This is a recipe for a ripe primordial environment for addressing complex business issues quickly and creatively. I experienced it for the first time at the collaboration conference last Friday.
The organizing theme of an Open Space meeting is that people who care about the subject will come together. The initial meeting notice takes the form of an invitation, thus the people who attend have chosen to be there and are willing to contribute. Here are the principles:
- Whoever comes are the right people
- Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
- Whenever it starts is the right time
- When it’s over, it’s over
Harrison Owen conjured the Open Space experience at a conference in 1985. He went on to create the Wiki software as a collaboration environment (ever been to Wikipedia.com?)
Open Space claims to be appropriate in any situation where there is a real business issue to be solved, marked by
High levels of complexity, in terms of the issues to be resolved,
High levels of diversity in terms of the people needed to solve it,
High levels of conflict (potential or actual),
and there is a Decision time of yesterday.
If your business has these conditions, Open Space my contain seeds for greater success for you.
Yes, I found the conference useful.
June 12th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in Collaboration, General | 2 Comments »
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Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury presented the PGE Gold-Level Clean Wind Partner Certificate to CEO Rich Bader this morning at the EasyStreet data center. The breakfast event was attended by 50 EasyStreet customers.
With 100% renewable power in our offices and 50% wind power in our data center, we are moving to further reduce our carbon footprint.
What goes around, comes around. Bader then recognized Organically Grown Companies as the first of several EasyStreet customers now running their servers with 100% renewable power in our data center.
For the next 60 minutes, a passionate Bill Bradbury delivered his Global Warming Roadshow message.
Based on Al Gore’s training, Bill expanded our understanding from both a world and a northwest perspective. For example, during the past decade Portland has reduced CO2 emissions amid healthy economic growth.
Are sustainable practices good for businesses? The message shared and affirmed today clearly says they are.
Here’s a starting point. Calculate your carbon footprint.
June 5th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in Sustainability, @ EasyStreet | 2 Comments »
One of the most compelling promises of computer technology for business is collaboration. Working together without being together. EasyStreet uses a collaboration and document control application called ClearSpace to manage project teams and ideas. It also is a resource to know “what’s going on” within the company.
EasyStreet will be providing a managed ClearSpace server for the attendees at the “Putting Collaboration to Work” conference taking place on Friday, June 8th. ClearSpace will be one of the web2.0 tools used to illustrate and demonstrate collaboration issues at the conference.
As a thank you, the conference organizers have invited us to extend a 50% discount to any who wish to attend. Visit the PDMF website and register with the discount code “Friend50″.
I will be there and I am hoping to see you there.
June 4th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in SaaS, Web 2.0, @ EasyStreet, Collaboration, General | Enter a comment »
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Last week I found myself immobilized when the parental monitoring software (SafeEyes) on our family computer could not attach to its mother server. Parental administrative override didn’t work either. Fatal error message. I was offline until the SafeEyes server came back online.
I expect to need an Internet connection for applications such as email. Somehow, what I do on my computer needs to get to your computer. But when working independently on a document, I don’t want to be dependent on being connected to a distant 3rd-party server. That’s why I invest $$$ for desktop applications from distant software giants like Microsoft and Adobe.
The estrangement of desktop applications and web-based applications may be coming to an end. On May 30th, Google released a set of tools called Google Gears to software programmers to help make online applications available offline..
Google plans to use Gears to make other programs like Gmail, Calendar, and most notably, Docs and Spreadsheets, available offline. Google’s Reader application is the first to incorporate the new tool. In technology terms, evolution and intelligent design are converging.
How about your business? Ready to retire your expensive office productivity suite?
June 1st, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in SaaS, Web 2.0, General | 1 Comment »
