Agile Meets Open Space

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  Agile   Scrum   ProjectsAtWork  

Upcoming Open Space meetings for agile practitioners show interest in the methodology is piquing and the meeting format is a natural fit.

There’s a spate of upcoming Open Space meetings for agile practitioners, and organizers say it reflects the fact that interest in the methodology is piquing and the meeting format holds appeal.

“People in the agile software community resonate with true Open Space because it mirrors the kind of self-organization, high-bandwidth communication and collaboration that we apply to project teams,” says Diana Larsen, principal of FutureWorks Consulting, Portland, Ore., chair of the Agile Alliance board of directors, and a host at this month’s Agile Open Southern California meeting. “Conferences with an Open Space format can be organized and convened at a relatively low cost in planning time and funding, which keeps them accessible and relevant. Participants can afford to attend even if their employers don’t pay their way. Sessions organize around what issues people are wrestling with right now, in real time, rather than planning the program months in advance.” 

Larsen says the Open Space trend is relatively new, but well entrenched. “Starting in 2003, the use of Open Space within traditional-format Agile conferences and as separate, standalone conferences (the &…

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