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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Doc -- It is truly gratifying to be totally
present and absolutely invisible. Congratulations! And I am always curious
about the Microsofts of this world and their relations to Open Space. Either
they have never heard of it or “it didn’t work.” Of course
they are big places and funny things do happen – like folks want to try a
“little bit of Open space.” However, as it happened, I opened some
space in January with MS folks who were redesigning the way they approach Data
Centers. Just about the same size group you had, and pretty much the same sorts
of people (even a few VPs). Two days of wild/wooley creativity – all written
up in the corporate rag. And they never heard of it!?! </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>I have seen the same sort of thing
happening with another Seattle Corporate giant. I know for a fact that Open
space was used very successfully in excess of 400 times. However, if you went
into the HR dept – guess what? They never heard of it. I suppose I am
getting old and curmudgeonly but it has occurred to me that if Open Space
actually worked, a great deal of what the HR folks, along with most of the
managers, were doing probably didn’t need doing. That could be
embarrassing.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Harrison</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Harrison Owen</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>7808 River Falls Drive</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Potomac,
Maryland 20854</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Phone </span></font><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:red'>301-365-2093</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Skype hhowen</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Open Space Training</span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'> <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/"><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>www.openspaceworld.com</span></font></a>
</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Open Space Institute</span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'> <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/"><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>www.openspaceworld.org</span></font></a></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Personal website</span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'> <a href="http://www.ho-image.com/"><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>www.ho-image.com</span></font></a> </span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>OSLIST</span></font><font
color=red face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial;color:red'>: To subscribe,
unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: </span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'><a
href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html"><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</span></font></a></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>On
Behalf Of </span></b>Steven "Doc" List<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Saturday, November 22, 2008
2:00 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> My Microsoft experience</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Hello, my friends.</span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>I've just finished an interesting couple of days.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>As you may or may not know, Microsoft has a highly
tarnished reputation when it comes to Open Space. They've tried, and
pretty much botched it a couple of highly visible times.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>This week was their Strategic Architect Forum, put on
by the same fellow who had me do their Open Space in Redmond in April.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>284 software architects and managers from 34 countries
and 190 different organizations/companies.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Roughly 260 of them had no idea what Open Space was
about, many of them being skeptical (as usual :-)).</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>I had faith, as always, that it would all come
together, and it did. I'm learning, each time, the importance of what I
refer to as the set-up. Walking the circle, explaining why they're there
and what they have a chance to do and then how they're going to do it - that's
the "set-up", combined with the process of crafting the invitation
(thanks, Michael!).</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>This was my largest event to date. Three
concentric circles of chairs in the opening and closing circles. Some
reluctance on the part of many of them to propose topics. A microphone as
the talking stick/token in the closing circle, passed as often as used to
speak.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>And afterward, the energy and excitement.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>But between the beginning of the closing circle and
the "afterward", I achieved something important for the first time.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>I recall Harrison saying something along the lines of
"if they thank you at the end, you haven't done the job of facilitation
right."</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Always before, someone - or several someones - has
thanked me in the closing circle, praising me, recognizing me. I admit
that I was skeptical about the whole idea of not being thanked, since it has
always seemed that they're all so aware of me, even as I have worked to be
invisibly present.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Today, at the end of the closing circle, I realized
that no one had mentioned my name, thanked me, recognized me in any way.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>And I realized that my contribution was in enabling
them to have a unique and meaningful experience, and that by doing so
effectively, I had achieved something new. I had finally become only a
part of the overall experience, contributing and enabling, but taking a back
seat to the community and its experience.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>And along the way, I helped to introduce a wider group
to the pleasures of Open Space Technology, and might get to do so again with
some of them.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wow.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thanks, Harrison.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<span style='orphans: 2;text-align:auto;widows: 2;-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0;word-spacing:0px'><span
style='orphans: 2;widows: 2;-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px;-webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;
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<div style='word-wrap: break-word;-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;-webkit-line-break: after-white-space'>
<div style='word-wrap: break-word;-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;-webkit-line-break: after-white-space'>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=1 color=black
face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:6.0pt;font-family:Helvetica;color:black'>..Doc</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=1 color=black face=Geneva><span style='font-size:5.0pt;font-family:Geneva;
color:black'>--</span></font></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=1 color=black
face=Geneva><span style='font-size:5.0pt;font-family:Geneva;color:black'>Steven
"Doc" List, Principal Consultant, ThoughtWorks NA<br>
Mobile: +1 (512) 924-9248 | Skype: steven.list | Yahoo: dadjester<br>
email: <a href="mailto:doc@thoughtworks.com">doc@thoughtworks.com</a> | <a
href="mailto:doc@anotherthought.com">doc@anotherthought.com</a> | web: <a
href="http://www.thoughtworks.com">www.thoughtworks.com</a></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=1 color=black
face=Geneva><span style='font-size:5.0pt;font-family:Geneva;color:black'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=1 color=black
face=Geneva><span style='font-size:5.0pt;font-family:Geneva;color:black'>Watch
me being interviewed about Open Space Technology: <a
href="http://www.infoq.com/interviews/Open-Spaces-Steven-List">http://www.infoq.com/interviews/Open-Spaces-Steven-List</a><br>
<br>
Everyone should know it's the month of Movember! Please donate to the<span
class=apple-converted-space> </span></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span class=apple-style-span><font
size=1 color=black face=Geneva><span style='font-size:5.0pt;font-family:Geneva;
color:black'>cause of men's health at <a
href="http://ca.movember.com/mospace/1794841">http://ca.movember.com/mospace/1794841</a></span></font></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</span></div>
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