Harrison Owen contemplates the new messiness (Complex System, Collapse). Supposing everything is asymmetrical?... . Just for the sake of the argument, follow the curve and think about the possibilities. 7 billion folks all connected! Most of the possibilities are simply unthinkable – but one would be a reality. When it came time for a global conversation (Disputation Arena) on critical issues – there could be 7 billion people at the conference table... Perhaps the time is right to bite the bullet and admit that it is not that we are doing something wrong – we are doing the wrong thing... And what would be the alternative? We might start with the possibility that this asymmetric world, which appears as the confounding nemesis to our perception of the ordered environment in which proper statecraft is practiced between proper Nation-States – is in fact replete with its own Patterns and symmetries. The only problem is, they are not of our design or making, and for sure we cannot control them... Is humanity, in all of its parts and pieces, also a Complex Adaptive Systems? At some level it would be very strange if we were not, for if Self Organization is a fundamental mechanism underlying all of the cosmos, we might equally escape the force of gravity... If so, could we learn to leverage the natural power of self organization in order to achieve useful results? We are a long way from anything looking like a definitive answer, but an interesting 25 year natural experiment has brought us, I believe, to a point where the answer is no longer an esoteric hypothetical. My friends and colleagues will know exactly where I am heading: Open Space Technology (OST). For those of you unfamiliar with OST, a brief description is in order. OST is a simple process which enables groups of people to deal with hugely complex and conflicted issues with little advance preparation and minimal facilitation... OST always works – provided certain conditions are present. A real issue of concern, lots of complexity, rich diversity of opinion and participants, plenty of conflict and passion, and a genuine sense of urgency. Perhaps most remarkable, it all takes place pretty much, “all by itself.”... There is no Plan in the normal sense of that word, just a focal theme and few basic principles. Truth to tell, nobody has any idea of precisely what will happen, when it might start, or where it will go. And that includes the facilitator, who generally will have less idea of likely occurrences and potential outcomes than the participants, if only because he or she is usually a stranger to the group and unaware of “usual behaviors.”... Actually I think Open Space Technology is only a halfway technology. I am sure we can do better if we were to follow our noses and build upon our experience... We are all aware of the euphoria that breaks out during revolutionary moments. We are also aware that it is typically and tragically short lived. But here is where the “more” comes in. Just suppose that the revolutionary euphoria was also a natural occurrence of what we consistently see in Open Space. And if so, could we learn to ride the waves and sustain the outcomes? We have learned to do something of the sort in narrow confines of an Open Space gathering and what comes after. Could that learning have broader application?

Hal Macomber on using an Open Space process for a Business Planning process, and wonders about using it for Project Planning (Project Management). What did I learn? Organic processes produce far superior results than my usual well-crafted and facilitated agendas.

Ross Mayfield on the FooCamp "UnConference" (with pointers to other coverage). Every session was a jam session. I blogged some of the first, but then found I needed to participate in the conversations too much to continue this contribution. (hmm, see Back Channel, Open Space)

It seemed like the most natural thing in the world that 150 (or more) executives and consultants should sit in a circle and organize a multi-session, three day meeting in less than an hour, with not a single argument. (more)

Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury (5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679), in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury,[1] was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of Social Contract theory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes (more)

A decision that's reversible (without catastrophic cost). Most decisions are two-way-doors, we just forget that. cf Decision Making, Cognitive Bias, thinking in bets, iterative

see playful

Some writing practices that are more applicable to an organizational (company, etc) context than an individual/personal.... a subtype of collaborationware (more)

macro-level Orientation and Planning (?) for the success of your venture (more)

Eliot Peper: Tiny ports of human connection. I am delighted to report that, in its first year of operation, Eliot’s Cozy Little Internet Bookstore did $5,023 in sales. (more)

Barbie Event in Florida Draws Comparisons to Fyre Festival. Fans had high hopes for Barbie Dream Fest, a Mattel-sanctioned gathering in Fort Lauderdale. But in a cavernous convention center, the dream seemed to fizzle. (more)

Andy Matuschak on Apps and programming: two accidental tyrannies (more)

Visakan Veerasamy: inner sanctums (more)

Claude Code Best Practices. Claude Code is intentionally low-level and unopinionated, providing close to raw model access without forcing specific workflows. This design philosophy creates a flexible, customizable, scriptable, and safe power tool. While powerful, this flexibility presents a learning curve for engineers new to agentic coding tools—at least until they develop their own best practices. (more)

Aakash Gupta: How to Turn Claude Code into an Operating System with Carl Vellotti. (for product management) (more)

Joe Procopio: Databricks CEO Just Dropped The Most Honest Advice About The Future Of AI. Here’s a little secret for you. The next wave of GenAI success is going to be completely dependent on structured data. (more)

device combining multiple tools http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitool (more)

In 1991 Momus said In the future everyone will be Famous For Fifteen People. A take-off on Andy Warhol's claim that everyone would be "famous for 15 minutes" (Celebrity) (more)

ink-and-switch frame for software that can be very-easily-customized (situated software)

Geoffrey Litt: Everyone should design software. I predict we’ll look back at the debate around "should designers code" as just an opening salvo in a much bigger wave of change. Yes, AI tools are enabling more people to code within software teams. (more)