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  • Prime/OS, Open Space and Caterfly

    “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Isaac Newton

    The buzz about invitation – what inspired us

    Caterfly’s Open Smart Transformation model is a derivative of Prime/OS™. A good part of Caterfly’s approach and Open Smart Transformation model was initially inspired by Open Agile Adoption (OAA) developed by Daniel Mezick. Open Agile Adoption itself applies the work of Harrison Owen in Open Space Technology, commonly Open Space. Daniel Mezick identified some unique properties of Open Space Technology related to game theory, especially its characteristic (‘pull’) opt-in invitation approach (Law of 2 Feet) rather than by imposition (‘push’). What is unique about OAA in Daniel’s use of Open Space Technology, however, is his re-framing and application of Open Space for a specific purpose, specifically in applying two Open Space events to frame a transformation process. From this he developed OAA (Open Agile Adoption) for ‘pull’-style agile implementations.

    This work is based on Prime/OS™, published as an Open Source, Free Cultural Work via the CC-BY-SA license from Creative Commons.
    Download the Prime/OS™ Definition Here:
    http://www.prime-os.com/download-prime/

    Creative Commons, Free Culture licensing details here

    We have always maintained that the people affected by any form of system implementation or transformation must first and foremost be consulted and invited into the process and the decision-making, so we immediately recognised the relevance of Daniel’s work beyond its Agile application. In fact we are not Agile coaches and to that degree OAA is not directly relevant to us. However we recognised that the principle Daniel was propagating is relevant way beyond pure Agile adoption, indeed it is applicable to the adoption of any system, like lean, systems thinking, responsive org, sociocracy or sustainability management, or indeed to any form of organisational transformation.

    From this we developed the concept of the Caterfly, denoting the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly, starting with the building of a protective cocoon and ending with the breaking out of it, with a long period of gestation in between; or in Caterfly a beginning and an end Open Space event each with various coaching iterations in between. The ‘cocoon’ is marked time-wise by the two Open Space events. The metamorphosis can represent any adoption, cultural change or transformation process an organisation seeks to undergo – and it does so not by mandating or imposing, but by inviting all affected to co-write the change or adoption story.

    Daniel Mezick had independently come to a similar conclusion and had renamed his extended application as Prime/OS™. Consequently we have agreed to regard our Open Smart Transformation as a derivative of Prime/OS™, under a Creative Commons license, which enables us to follow those before us in gifting our work to the Intellectual Commons. The approaches are similar at this point, although this may change with experience. The only modificaton we have made so far is in the follow up phase III where we introduce Kaizen. We believe a process of learning should continue beyond adoption, and Kaizen creates an excellent platform for this continous renewal, responsiveness and innovation.

    We are pleased to be connected with Daniel Mezick on this very important contribution to organisational transformation. We enjoy Daniel’s double-open space cocoon framework because it offers an excellent platform to invite the people affected by the change into the decision and planning process, and to co-create the change.

    As Open Space facilitators we would also like to acknowledge and appreciate the work of Harrision Owen and the hundreds of Open Space facilitators around the world who have run many thousands of Open Space events over more than 20 years and have proven that Open Space is one of the most effective transformation preparatory tools around.

    Caterfly’s predominant role is to support and enhance coaches and trainers running a transformation programme with Open Space events. We facilitate the framing Open Space events and leave the coaches and consultants to run their programme as usual.

     

    Further reading
    * Daniel Mezick’s site is a great repository for further information and writing around the subject.
    * Find out more about Open Space at our ‘What is Open Space?’ page, where there are also links to further resources including Harrison Owen’s work.
    * Full description of the Open Smart Transformation model

  • Open Smart Transformation (OST) model

    Open Smart Transformation (OST) model

    OPEN SMART TRANSFORMATION (OST) MODEL
    Version 1.0

    Creative Commons BY-SACopyright (C) Martin Grimshaw, Francois Knuchel & Daniel Mezick (author of Prime/OS™) 2014-15

    Shared under a ‘Free Culture’ ‘Attribution-Share Alike’ Creative Commons Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 :

    You may use this work as you like, including creating derivatives and commercial use, but you MUST provide proper attribution and share your work on the same basis, using the same licensing. This is our gift to the ‘intellectual commons’, and this license ensures that it remains open for all to benefit from, always.
    Full details at http://caterfly.co.uk/what-we-do/intellectual-commons/ 

    Note:
    Open Smart Transformation     (OST), a Caterfly brand, is a derivative of Prime/OS™ as described in http://www.prime-os.com, which also makes significant use of Open Space Technology (http://www.openspaceworld.org). OST has been developed by Francois Knuchel and Martin Grimshaw based on Daniel Mezick’s original work and Prime/OS™.

    This work is based on Prime/OS™, published as an Open Source, Free Cultural Work via the CC-BY-SA license from Creative Commons.  Prime/OS is also referred to as OSA when used in Agile Adoptions.
    Download the Prime/OS™ Definition Here:
    http://www.prime-os.com/download-prime/

    OST is a process implementation methodology that introduces transformation gently into a client organisation. OST implements a ‘passage‐rite’ structure that is framed by two organisation‐wide Open Space events. OST comprises and leverages the following core elements:

    • The Open Space meeting format [Open Space Technology, developed by Harrison Owen]
    • Game Mechanics (goals, rules, progress mapping, opt-in presence)
    • Invitation (including framing right questions)
    • Leadership Storytelling (and behaviour)
    • Principles of engagement, participative facilitation and respect
    • Cultural Anthropology (Passage Rites, “Master of Ceremonies”)

    OST applies these various elements across a timeline spanning several months. OST implements a passage-rite-like transformation, which has a clear beginning, middle and end. It is important to note and understand that OST is an organisation‐level transformation process rather than an individual-level one. The organisation is best viewed as a single entity (a single social system, rather than a collection of individuals) when implementing OST.

    By ‘SMART’ we mean Smarter ways of working.  These can be state-of-the-art systems, methods or organisational mind-sets which aim to enable a business or organisation to be more efficient, more responsive, leaner, more agile, more conscientious or more sustainable. We use the term Smarter Working as shorthand for a variety of more human, healthier, more responsible, whole system, self-organisation or self-management approaches to working together, including but not limited to: Agile, Lean, Responsive, Conscious Business, Sociocracy, Kaizen, Environmental or Sustainability Management Systems (EMS or SMS), Holacracy, Management 3.0 and more.

    The big picture of OST consists of 3 distinct “Phases”:

    Phase 1: Introduction and Implementation. The start and successful completion of the (first chapter of the) adoption process bound by time and two distinct beginning/ending Open Space iterations

    Phase 2: Development and Consolidation. Consolidating adoption through follow-up Open Space iterations, and/or Chapters 2, 3 … of adoption process following same Open Space events as in Phase 1 (where implementation is staged into more than one chapter)

    Phase 3: Competence and Continuous Learning. Successful completion of Phase 2, as evidenced by several “Chapters” spanning at least two chapters. Shift to learning organisation mode

    OST in more DETAIL:  Core Elements

    1. OST Phase 1: Introduction and Implementation. Experiencing engagement via opt‐in participation and Open Space.  This is the first level, the level of “introduction” to the basic SMART concepts being implemented, and facilities of the OST method: openness, invitation and opt‐in participation.

    • Opening Consulting with Leadership by Coach/Consultant, including planning for Open Space iterations
    • Invitation as the primary opt‐in mechanism
    • Open Space 1 (initial Open Space iteration, which marks the start of the transformation process, incorporating game mechanics: goals, rules, progress scoring and opt-in)
      • 2-3-day Open Space (minimum 1 day) – opening Open Space iteration
      • Minimum of 90 days of experiments and playing with practices (Beta-Lab cocoon mode), between the scheduled Open Space iterations
      • Output is learning and some deliveries
      • Leadership Signalling with Storytelling (and other highly symbolic behaviours, respect)
    • Open Space 2 (second Open Space meeting, which terminates “Chapter 1” of the process adoption and opens “Chapter 2” of the organisational “story” of adoption) – closing Open Space iteration
    • FOLLOW UP. Closing consulting with leadership
      • Processing of Proceedings
      • Respectful Leadership Signalling with Storytelling (and other highly symbolic behaviours)
      • Coaching consultant delivers specific coaching on what to (possibly) consider next
      • Depending on circumstances, coaching consultant vacates the organisation and does not communicate with it for at least 1 month, to trigger self‐sustaining independence self-organising behaviours on the part of the organisation
    • Open Space 3 if needed (all the steps above repeated)

    2. OST Phase 2:  Development and Consolidation. Minimum 1 year: recurring Open Space iterations about 6 months apart.  This is the stage of “consolidation towards competence”.

