to my beginnigs with os events in 1996 I see that we had 
very structured Bulletin Boards, with the space outlined to fit exactly 
the size of the paper (A3) that were provided for the issues... in fact, 
you can see such a schedule on pages 73 and 74 in the Third Edition of 
"Open Space Technology-A User's Guide" / 2008.
In "Meine open space Praxis" you see a Bulletin Board on page 97... 
somewhat different.
Really different stuff and design turns up when folks can not read or 
write... its all oral AND it fits the culture in that particular 
situation that I heard about. Written stuff is very suspicious.

This is grand stuff to discuss at os on os  OR at a Stammtisch, of course!

cheers
mmp


Am 11.04.2019 um 13:45 schrieb Juliane Martina Roell (Structure & 
Process) via OSList:
> Jake Yeager via OSList schrieb am 11.04.19 um 01:49:
>> I am intrigued by the fact that you do not use pre-determined
>>  session slots.  (...)
>> What do you find to be the pros and cons of having the participants 
>> handle time and, I assume, space management?
> 
> One less thing to do for me. :o)
> 
> I also feel that in my contexts (mostly the German-speaking world), 
> people follow structure strongly: when a "slot" is 60 minutes, the 
> "session" that people put into the "slot" will most likely last 60 
> minutes. And it will end on time, because people have another "session" 
> to go to (which was put into a pre-defined "slot" earlier on).
> 
> "It starts when it starts / it ends when it ends" become somewhat empty 
> words.
> 
> By _not_ predefining "slots", I show people directly that *they can 
> decide how to spend their time - freely*. In the moment. change their 
> idea about what is important spontaneously. and so on. Pre-defined slots 
> often create a "program" for the day whereas an open schedule creates 
> much more flow, spontaneous changes, interesting conflicts and solutions 
> about space-usage... and most of all: more *initiative*. With open 
> schedule I see much more of "Oh, I have a new idea now; I will call for 
> a session immediately!" (goes to board, rings a bell) and much less of 
> "oh that was interesting, but the marketplace is already full and all 
> these other sessions are scheduled so I might wait and see and distract 
> myself..."
> 
> (And some people dislike these conflicts and the creativity and the 
> intensity that comes with that and go for more ease and efficiency, and 
> that may be perfectly valid depending on context.)
> 
> Another advantage is that people can create very tiny sessions to fix 
> problems. "I have this thing and I need ten minutes to..." And then 
> people show up and BOOM it's done, one problem solved, and more capacity 
> created to now work on other things. This never happens if all the 
> "slots" are 45, 60, 90 minutes long.
> 
> Love,
> Juliane.
> 

-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-772 8000
mmpannwitz at gmail.com


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