First Open Space Meeting

 

 

The first Open Space meeting, referred to as OST-1, is an essential event in the OSA method.

This meeting is a signal event.

 

 

 

When the people in the organization experience this meeting, several things happen:

  • They learn about how Open Space works, from the Invitation to the Proceedings.
  • They experience diverse perspectives on the Agile adoption from diverse sources: teams, executives, managers, directors, and stakeholders.

For most participants, Open Space is a new experience. Furthermore and more to the point, the experience of openness across the entire organization is often a new and novel experience as well.

For this reason it is essential to allow sufficient time, typically about 45 days, for the Invitation to be considered.

During OST-1, participants learn that there will be another Open Space event in about 100 days – OST-2. This is the event where all of the experience from the 100 days of Agile practices is inspected and reviewed. This allows everyone to give the Agile practices a try. When the people affected know that the experiment is subject to inspection and tailoring, they may more easily “suspend disbelief,” “act as if,” and “pretend” the Agile practices might work.

It is therefore essential that OST-2, which follows the 100 days of experimentation, is announced and socialized throughout the day at this first Open Space event.