    • Evidence must be present first that the organisation has processed and completed Phase 1.
      • Several “Chapters” of learning, bound by two Open Space iterationss, may be needed for some organizations to reach this stage. Where the adoption program has been staged into more than one chapter, the subsequent chapter(s) would be introduced and implemented in the same manner as Phase 1, with two beginning/ending Open Space events
    • Repeat OST’s Open Space iterationss approximately every six months until a true learning organisation culture has been reached, with “all openness, all the time.”
    • Gradual introduction of Kaizen practices

    3. OST Phase 3: Competence and Continuous Improvement – Kaizen & Innovation.  No more scheduled Open Space iterations, due to a maturing of the organisation’s ability to sense, learn and respond, so Open Space on an as needed basis. Integration of Kaizen and Innovation practices for ongoing self-organised learning

    • Evidence must be present first, that the organisation has reached Phase 2, such as:
      • The scheduled Open Space iterations become less interesting, because the organisation now has an open culture that “is” open space in spirit and content
      • The organisation can consistently demonstrate a “safe-space” open culture.
        • Substantial changes to HR policies with intent to support an OST Phase 3 culture of responsiveness and participatory improvements
        • Establishment of norms for dealing with the ongoing conflict that is a natural consequence of independent thinkers working together in a volatile, high-change business environment
    • Pan-organisational program of Kaizen (continuous improvement) and Innovation practices to ensure the organisation is performing at peak, without stagnating, will full participation of all its people
    • Further follow-up Open Space and other events in the following years as required to guarantee continued self-organised learning. Major issues arising from new working practices, including the Kaizen and Innovation programs, can then be reviewed

     

  • Resources: the essentials

    Research and resources

     

    The failure of change management programmes

    “The three-out-of-seven success rate is an average view from many different research findings. Some studies reported success as low as 10%, others as high as 50%. The research span across many industries and countries and the nature of the change initiative studied varied widely—customer relationship ,management , enterprise resource planning , shared services endeavors, supply chain projects, mergers and acquisitions, cost reduction initiatives, restructuring/reorganization efforts, customer experience initiatives, etc. Any way you examine the findings, there is ample evidence that the change initiatives are far more likely to fall short of their stated objectives than to reach their promised outcomes.”
    • “Too many change efforts start with all the managers getting together behind closed doors and deciding what should be done.  They never think of telling their people what is going to happen and why, let alone canvassing their opinions, ideas or suggestions because they are the people closest to the front line and who just might be able to see what ultimate impact the change could have on the customer.”
      Ken Blanchard, ‘Mastering the art of change’ [Training Journal, January 2010]

    Blanchard lists 6 stages of concern which are often not met:

    * Need for information, not a slick sales talk (trying to get ‘buy in’)
    * Need for personal relevance (what will this mean for me?)
    * Implementation: what do I need to do and when?
    * Impact: Is this making a difference, Is it worth it?
    * Collaboration: how can I share learning and wins
    * Refinement: How can we continually improve the change?

    The problem with Change Management by Francois Knuchel

    Why coercion doesn’t work by Martin Grimshaw

    Open-Agile Adoption and Open Space Technology

    Caterfly has been strongly influenced by a call to arms by Daniel Mezick, who developed the Open Agile Adoption system for implementing Agile working in organisations. Caterfly’s Open Smart Transformation model is a derivative of Prime/OS™ developed by Daniel Mezick.

    Open Agile Adoption – implementing Agile working patterns in organisations using Open Space

    Prime/OS™ and Caterfly’s Open Smart Adoption

    Why Executives Can’t Impose Agile – Daniel Mezick

    Martin Grimshaw’s simple introduction: What is Open Space?

    Jack Martin Leith’s introduction to Open Space

    Using the simplicity of Open Space to solve complex problems – Chris Corrigan

     

    Smarter Working: New paradigm approaches to smarter, more effective and enjoyable working

    Agile

    Lean (Toyota System)

    Kaizen

    Environmental Management Systems (EMS: ISO 14001), Sustainability Management Systems (SMS) and related management systems

    Sociocracy

    Conscious Business

    What is Smarter Working?

     

    The Open Smart Transformation model and Caterfly’s Open Source Licence details:

    About Intellectual Commons

    Open Smart Transformation model in detail.

  • Intellectual commons

    Intellectual commons

    The Intellectual Commons

    We believe creative solutions to the problems we all face, should be made freely available for the mutual benefit of everyone. We want to keep innovation for the common good, in the hands of the Commons. Like science.

    Too often great ideas, inventions and products get held back by the chains of ownership and a need to control. We want to set culture free. You may hence use the materials here under the following conditions:

    Creative Commons BY-SAUnless otherwise stated, all material here is licensed under a Free Culture, Copyleft, Creative Commons license:  Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). The last word on the general  licensing conditions are here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

    Caterfly’s Open Smart Transformation model is based on Prime/OS™, published as an Open Source, Free Cultural Work via the CC-BY-SA license from Creative Commons. Download the Prime/OS™ Definition Here: http://www.prime-os.com/download-prime/

    To summarise, you can use all the material here, and we hope you find it useful. A large part of our work is derived from other sources, which we acknowledge in our detailed description of Caterfly’s OST-model. In particular our work is informed by Open Space Technology, is a development of Daniel Mezick’s Open Agile Adoption, and is a derivative of Prime/OS™. To a large extent the essence of our work is derived from and is a combination of the work of others, together with the skills that we bring as facilitators and consultants.

