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.

In a podcast interview with Elliott Masie, Dan Pink gives a great example that shows it is quite natural and makes perfect sense: When you come home from work and are asked “… how was your day?”, do you get out a series of power points? No. You narrate!

It’s a miserable 6%! That means 94% of people are in various stages of disinterest, disillusion or despair as to how they are spending most of their waking time on this planet.

The first translates to mean: “laziness in completing a task“, which is how most of us typically use the term today. The second–more interestingly–means something like: “the useful habit of avoiding unecessary work and effort“.

Procrastination a useful habit? On the surface, that seems to fly in the face of conventional wisdom. But having thought about it further, procrastination can also be seen as a valid form of reduction, leaving you with things:

• that need to be done;
• that you want to do; and
• that others will help you complete (or partially complete).

In other words, a bit of procrastination saves your energy for the vital things!

Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it for the moment. I’m going to embrace it, rather than force myself to do things I’m not really up for.

A further 2007/2008 Watson & Wyatt research report on communication best practices found that organisations with a “most effective” communication programs provided a 91% total return to shareholders from 2002-2006 compared to 62% for least effective. Improved communication effectiveness is associated with a 15.7% increase in market value. While finally organisations with “most effective” communication had an employee engagement level 4 times that of “least effective”.

I agree with Michael’s argument that communication & customer focus are areas that Enterprise 2.0 can help. But I’m concerned that these discussions always seem to focus on technology being the answer — the silver bullet — to solving organisational problems. I’m not saying that it doesn’t play a role, but I believe that Enterprise 2.0 is more about creating a culture of participation and collaboration. Technology can be an enabler of that, but on it’s own, it’s not going to work.

There are plenty of things we can do in organisations to improve employee engagement without getting embroiled in debates about whether or not people could or should access social tools inside/outside the firewall. Here’s an idea: why not encourage people to walk from their desks and actually talk to someone (yes, a real human) instead of sending an email? Why not arrange a brown bag session and invite some like-minded folks to join you? How about some well facilitated meetings to help people have conversations and learn how to collaborate?

There are many, many small things you can do that will make a big difference. I’ll use an example from last night (although this does relate to technology). Someone — I think it might have been Alison Young — decided that it would be a good idea to write her twitter handle on her name tag. And everyone followed suit. This led to some interesting connections and conversations. Simple idea - big impact. Be a positive deviant (shout-out to Matt Moore for this link).

What other simple things like this could you do in your workplace that might make a huge difference? Oh — and borrowing an idea from the 2020 summit — make sure some of your ideas have a no cost option - they’re a much easier sell!

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.

Here’s a couple of things that have been occupying my thoughts, and my time outside of normal ‘business’ activities:

Podcasting: I’m writing this post having just finished recording my first podcast as a host. For episode #40 of the Productivity Show, the tables have been turned and I interviewed regular host Tony Goodson. I really enjoyed the interview and the process, so hopefully that comes through. We had an interesting chat anyway. So, it’s in the can — you’ll just have to wait a couple of days for post-production and publishing on TPN. I’ll post a link when it’s up.

Complexity: My friend, and fellow facilitator Viv McWaters has been writing some really good posts. I loved her description of an a-ha! moment she had when looking at Shawn’s sketchkast on the Cynefin model and complexity. I remember having a similar moment when I read a Kurz and Snowden paper. I also enjoyed reading this post because of her pondering on the need to be doing vs. being. It certainly expanded my thinking on my approach to productivity. I think that I might of mentioned something about this in today’s podcast.

Solopreneurship: I’m not alone. A couple of other friends–Michael and Keith have also just started out on their own and are busy setting up their respective businesses. We certainly have lots in common. Keith is busy helping to ramp up the Melbourne KMLF again for Knowledge Management practitioners. Michael is back blogging and has written some interesting articles of late. Well worth a look if you’re interested in the intersection between technology and the human face of business. I’ll be keeping a close eye on their progress, and wish them well — good luck guys!

Social Media: I’m really looking forward to this. Finally, Melbourne gets a Digital|Social Media conference: PubCamp Melbourne on 23rd June. It should be a great event. The format is a little different to your standard conference–it will be divided into 1. a more formal conference style and 2. an unconference–which I’m really happy about. An unconference is similar to Open Space Technology — it’s largely self-directed, and so should be less structured and hopefully more engaging and conversational than normal.

Micro-blogging: I’m really enjoying the conversations on Twitter and the feeling of connectedness. It’s tough sometimes working at home by yourself and feeling isolated. A couple of tweets have made me laugh, a couple have made me gasp. None have made me cry (yet). Who needs a water-cooler for those off-the-cuff conversations anyway? Follow me if you’d like.

Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008: Clay’s talk centers on the notion that in today’s modern society, there is a massive cognitive surplus, or untapped source of brain power. He tries to debunk the often heard phrase aimed at technophiles and ‘geeks’ — “where do people find the time?”

In his presentation he cites some staggering statistics, which are not only compelling on their own, but support his argument well. He calculated the amount of time American’s watch TV to be in the vicinity of 200 billion hours per year, which is equal to 200 wikipedia projects per year. Imagine what we could achieve if we re-directed this type of energy — use this surplus in a more positive way? A thought provoking presentation.

Paul Graham at Startup School 08: Paul’s presentation is an interesting look at why start-ups should not worry about the money too much, and act more like a not-for-profit in the early stages. He argues that being benevolent improves moral; helps you to be decisive and makes other people want to help you.

He recommends the adoption of Google’s “don’t be evil” model, and concludes by urging not to be satisfied with simply ‘not being evil’, but to be good! I found one of the best takeaways was the advice: “Cheap to run = Hard to kill”, sage advice for a start-up, even a micro-one like my own.

Anyhow, go see for yourself.

“if you think a great conference is one where the presenters read a script whole showing the audience bullet points, you’re wrong”.

I couldn’t agree more with what he is saying. The standards have changed, and people should expect more from organisers. This is one of the reasons I started etching out a career as a facilitator. Let me tell you how it all started …

Early in 2005, I was asked to host the technology stream of a software user group conference. I had attended a number of preceding conferences, and felt that they were staid and boring, and followed a far too ‘traditional’ format which focused on sales and marketing. They didn’t really provide the opportunity for dialogue or the type of engagement that customers were seeking. So, knowing that customers were going to sit through three days of powerpoint slides, I decided to go out on a limb and try something a little more dynamic and engaging. I ran a session based on Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats method. I had never done this before, and did so with some caution. However, my instincts proved to be correct. The session was lots of fun and we had some great conversations. Afterwards the participants thanked me for trying something that was, for them, so different and unexpected.

This was a moment of clarity for me about just how important it is that we discover more productive, creative and innovative ways for people to work together — ways that engage people, that ignite their passions and harness the collective wisdom of the assembled group.

There’s a bunch of passionate and committed people out there doing lots of good work to improve the way conferences and meetings are run. It’s often underestimated, but it truly is important work.

In most cases consultants or facilitators are called in to help organisations to solve a problem(s). They often do so in the hope that someone ‘external’ will have the right information and is able to give them the right answer. The old ’silver bullet’. Invariably, this approach isn’t very effective. That’s because it’s a cop out. It’s too easy to put someone on a pedestal — a guru who says that the answer is in this or that.

In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy a giant computer is able to calculate the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything. The answer was 42. Easy. But this answer is on its own is meaningless. What was needed was a proper question.

It seems that some people are reluctant to take a more holistic approach where they ask questions, explore, and make their own meaning through dialogue and the stories they tell both themselves and others. Why is this?

Serendipity. Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you’ve found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for. — Lawrence Block

I’m finding it quite amazing: a number of opportunities and serendipitous events have popped up since I made the announcement about going solo. It’s quite staggering.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. At other times in my life when I’ve taken risks, unexpected things have happened — and usually for the better. Perhaps it has less to do with being in the right place at the right time and is more about putting yourself in the right position creates the right time? Or perhaps it’s because of emergence - patterns arising out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions? I’m getting philosophical now and wading in way too deep.

I’m not trying to brag about my ’success’ on day 3 - after all they’re just opportunities. I haven’t hit pay dirt, nor am I receiving buyout offers (yet). I mention it because it might be relevant to you other would-be entrepreneurs out there who are waiting to take destiny into your own hands, but just haven’t quite made the leap over the chasm. I hope it inspires you to throw caution to the wind and to set sail on your own adventure. Perhaps your big opportunity is sitting there waiting for you to make the next move?

A big thanks to all of my friends and colleagues who’ve sent me notes wishing me well, and for those who’ve been kind enough to put my name forward; to beat the jungle drums; to care. Cheers.

I remain good friends with Mark and Shawn and we still have plans to stay in touch and do some exciting things together. I’ll just no longer be a full-time employee.

I plan to concentrate my efforts on working as a Facilitator, enabling groups to work collaboratively & effectively in meetings, workshops, conferences, retreats, forums, seminars and other exchanges. I am keeping an eye out for opportunities and new clients.

Making the leap is pretty scary, but it’s also really exciting at the same time. If you have any thoughts or suggestions that might help me, I’d be interested in having a conversation with you. Please contact me.

D.