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Monday, June 09, 2008

Open Space At PDC 2008!

This year for PDC 2008, we have decided to learn from a successful model used by various customers (like the ALT.NET crowd) in order to help ensure that PDC 2008 is the best conference ever. Our goal with these un-sessions is to really enable attendees with common interests to have some great conversations in an efficient setting.

So what is Open Space? Taken from the description we have on the PDC website (you can also refer to the Open Space Technology entry in Wikipedia):

Open Space is a way to bring together groups of people interested in a common topic to have an interactive discussion. In an Open Space session, there may be an expert who is passionate about a topic presenting to an audience or there may be a small group of people discussing an idea.
Four principles of Open Space:

Whoever comes are the right people to be there
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened
Whenever it starts is the right time
When it's over, it's over

All you need to do is suggest topics onsite that you wish to discuss and participate in sessions that sound interesting to you. It’s the unconference with content by attendees, for attendees.

Not only are we doing Open Space at PDC 2008, we want to make sure it is a _real_ Open Space. None of this "Microsoft doesn't understand, they don't grok it, they entirely and utterly butchered the whole Open Space concept".

Not only are we passionate about this topic, we are also fans of the Open Space movement. Of course there will be modifications that will have to be made to scale this to the size of a PDC as well as the fact that this is more of a "conference within a conference", but we hope those changes will keep the essence of Open Space unchanged.

If you have any concerns about Open Space @ PDC 2008, you can contact me directly at jason.olsonATmicrosoftDOTcom. I would love to hear from any of you regarding this topic. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you in L.A. participating in Open Space @ PDC 2008! FOR THE DEVELOPERS!!!!

Posted in Conferences

Comments [9]

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 12:46:10 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Hey Jason! It was good to see you (again) at TechEd in Orlando. This Open Space idea sounds great but I have this question: What's the difference between an Open Space session and a Birds Of A Feather session then?

Cheers!

Rodrigo Díaz

Thursday, June 12, 2008 11:56:08 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Hey Rodrigo!!! It was great to see you at Tech Ed. So, the difference between BoFs and Open Space? Well, with a well executed BOF, the talk itself may not be too different (depending on the type of Open Space). However, the execution around the sessions is completely different.

The best comparison I can think of is this: to compare to development processes, Birds of a Feather is more "Waterfall", while Open Space is much more "Agile".

Jason Olson

Friday, June 13, 2008 4:38:54 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Welcome to Open Space Folks! If you want more info about what it is and how it has been used around the world check out www.openspaceworld.com. Open Space has been around for 23 years. To date it has been used in excess of 100,000 times in 132 countries. Latest iteration at Microsoft (that I know of) was last January when 100+ engineers got together to figure out how to create the Data Center of the Future. Hosted by Daniel Costello who was frank to admit that he wasn't sure it could work. It did. Under the heading of "full disclosure" I must confess that I had the extreme pleasure of facilitating the gathering. Loved it!

Harrison Owen

If you really want to find out about all the details of Open space, you might check out my book, "Open Space Technology: A User's Guide" (3rd Edition, Berrett-Koehler)

Harison H Owen

Friday, June 13, 2008 5:11:06 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Actually, the most recent Open Spaces at Microsoft were in April of this year (2008) at the Global MVP Summit. I was privileged to facilitate one for the last Architect MVP Summit - about 30 Architect MVPs talking about architecture, relationship with Microsoft, and the universe at large.

I have some concerns about the "submit topics in advance" idea. The MVP Summit included an "open space" that was set up the same way (not the one I did). As I heard about it, though, the attendees didn't actually get together, create the agenda, and move around to various sessions, and there were experts/facilitators assigned to each session.

I think one of the wonderful aspects of Open Space is the interaction in the opening and the standing up and announcing topics and putting them in the marketplace.

Why do topics in advance?

Doc List

Friday, June 13, 2008 9:48:09 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Doc, I think this was perhaps a misunderstand of the way I worded it. There will be _zero_ submissions up front. We are trying to be as pure to Open Space as possible.

Also, check your email :). I would LOVE for you to be involved/moderate Open Space @ PDC if you would like to. Let's chat :) (or email me at jason.olsonATmicrosoftDOTcom).

Jason Olson

Friday, June 13, 2008 9:49:16 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Thanks a bunch for your comment Harrison. I'm very excited to see this work at Open Space. I have some concerns with using it as a "conference within a conference." But those concerns aren't with whether the Open Space model is successful or not, it's more a concern of us (Microsoft) butchering the model.

Jason Olson

Saturday, June 14, 2008 3:40:03 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Jason -- Don't worry, "the model" will survive because it really isn't much of a model. Truthfully it always seems to me to be just plain life. Or put another way, we live in Open Space all the time. The four Principles are always in effect as well as The Law of Two feet. If you doubt this, just think about the last time that a bunch of techies got together (informally) drawn by a hot new idea and the possibility of doing something really cool. People were there becaused they cared -- which makes them the right people. Nobody had a clue how it would all turn out -- but at the end of the day it was clear that whatever happened was the only thing that could have. Sure people had watches, but when the good stuff really began to happen, it happened on its own time -- Whenever it starts is the right time. When all the pieces came together there wasn't much more to do -- when it is over it is over. As for the law of two feet -- always observed. Folks came and went as their hearts and interests dictated -- and certainly not because some Manager was telling them what to do.

I think we live in Open Space all the time, but some times we don't realize it or we do it rather poorly. But done well and we all begin to fly. It isn't the method, it isn't the model. It is called really living fully and intentionally is this wonderful self organizing world. True, some people try to organize self organizing systems -- which is not only an oxymoron it is kind of stupid, I think.

Harrison

Harison H Owen

Saturday, June 14, 2008 6:33:38 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

W00T! Open Space is definitely the way to go for meaningful interaction at a conference. I am forgoing my standard speaking role at two conferences in August in order to run Open Spaces concurrent with the formal agenda. I'm glad to see MS invest further in this approach.

++Alan

Alan Stevens

Sunday, July 27, 2008 11:00:48 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

Hm, this reminds me, it might be fun to have an open space on Open Space in Seattle to share ideas and stories. I find I connect more with folks doing OS outside of the Seattle area than in, but we have some wonderful folks here with lots of knowledge and stories.

Nancy White

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