    You may distribute this material, use it for your own commercial purposes, and remix it to make a derivative. However:

    You must properly attribute all co-creators of the material you are using including those we have derived our work from, in the way specified in the Creative Commons licence. You should also make clear that your work is a derivative, and provide a web link (URL) to our website, and to those of our predecessors, with address fully visible so that it remains readable even when printed on paper.

    You must share your work on the same basis, thus keeping these great ideas in the intellectual commons, for everyone’s benefit. The details of how to use this material are in the OST-model document.

    Please note that not all Creative Commons licenses are Free Culture or Copyleft; indeed some are quite restrictive and intended for purposes different from ours. The licence we have chosen is very close in spirit to the Free Software / Open Source culture’s General Public Licence (GPL) developed by GNU – the co-creators of the GNU-Linux operating system.

    If you have any doubts, please get in contact.

     “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Isaac Newton

  • Smarter working

    Smarter Working

    Caterfly uses Open Smart Transformation to help organisations implement smarter ways of working.

    What do we mean by Smart?

    While we don’t claim any originality to our use of the term, we have coined the term Smarter Working in this context to help us define the kind of systems, tools and processes that we work with, or which align with them. Smarter systems of working are modern approaches to work which might emphasise participation, collaboration, integrity, sustainability, self-organising or self-managing teams, and a wiser, 21st Century approach to leadership and hierarchy. Smarter systems of working do not conflict with the needs of society and planet. They are in alignment with life, rather than exploiting it. They promote personal, organisational and planetary wellbeing, with ethics at their centre.

    Smarter Working includes, but is not limited to: Responsive, Lean, Agile,  participatory Environmental or Sustainability Management Systems (EMS or SMS), Sociocracy, Management 3.0, Conscious Business, Holacracy, Kaizen, and so on.

    Smarter Working means re-imagining what it means to be at work, as if were something we wanted to do, that was genuinely useful, to be enjoyed, a source of pride and contentment, and a place for learning and growth. Smarter Working means re-imagining working relationships and working together with common purpose in a way that is more enjoyable, healthier and happier, while taking a sustainability-first or even restorative attitude to our relationship to Earth.

    Smarter Working is work as it should be.

  • What is Kaizen?

    What is Kaizen?

    Kaizen is a philosophy that has transcended its development in Japanese car manufacturing management, where it was a critical component of the country’s post war economic transformation. Today, Kaizen is used across the world by life coaches, fitness and martial arts teachers, schools, healthcare and across all industries. Kaizen is at the heart of the Toyota Way, from which the Lean Management evolved, and is a fundamental component to Caterfly’s model for embedding long term improvement.

    Great Small Things Van Gogh‘Kai’-‘zen’ means ‘good change’, or change for the better, done by everybody, everyday, everywhere. 

    Kaizen is a mind-set permeating throughout an organisation, which fosters a continuous search by all employees at all levels and departments to find small improvements in the workplace, the products, services or processes. This kaizen mind-set creates an organisational platform or culture which is fed by one question asked by everyone at least once a day:  ‘What is one small step you can do to improve the product or process you work on?’

    “Kaizen is a customer-driven strategy for improvcement… In Kaizen, it is assumed that all activities should eventually lead to increased customer satisfaction.” Masaaki Imai

    Kaizen is about improving products or services, but it is also about constantly improving processes such as operations, standards, office workflow, production, efficiency or sustainability, or indeed anything that may speed up, embellish, eliminate waste, simplify, reduce a step, remove toxins or fool-proof a process.  Kaizen is particularly useful in reducing human mistakes in routine work, by considering small steps that would prevent human errors recurring.  By continuously focussing on small improvements the whole workforce is a state of continuous innovation and change – this in turns makes the organisation nimbler, and more responsive and adaptable to change.

    In Kaizen there may be no immediate results. But like compound interest, invisible to begin with, the benefits are enormous in the long run.

    Kaizen applied across the company creates a culture, a “kaizen culture”, of participation and development.  Kaizen helps improve the services or products of an organisation, but it has an even greater impact on strengthening the personal development of everyone.  Kaizen is a form of personal development that is directly relevant to, as well as emanates from the work being done. Kaizen enables experimentation, and requires leaders to listen to those doing the work with positive reinforcement. Kaizen not only allows innovation to flourish, it also motivates and engages the whole workforce.

    Kaizen is a platform for change, innovation and engagement across an organisation.

    You may also like our longer article: Kaizen – Rejuvenating your Organisation