Phelim,
First of all my profound and deep thanks. It was very hard to make it to
London but my experience was one of magic, lots of love, camaraderie,
inspiration, and seeing things come true that I had only hoped would
come to pass. My experiences there were worth many times the dollars I
spent - and I know my experiences in London will only grow in value (as
opposed to my U.S. dollars which keep shrinking!)
The revolutionary power of Open Space for learning, engagement, and
transformation has not fallen on deaf ears with the technology community
- even if most of it's standard adoption is in the somewhat bastardized
offspring of OST that fall under the banner of "unconference". But one
key area transformation has been picking up steam on our planet has been
in the "Agile" software community - which has been influencing and
impacting business well beyond Information Technology. It has been been
making impact on management practices and global governance.
The "Agile" movement gets that people are more important than processes
or tools - and the light weight nature of OST has been heavily adopted
among the leading edge of Agile thinkers and practitioners.
A deep knowing in my gut has been that the thinking in the agile
community - which is borrowing now heavily from "Lean" - also has very
worthwhile ideas to share with the Open Space community - and I heard
and saw more conversations about the transformational intersection
between Agile and Open Space at the WOSonOS. It was for me a dream come
true - and I hope that more of this buzzing cross-pollination can happen
here on this list as it did in London.
I was also deeply moved at the continuing conversation of how art,
especially theater, can help open space in our communities and our
psyche's. We danced. We sang. We built an amazing wall out of sticky
tape. We opened space for the voices in our own heads to have a chat
(Voice Dialog - thank you Mathilda and John Kent!)
With profound gratitude still resonating in my heart - it was odd that I
felt pulled into the bizarre accusation that WOSonOS2012 somehow put
Open Space in prison. It was difficult not to loudly defend the amazing
gift given all of us by Phelim, Improbable, and all the volunteers. I
won't engage with the content of Paul's email here. Artur and I already
tried to invite him to bring this to the OSList. I think Paul has things
worth hearing - which I profoundly believe is true for all human beings.
And a big reason I love Open Space. True listening happens when we feel
the freedom to move to... or away. Anything else is oppression.
In the mean time - Phelim - a deep bow to you. And like Cecilia -
applause. We gave you and your team a standing ovation at the closing
circle and I hope many are inspired to follow in your footsteps to open
space in the world - despite the critics!
Cheers,
Harold
On 10/20/12 12:15 PM, Phelim McDermott wrote:
Thanks Alan,
And just in case we didn't get it the first time...
http://rationalmadness.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/over-control-and-open-space/
Ouch
Best regards,
Phelim
--
Harold Shinsato
har...@shinsato.com <mailto:har...@shinsato.com>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
