Open Space TechnologyIn Software Development,

in SASQAG

John NapierPMP, CSDP, CSQE, CSQA, CSTE, CPSASoftware Assurance Engineeringwww.softwareassurance.com

Peggy HolmanThe Open Circle Companywww.opencirclecompany.com

With support from:

Note: These slides are provided for reference only. Slides were not used in this presentation.

Open Space Technology is a philosophy, a practice and a process that enables groups of any size to self-organize around complex, important issues and accomplish something.

What’s So Special about SASQAG?

• Professional association outside a job context

• Shared experiences• What interests you, probably interests others• Growth and sharing of the Body of

Knowledge

…it’s the people!

What’s a Profession? Professional?

Body of Knowledge

Code of Ethics

Professional Communications

Consider the medical profession…

Change in Organizations

Its about Human, not Technical, issues.

Technical Skills

Human Skills

Degree of TechnicalSkill used

Years of experience

1

High

Low

3 5 10

It demands human relationship techniques.

People Processes in Development

How much of a software development effort is spent actually coding?

Its about the people...

7% - 10%

Other, mostly human

interaction: 90%

3000 Years of Organizational Experience

What can be so hard?

Decide what to do, then do it!

…Except that:

It doesn’t work…it doesn’t last.

…at least it is a high risk approach.

The Magic of SW-CMM

Defined abilities and activities. (Helpful)

An approach strategy that starts the maturity and change process at the bottom with individual projects and basic project discipline. (Insightful)

A concept of organizational maturity that is based in large part on people within organizations selecting and promoting processes. (Software Engineering Process Groups, Process Action Teams, IDEAL planning cycles) (Brilliant)

Its about people taking responsibility…

Open Source Software

Open Source Software movement incorporates the spirit of Open Space –

• Open Source Code• Linux, Apache

Its about people taking responsibility…

The Cathedral and the Market Place…Software development by rigid control or open participation?

The OPEN Process Specification

OPEN is an acronym and an invitation to participate in a truly open, worldwide development of a rapidly emerging full life cycle Object Oriented methodology framework.

Its about people taking responsibility…

http://www.open.org.au/

[Object-Oriented Process Environment and Notation]

Open Space Technology

Open Space Technology is a philosophy, a practice and a process that enables groups of any size to self-organize around complex, important issues and accomplish something.

When to use Open Space

• Where conflict is holding back the ability to change

• Where the situation is complex• Where there is a high degree of complexity• Where there is an urgent need to make

speedy decisions• Where all Stakeholders are needed for good

decisions to be made• Where you have no preconceived notion of

that the outcomes should be

Examples

• AT&T Olympic Pavilion 1996– Designed in 10 months for edge of Olympic Village

and traffic of 5000.– Moved to center of Village 6 months before

Olympics. Traffic now 75,000.– Complete redesign to working drawings in 2 days!

Work was “fun”.

• Presbyterian Church– 500 people, 165 self-directed task groups– 2 days! 350 page conference report

• Fred Hutchinson, U.S. West, Boeing…

Circles

The most significant symbol in Human history…

Joseph Campbell, Myths and Religions

Principals of Open Space

1) Whoever comes is the right people.

2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened.

3) When it starts is the right time.

4) When its over, its over.

Law of Two Feet

Stand up for what you believe. If you are not contributing or learning, go somewhere else.

How it works

1) Select a theme or focus. Frame the largest context in a positive way.

2) Invite the people: all the stakeholders you’d like to have in a room. Include the theme, date, place and time of gathering in the invitation.

3) Create the space: Set chairs in a circle or concentric circles, leaving space in the center. Choose a blank wall for the Agenda Wall and label it AGENDA AM, PM across the top.

How it works

4) Set up a table for computers near a wall you label “NEWS”. Put masking tape near both walls.

5) Put blank sheets of newsprint (about ¼ the size of a flip chart page) and colored felt pens in the center of the circle.

6) To begin the gathering: Facilitator explains the theme, the simple process the group will follow to organize and create a record, where to put things up and find out what’s happening, the Law of Two Feet and the Principals of Open Space.

How it works

7) The the facilitator invites anyone who cares about an issue to step into the middle of the circle and write a topic, time and place for meeting and post on wall.

8) Use one sheet per topic. Issue posters will be the Conveners who have responsibility for session facilitation and for getting a report made and posted on the NEWS wall.

9) When ALL offerings are concluded, the facilitator invites all to sign up for what there are interested in and to apply the Law of Two feet.

How it works

10) People participate in discussions. The Facilitator takes care of the space. Reporters enter discussion reports in the computers and printouts are posted on the NEWS Wall.

11) Closing: All reconvene an hour before closing to share highlights, “ahas” and key learnings without dialog.

12) Mail out whatever record is created to all participants.

Outcomes

• Every issue of concern to anyone is on the table.

• All issues will have been discussed to the extent the interested parties choose to.

• A full record from discussions will be in the hands of participants on departure.

• Priorities will be identified, related issues converged and initial action steps identified.

Outcomes

• People in the organization will have experienced a very different and self-empowering way of working that they will take back with them into their organizations.

• Measure the success…

How does it work?

• Magic

• No predefined agenda

• Empowerment

People take responsibility for what they care about. For what they have passion for.

What can go wrong?

• Think you are in charge

• Think that Open Space will validate a pre-determined outcome.

SPACE INVADERS

Applications in Software

• Meetings• Creating agendas. Match issue to time slots.• Requirements Elicitation• Process Improvement• Stakeholder involvements• …many others

Open Space Technology

Something worth having in every software quality professional’s toolkit…

Its appropriate for SASQAG too!…

Our Open Space Theme

Building SASQAG Usefulness and Relevance to its membership

(Start Open Space)

Referenceshttp://openspaceworld.org/english/index.html Open Space forum and information.

www.openspaceworld.org/tmnfiles/2pagesos.htm A two page primer for conducting events.

www.michaelmpannwitz.de/osmap.swf A map of Open Space locations in the world.

www.openspacecompany.com Peggy Holman’s web site on organizational change.

The Change Handbook – Group Methods for Changing the Future A compilation of methods edited by Peggy Holmanhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576750582/qid%3D930084774/002-939931