Unconference: The Wave of the Future
It all started with OST
Last year I was introduced to Open Space Technology (OST) by Doc List, who was also the open space facilitator for Agile Coach Camp 2013 (#accus). He was the one behind instigating my curiosity in the topic and pointed me to a couple of references to explore.
As I read about OST created by Harrison Owen, I was intrigued by the concept but I didn’t quite understand how it works. It felt somewhat unstructured at first glance.
Shortly thereafter I found out about agile coach camp from twitter (#accus). At another instance, Paul boos (@paul_boos), my colleague at the time and one of the organizers behind ACC since its inception in 2008 sent an email about ACC 2013 that was happening in Atlanta. We coordinated to drive down together (well Paul did all the driving) and ten hours later talking all things mostly agile, we arrived at the camp. Only after I experienced my first open space, I could better grasp how it works.
Coaching Agility and Beyond
Unfortunately, I missed the open circle for ACC 2013 and this is why I was determined to make it early this year (ACC 2014) which took place in Indy. It was also due to the fact that I was looking forward to games day and the opening session facilitated by @thiagi. Plus the theme and the participants this year really piqued my interest and I did not want to miss out on such an event.
A good enough analogy
If you ever fly southwest (my favorite domestic airlines), you are familiar with open space. Seats are not assigned, it’s “self-organized” seating. There’s an open space and passengers go onto filling the space until it’s full (Guess where this analogy struck me. If you guessed the plane, you are correct).
This is what happen in an open space (aka unconfernce). The facilitator explain the rules, open the space and participants fill time slots that are open for them to fill with topics they want to discuss, stories they want to share or ideas they want to validate. The results that come out of the interactions and conversations are superb. Additional value of the open space is the friendship that develops and the sense of community that takes place at the conclusion of the event.
Simple Rules
This year facilitator was Deb Hartmann Preuss (@deborahh). Deb flew from Germany to open the space for ACC 2014 with powerful questions like What’s beyond for you? (referring to the theme) and simple rules. The rules consist of one law (the law of the two feet) and 4 principles. There are also two different styles referred to as the butterfly (which go to parts of different sessions) and the bumble bee (which go around from one session to the other). This provides a safe space for everyone to just be themselves and move around as they see fit to maximize their learning opportunities. Deb also referred to this as passion and responsibility.
The Takeaways
There were many good sessions taking place but a few notable ones I had the opportunity to attend was ‘Fearless Journey’ during games day. The game was developed by @deborahh and facilitated by Karen FavazzaSpencer (@AgileKinder). The way we played this game was to identify obstacles and then each player would have a number of cards with possible solutions. The players would have a conversation about the solutions that would work for each obstacle and then move on to the next one. A really good way to get team members to engage in a fun yet systematic way.
The next day I attended ‘Agile Chartering — How is it going?’ by Diana Larsen (@DianaOfPortland). Diana presented a practice from her new book with Ainsley Nies ‘Liftoff’. She drew a clear picture on how to achieve alignment, build momentum and clarify roles. There was a good conversation among participants on how using such a practice would get teams started on the right foot.
Another session I attended was ‘Thinking for Living’ by Tim Ottinger (@tottinge). This was very intriguing especially when Tim explained the art of thought and the cycle of its development (preparation > incubation > verification). We later exchanged a few tweets about imagining a camp that would have a break in the middle to give participants a chance for incubation and come back with a surge of ideas.
ACC in the public domain
The camp was self documented by participants at http://agilelib.net/?event=accus14 and tweeted throughout the 3 days using #accus. Check out other equally intriguing topics and conversations there!
It’s all coming together
It was no coincidence that late last year I had the opportunity to attend training from the back of the room with Sharon bowman (@sbowperson) and discover concepts of accelerated learning. It took sometime for me to incubate (Thanks @tottinge) and write an article on applying the 4Cs map to enhancing team performance. I also thought that the 4Cs map could be used as a soft launch to enhancing agility so I explored this idea while I was at ACC 2014.
Experience it yourself
No matter how much anyone tells you about something, it’s hard to imagine how it works without experiencing it for yourself. This has been the case for me and I am 99% sure that it will be the case for you. I could however say without a doubt that the concept of unconference could be very well the wave of the future with people self-organizing to build a 3-day agenda in less than an hour. Next year ACC will be in DC so come experience it for yourself and be ready to be surprised and intrigued as I was the first time, the second time and I am sure I will continue to be in subsequent unconferences!
