<html>
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.Style1, li.Style1, div.Style1
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle18
{font-family:Arial;
color:red;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>I guess we have a mutual admiration society
going here Dave – Your description of Open space as the “Ninja”
of change is simply marvelous. And it certainly accords with both my current
feelings and hopes. Definitely hard on the ego should you be seeking
recognition for some great feat – but when it comes to getting something
useful done, slipping in and out with all the gossamer qualities of a silent
shadow is definitely the way. At least that has always been my experience. </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>dave stevenson<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Sunday, November 23, 2008
1:30 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: 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>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>I love what Harrison is saying here. Maybe the fact
that they "never heard" of it is good, ie, its slipping under the
anti-change cultural software that holds big systems in their current patterns,
as shown when OST is seen as another one of those facillitation
things...but OST comes in many forums, this time as ninja of change.
hopefully they may never hear of it until its too late....they are open...kind
of like being caught off guard by a satori moment...then the whole system
starts to ask not what should we do next...something easy to defend against,
but what have I become...what is this open...spacious...self-organizing self I
am now living...that would be and is good whole systems identity crisis /
opportunity...</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'>Greeting from Vancouver Island</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'>David Stevenson</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'><br>
<br>
</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'>On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 8:51 AM, Michael M Pannwitz
<<a href="mailto:mmpanne@boscop.org">mmpanne@boscop.org</a>> wrote:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dear Steven,<br>
I have a hunch that the reason for participants not mentioning you in the
closing circle might have very little to do with you "enabling" them
but much more with them actually being in "self-organisation" (with
your support, no doubt).<br>
Had you "enabled" them they probably would have thanked you.<br>
<br>
Greetings from Berlin where we just spent three very good days with a crowd of
20 folks exploring "Wave Rider".<br>
<font color="#888888"><span style='color:#888888'>mmp</span></font> </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'><br>
Steven "Doc" List wrote:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Hello,
my friends.<br>
<br>
I've just finished an interesting couple of days.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
This week was their Strategic Architect Forum, put on by the same fellow who
had me do their Open Space in Redmond in April.<br>
<br>
284 software architects and managers from 34 countries and 190 different
organizations/companies.<br>
<br>
Roughly 260 of them had no idea what Open Space was about, many of them being
skeptical (as usual :-)).<br>
<br>
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!).<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
And afterward, the energy and excitement.<br>
<br>
But between the beginning of the closing circle and the "afterward",
I achieved something important for the first time.<br>
<br>
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."<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Today, at the end of the closing circle, I realized that no one had mentioned
my name, thanked me, recognized me in any way.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Wow.<br>
<br>
Thanks, Harrison.<br>
<br>
..Doc<br>
-- <br>
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" target="_blank">doc@thoughtworks.com</a>
| <a href="mailto:doc@anotherthought.com" target="_blank">doc@anotherthought.com</a>
| web: <a href="http://www.thoughtworks.com/" target="_blank">www.thoughtworks.com</a><br>
<br>
Watch me being interviewed about Open Space Technology: <a
href="http://www.infoq.com/interviews/Open-Spaces-Steven-List" target="_blank">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<br>
cause of men's health at <a href="http://ca.movember.com/mospace/1794841"
target="_blank">http://ca.movember.com/mospace/1794841</a><br>
<br>
<br>
*<br>
*<br>
==========================================================<br>
<a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU" target="_blank">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a><br>
------------------------------<br>
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<br>
view the archives of <a href="mailto:oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu"
target="_blank">oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu</a>:<br>
<a href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html" target="_blank">http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</a><br>
<br>
To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:<br>
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist" target="_blank">http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist</a></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>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>*<br>
*<br>
========================================================== </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'><br>
<a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU" target="_blank">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a><br>
------------------------------<br>
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<br>
view the archives of <a href="mailto:oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu"
target="_blank">oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu</a>:<br>
<a href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html" target="_blank">http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</a><br>
<br>
To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:<br>
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist" target="_blank">http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist</a></span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
* * ==========================================================
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe,
unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist </span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist