On Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 01:12:14 PM EDT, Rijon Erickson via OSList <everyone@oslist.org> wrote:  

7808 River FAlls DrivePotomac, MD 20854phone 301-365-2093 ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Harrison Owen <hhowen@verizon.net>To: rijon@rijonerickson.com <rijon@rijonerickson.com>Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 04:54:38 PM EDTSubject: Re: [OSList] A TRAVESTY? Please explain. Rijon -- I can't recall any great foobah -- but I have  known Henri for years and think well of him -- if only because his daughter lives close to me here in Maine, and Henri has been more than an occasional visitor. We first encountered each other in Australia for Wosonos and Henri became facinated with the notion of self organization and the way in which that wonderful phenomenon shows up in OST. I think it fair to say that his french corporate background also made him a little uncomfortable with the apparent loosenes, fluidity and indeterminacy.  He and Lisa Carlson connected and attempted (my words) to clean things up... and all of that resulted in what they called "Liberating Structures" That phrase (I think) devolved from Ilya Prigogene's concept of "Disapating Structures." Prigogene was, to my knowledge,  the first one to describe the phenomenon of self organization. He was a chemist and his book, "Order out of Chaos," was a bomb shell in my world. Henri, Lisa and colleagues spent most of their time seeking applicatins in the healthcare arena, and I really think they made some useful differences. That said, I always felt they never quite appreciated the raw, creative power of an unleassed, fully self organizing system. Made them nervous. 7808 River FAlls DrivePotomac, MD 20854phone 301-365-2093 On Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 01:12:14 PM EDT, Rijon Erickson via OSList <everyone@oslist.org> wrote: Below is an excerpt from a comment made on LinkedIn that makes a bold assertion about the opinion of the Open Space community regarding changes to OST within the context of Liberating Structures. “Lastly the changes made to Open Space that have been made are counted a travesty by the Open Space community. Anyone on the OSLIST knows what Barry Owen and others have had to say about this.” I'm making an assumption that these changes are the ones articulated by authors Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless in their book “The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures” and presented as a "short form" of OST. Upon reading the description of OST in the aforementioned book, I did feel some discomfort at how the event structure was presented, but I didn't take offense and consider such a presentation "a travesty". It read to me as what an OST event would look like to an observer. Near the end of the chapter in the book, Harrison Owen is credited and the reader is advised to start with the user's guide if they wish to the OST meeting format. Apparently this caused quite a stir a few years back. A reference is made to Barry Owen as well as to "anyone on the OSLIST" having knowledge of this. I'm a member of the board of the Open Space Institute - US, and I've been on the OSLIST for a few years now, and I don't recall this issue being raised in public or in private. In addition, I couldn't find evidence here on the OSLIST either. As a board member of the Open Space Institute-US, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to fully understand these criticisms and to be able to publicly engage with those in the Liberating Structures community to ensure that the practice of Open Space Technology and the philosophy of Open Space is disseminated with accuracy and authenticity. Who among you is willing to help me understand? P.S. I wasn't aware that an entire community (especially the Open Space community) could hold a singular opinion, but maybe that's just me. OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org

Dear Rijon, Henri likely appears on this list (I encountered him following a discussion here), so he may be able to address your questions. It amuses me, Harrison, that you remember his background in French corporate life. To my knowledge, he primarily spent his career in the US within what we refer to here as Big Pharma. However, his French origin is accurate ;) In regards to Liberating Structures (LS), it took me some time to comprehend their essence. I finally participated in a training session and understood: all of our meetings have inherent structures, even if we don't actively acknowledge them. When we gather around a large corporate table with the boss at one end, that's a structure. LS is an attempt to 'liberate' this often unseen structure by offering alternate options. The aim of LS is regular meetings, they have taken what exists and simplified the process for everyday organizational use. This positions LS as particularly suitable for regular team meetings, especially in rather flat structures where a team may include over a dozen members. I attended three LS training sessions in Paris, organized by two French gentlemen. The last two instances, I participated as a graphic recorder. The Open Space (OS) structure was only explained once. For that particular workshop, they