Yesterday Ashley Cooper posted a question on the OSLIST about the enigmatic principle of “whatever happens is only thing that could have: Feeling those gathered in San Francisco, swimming in the hearty open space soup, I find a myself pondering a topic I would host if I were there… a topic I’d love to have a conversation around. I’m curious about the wording of the principle, “what ever happens is the only thing that could have”. I know John Engle brought this question up in the past http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/2007/05/11/whatever-happens/ and I’m still curious about it. I find that people sometimes use …
Yesterday I convened a session on our greatest “ahas” about the Open Space world over the last year…here is a selection from my report: We discussed several things we have noticed over the past year or so that have been major “ahas” for us both as seasoned and new Open Space Technology facilitators. These insights fell into three broad categories. First, it is clear that there is an increasing familiarity with OST and an increasing demand for the process. Furthermore it seems that groups that are using the process are going very deep and using it in very …
San Francisco OSonOS 2008 has begun with Lisa Heft opening up space in a beautiful building at San Francisco’s Presidio this morning for 120 of us from more than 15 countries to get into what Open Space is all about. This is my third worldwide OSonOS and I love these gatherings because I get to hang around with people for three days that I don;t have to explain myself to! That, I think may be a good working definition of a community of practice. THis one is different for me as I am here with my whole family, …
San Francisco, CA, USA The annual world Open Space on Open Space is upon us, and I am here with the whole family in San Francisco in anticipation of two and half days of meeting with friends old and new. Tonight Harrison Owen was here making a brief appearance to launch the 3rd Edition of the Open Space Technology User’s Guide, which has been updated with several stories and tweaks to the process that the community has evolved since the last edition, published in the 1990s. It was good to see Harrison again, although ever so briefly, as he was …