Open space – a demonstration of self- organization

From the law flow four principles:

·        Whoever comes is the right people

·        Whatever happens is the only thing that could have

·        Whenever it starts is the right time

·        When it’s over, it’s over

The open space rallying cry is:

What is Open Space?
Open space is quite popular in the agile world.  It’s a simple yet very effective way of promoting interaction and self organization.  It demonstrates self organization and the principles that make an effective meeting. To learn more about Open Space you can visit the open space institute website or read Harrison Owen's book.

Speakers and sessions aren't pre-planned. At the start of the conference/meeting attendees take time to recommend session topics.   This might take the form of questions about things they are struggling with, want to learn more about or anything at all….

 Usually you get more session proposals than the available time and space allow. Session topics are voted on and the least popular sessions are cancelled or combined to form new sessions.

Open space sessions are interactive. There are no prepared sessions but when you have a room full of people interested in the same subject you don't need preparation. The combined knowledge of people the people in the room is probably greater than that of any one speaker. The trick is sharing that knowledge in an interactive way without anyone dominating.

Open Space accomplishes this with the 'law of two feet’ - a foot of passion and a foot of responsibility. People are encouraged to leave sessions that if you’re neither contributing nor getting value and go somewhere where you can. This makes sure sessions stay interactive or at least interesting.

At the close of the allowed time, we will come back together as a group and share what we have learned in our open space sessions.  

So join us for an evening of discovery and learning.  Where you can learn more able the topics that you are most interested in.

Here is an example set of topics :

"Is your team struggling to finish their user stories within a single sprint?"

"What is the point of story points?"

"How boring is your retrospective?"  or if you want to keep it positive "How exciting is your retrospective?"

"What is the career path of a developer in your Agile organization?"

 Please suggest your own topics of interest.

Agenda :

6:00 - 6:30PM - Networking/Social

6:30 - 6:45PM - Introduction to Open Space, listing of topics, announcements etc.

6:45 - 7:15PM - Distribute to the three rooms based on the topics chosen

7:15 - 8:00 PM - Regroup in the main hall to summarize the findings.

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Meeting Location

Sysco Corporation

1390 Enclave Parkway - Houston, Texas -                281-584-1390        

Please park in front of either Sysco building (1370 & 1390 Enclave Parkway).

If front lots are full, park on the street along Forkland Drive and walk around to the front entrance of 1390.

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Please join us in thanking our sponsors for their generous support of 
Agile Leadership Network Houston

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PMPs may file for 1 PDU under Continuing Certification Requirements’ “Category 4: Other Providers."