also invited a member from the agile open source community (a community that has been using pure OST for their annual two-day gatherings for a decade). When the facilitators outlined the OS LS, both of us were left disappointed by what we heard and saw. It bore little resemblance to a typical OS gathering. However, it only took up about 45 minutes of a two-day workshop, and followed numerous experimented structures. Thus, I imagine most participants will not recall this structure, and if they do, they'll refer to the book or website where it is at least properly explained. We all adapt our knowledge to our own contexts (here, the constraint being time) and I believe we can't entirely prevent misinterpretations or even misunderstandings. Wishing you all a wonderful summer. Christine > Le 23 juil. 2023 à 23:30, Harrison Owen via OSList <everyone@oslist.org> a écrit : > > > > 7808 River FAlls Drive > Potomac, MD 20854 > phone 301-365-2093 > > > ----- Forwarded Message ----- > From: Harrison Owen <hhowen@verizon.net> > To: rijon@rijonerickson.com <rijon@rijonerickson.com> > Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 04:54:38 PM EDT > Subject: Re: [OSList] A TRAVESTY? Please explain. > > Rijon -- I can't recall any great foobah -- but I have known Henri for years and think well of him -- if only because his daughter lives close to me here in Maine, and Henri has been more than an occasional visitor. We first encountered each other in Australia for Wosonos and Henri became facinated with the notion of self organization and the way in which that wonderful phenomenon shows up in OST. I think it fair to say that his french corporate background also made him a little uncomfortable with the apparent loosenes, fluidity and indeterminacy. He and Lisa Carlson connected and attempted (my words) to clean things up... and all of that resulted in what they called "Liberating Structures" That phrase (I think) devolved from Ilya Prigogene's concept of "Disapating Structures." Prigogene was, to my knowledge, the first one to describe the phenomenon of self organization. He was a chemist and his book, "Order out of Chaos," was a bomb shell in my world. Henri, Lisa and colleagues spent most of their time seeking applicatins in the healthcare arena, and I really think they made some useful differences. That said, I always felt they never quite appreciated the raw, creative power of an unleassed, fully self organizing system. Made them nervous. > > 7808 River FAlls Drive > Potomac, MD 20854 > phone 301-365-2093 > > > On Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 01:12:14 PM EDT, Rijon Erickson via OSList <everyone@oslist.org> wrote: > > > Below is an excerpt from a comment made on LinkedIn that makes a bold assertion about the opinion of the Open Space community regarding changes to OST within the context of Liberating Structures. > > > “Lastly the changes made to Open Space that have been made are counted a travesty by the Open Space community. Anyone on the OSLIST knows what Barry Owen and others have had to say about this.” > > > I'm making an assumption that these changes are the ones articulated by authors Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless in their book “The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures” and presented as a "short form" of OST. > > Upon reading the description of OST in the aforementioned book, I did feel some discomfort at how the event structure was presented, but I didn't take offense and consider such a presentation "a travesty". It read to me as what an OST event would look like to an observer. Near the end of the chapter in the book, Harrison Owen is credited and the reader is advised to start with the user's guide if they wish to the OST meeting format. > > Apparently this caused quite a stir a few years back. A reference is made to Barry Owen <https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACoAAADtVHYBKmACohG0Fe0-c0F4dAQSrDB_QaQ> as well as to "anyone on the OSLIST" having knowledge of this. > > I'm a member of the board of the Open Space Institute - US, and I've been on the OSLIST for a few years now, and I don't recall this issue being raised in public or in private. In addition, I couldn't find evidence here on the OSLIST either. > > As a board member of the Open Space Institute-US, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to fully understand these criticisms and to be able to publicly engage with those in the Liberating Structures community to ensure that the practice of Open Space Technology and the philosophy of Open Space is disseminated with accuracy and authenticity. > > Who among you is willing to help me understand? > > P.S. I wasn't aware that an entire community (especially the Open Space community) could hold a singular opinion, but maybe that's just me. > > OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org <mailto:everyone@oslist.org> > To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org <mailto:everyone-leave@oslist.org> > See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org > OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org > To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org > See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org