Energy, Action, "Escape Velocity"By the time OST-2 rolls around, people are ready to take action. They have experimented with Agile practices in an open environment. This is the meeting that looks back and looks forward.

It is also the perfect spot to encourage and initiate action INSIDE this meeting, rather than waiting for formally authorized leaders to do this or do that. This is the spot to encourage even higher levels of engagement and commitment. Formally authorized leaders and how they signal empowerment to the group-as-a-whole is an important aspect of this process.

The OST-2 meeting is typically characterized by three or four big issues that stand in the way and need to be resolved. There may be a need for product road-mapping at the enterprise level. Or, there may be existing policies or roles that need to be amended or completely abolished because they stand as impediments to continuous improvement. There will be other problems that are big and need attention.

To address these issues and keep momentum moving forward strongly, the best idea is to encourage problem-solving action INSIDE OST-2. The Coach, the Open Space Facilitator, and the Sponsor all work together to architect some activities inside this meeting which will strongly encourage action on and ownership of problem-solving. It is imperative that all of this is duly authorized by the Sponsor.

Ideally, this is the state of being for the organization after OST-2:

  • The group can clearly identify the top issues of immediate concern.
  • Each issue has a champion who brings passion and responsibility to the task of addressing and solving the problem.
  • Each issue has a wider team who pitch in to help.
  • For each issue, the champion and the team have very clear agreement about who is doing what to address the issue after the OST-2. In this manner a sense of progress across the entire organization begins to manifest. Before long, the culture starts to tip in the direction of continuous improvement and a strong intention to create great results.When this happens, many impediments tend to go away, as those who are not really supporting the new culture realize that more than a few things have changed in the past 100 days. The culture is actually shifting.