This eBook is Raffi’s attempt to look at the question: what have we as Open Space Technology facilitators learned about living in Open Space? It’s a wonderful collection of heart-felt anecdotes and honest reflections of OS practitioners from around the world. In typical open space style - he has trusted the resources of the group (contributors) to get the work done in the time and space available.

In terms of presentation and style it chops and changes from narrative form to poems, to lengthy reflections on practice, to the short missive. But that adds to the sense of the emergent nature of the editorial process and trusting that whatever happens is the only thing that could have.

What strikes me most about the book is the extent to which practitioners are really ‘living open space’, rather than simply using it as a facilitating tool. The more I learn about facilitation the more I realise that it is yourself that you must facilitate first.

Sincerest thanks to Raffi and to all of the contributors.

You can now download the e-book here.

This is probably your first time here - so let me give you a quick low-down.

This is both my business and personal website. I believe that the two roles can’t be neatly separated, so I don’t try. We take who we are into everything we do.

I’d like to think that my website is an outpost for divergent thinkers, but in reality it’s more of a parking lot for some of my thoughts and interests.

I recently started my solo journey, and freelance as a facilitator. I’m passionate about discovering more human, productive, and creative ways for people to work together. A lot of the work I do involves face-to-face meetings, which I love. I also have a lot of experience in the online space, using social software (blogs, wikis, twitter etc.) and other technology to create loose ties and foster collaboration.

Thanks for dropping by. If you’d like to get in touch with me and have a conversation, you’ll find my details on the contact page.

I’ve been giving away my books ever since my first novel came out, and boy has it ever made me a bunch of money.

Cory Doctorow is certainly a shining example of how giving it away CAN reap huge rewards, both financial and otherwise. Cory tallked a little bit about this when he visited Melbourne recently. You can see my wrap up if you missed it.

I too have spent the last couple of weeks with my head in books, switching off the ‘idiot box’, taking the dog for a walk and spending more time meditating.  I don’t have anything against TV per se, there just seems to be little on it that I find interesting or that entertains me.  The exception to this is Spicks and Specks and RockWiz (Music quiz shows), which I really enjoy.

Reading also makes me want to write more, although to date this hasn’t really translated into keystrokes.  I’ve been reading a fair bit of Beat poetry and the history of the Beat generation, including its influence on music and artists such as Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison.  I’ve got a vague idea about writing an essay of sorts on the similarities of the Beats and bloggers, but I’m still clarifying my thoughts on this.

I also thought that as a consequence of the increased level of reading that I’d be blogging more, but that hasn’t happened either.  Perhaps it’s a case of too much input making it harder to process the information and translating this to output?  There doesn’t seem to be a direct correlation between input and output, that’s for sure.

O’Reilly has just released Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution “a collection of insightful and thought-provoking essays from today’s technology leaders that continues painting the evolutionary picture that developed in the 1999 book Open Sources: Voices from the Revolution. Both those links provide tables of contents and sample chapters — in the latter case, the whole book is accessible.

The latter is a fantastic resource. I’m looking forward to checking out ths new offering.

This was a lot harder than it looks. Here’s mine (in no particular order):

1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig (Harper Perennial; Reprint 2000)
There are not too many books that I have read more than once, but I have read this one cover-to-cover twice and often pick it up to read sections. A challenging read, but well worth the effort.

2.The Cluetrain Manifesto by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, David Weinberger (Perseus; 2001)
An epiphany occurred to me when I read this book. Its main thesis is that “markets are conversations” among humans who use language that is “natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking” and above all “unmistakably genuine”.

3.The Cathedral & the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond (O’Reilly; 2001)
Eye-opening stuff. A discourse on the philosophy and mechanics of “Open-Source” software.

4. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age by Daniel Pink (Riverhead; 2005)
“Abundance, Asia, and automation.” If you don’t take these three words into serious consideration, there is a good chance that sooner or later your career will suffer because of one of those forces.

5.Sleepers, Wake! by Barry O. Jones (Oxford; 1991)
I credit my passion for technology to this book, which I read in my first year at Uni. In Sleepers, Wake! Jones looks at the impact and future implications of Information technology on the labour market and society in general.

6.Mind Maps at Work by Tony Buzan (HarperCollins; 2004)
The title says it all. Unleash your creativity and get things done with Mind Maps.

7.The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by Dalai Lama, Howard C. Cutler (Riverhead; 1998)
This book provokes thought and causes you to challenge your thinking. Based on Buddhist teachings, outlines how to defeat day-to-day depression, anxiety, anger, and jealousy.

8.Emotional Intelligence : Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman (Bantam; 1997)
Our emotions play a much greater role in thought, decision making and individual success than does IQ.

9.The Seven-Day Weekend : A Better Way to Work in the 21st Century by Ricardo Semler (Gardners; 2004)
Semler’s manifesto of work/life balance and strategies for achieving it.

10.The Circle of Innovation by Tom Peters (Vintage; 1999)
There is one line from this book that is indelibly etched into my brain …”All Value Comes from the Professional Services”. A must read for any white-collar professional or consultant.

What are your top ten?

I’ve just been reading Hugh McLeod’s “How To Be Creative” manifesto over at ChangeThis and came across this nugget …

Keep your day job. I’m not just saying that for the usual reason i.e., because I think your idea will fail. I’m saying it because to suddenly quit one’s job in a big ol’ creative drama-queen moment is always, always, always in direct conflict.

THE SEX & CASH THEORY: The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs. One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended.

Sage (and timely) advice … thanks Hugh!

In keeping with my word …my first published work was pre-released today — “Linux - A view from the Market”. It’s a piece I was asked to write in relation to future technology direction in the industry in which I am currently working. The book that my chapter is in is being launched on Monday, and is designed for a specific audience (industry segment).

The book concept itself is not that much to rave about … but it was an interesting challenge to write a chapter and its kinda nice to see it published (with minimal edits). Watching/contributing to the process was also a first time experience, which was interesting.

I’m reading Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintanance again! … which poses some serious philosophical questions about the definition of quality. It struck me that I posted the other day about Software Quality. What did I (do I) mean by quality? Like Phaedrus, I have difficulty defining quality — because it is not defineable! The following quote, epitomises open source software therefore assisting an explaination as to the difference in quality over commercial/proprietary software

…by turning our attention to Quality it is hoped that we can get technological work out of the noncaring subject-object dualism and back into craftsman like self-involved reality again.