1. Whoever comes is the right people
   reminds participants that they don’t need the CEO and 100 people to get something done, you need people who care. And, absent the direction or control exerted in a traditional meeting, that’s who shows up in the various breakout sessions of an Open Space meeting.
2. Whenever it starts is the right time
   reminds participants that “spirit and creativity do not run on the clock.”
3. Wherever it happens is the right place
   reminds participants that space is opening everywhere all the time.
4. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
   reminds participants that once something has happened, it’s done—and no amount of fretting, complaining or otherwise rehashing can change that. Move on.
5. When it’s over, it’s over
   reminds participants that we never know how long it will take to resolve an issue, once raised, but that whenever the issue or work or conversation is finished, move on to the next thing. Don’t keep rehashing just because there’s 30 minutes left in the session. Do the work, not the time.

“The Law of two feet”
If at any time during our time together you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet, go someplace else.

a couple things I’ve written on the subject of third party buttons littering the web:

from 2010

“In my experience, customer preferences move faster than website refresh schedules – so by the time the ‘Facebook Like’ button is integrated in a useful manner – the visitors changed their preference.”

from 2006

“Once I’ve decided on where I’m doing my bookmarking and where I’m aggregating my feeds and set up the pre-requisite accounts – all of the other badges are irrelevant, noisy, and ignore the fact that most of those places have bookmarklets. If I haven’t set up one yet – it’s the paradox of choice.”

“In long-term, facebook will be the next AOL. Think about it.” – Stewie

I’ll even say Facebook is Aol in the short term.

• Both are frequently confused for the internet.
• Both very rigid, ad-subsidized publishing platforms.
• Both pay their writers nearly nothing in exchange for a promise of exposure and more efficient publishing tools.

In Aol’s hay day (circa 2000), it acquired Time Warner (awkward). From a media publishing & distribution standpoint a merger sorta kinda makes sense (if you squint). Nine years later – they divorced. A blink in publishing, a generation online.

For Facebook to truly be analogous to Aol, Facebook needs a similar balls out acquisition.

There’s not a lot of candidates.

1. Someone with a long, established history in cameras and other portable hardware (so not Opera).
2. Someone without a great deal of cache or presence with Facebook’s target audience (so not Apple).
3. Even better if they’ve got a huge stable of actors, musicians, and other creative assets that might be attractive to Facebook’s target audience (so not Samsung).
4. Someone with declining revenues (so not Disney)

How about – Sony?

“While it is possible to find a needle in a haystack, even using specialized machines to do so takes a considerable amount of time, particularly since bone needles cannot be picked up by magnets. The task is difficult enough to still make the saying viable.” – MythBusters, Needle in a Haystack Episode

And that’s with knowing 4 needles existed somewhere within 10 bales of hay. How difficult would it be if you didn’t know the needles existed – just assumed they did.

I just returned from 4 days in Minnesota’s northwoods. Completely disconnected. The only things I took with me; water bottle, a couple days change of clothes, my notecards, and my wallet.

I hiked waterfalls, scrambled across rocky beaches, and fell asleep to flickering fires.

I pondered living in a lighthouse. Hiking a hundred vertical feet each day for fresh water – with no reliable access to the outside world. Yet, tasked with the responsibility of maintaining safe travels for dozens of ships a day. And the commerce implied therein.

Upon my return to civilization – I burned though the hundreds of messages laying stagnant in my inbox.

Only 7 remain.

Each with a clear action item associated with it.