Thoughts on 'Objectivised Activity' and taking down the Mezzanine

Yesterday in chattin with Matti we had one of those discussions which I thought Id share with y'all on this chilly but nice sunday afternoon...

When Ivan and Isa were here, we walked around the CERC building with them to assess different spaces to see which bits of the CERC were the most OW suitable. When we got to the big mezzanine platform where the playpark is going to be installed I and I were buzzin on the prospect of using it during the OW. But then we told them that our plan was for the mezzanine to be removed and the space made ready BEFORE the OW begins, so that the playpark staff crew could emerge from the participants, children could use the facility during the workshop etc> I didn't place too much importance on it because when Isa was saying "this is perfect" I thought she meant the layout of the rooms etc - but I was wrong.

That night Ivan phoned and me n Matti went over to Thrales Close for a chat. Over a cup of tea and some nice biscuits I and I expressed their concern about the danger of the OW breaking into small groups focussed mainly on their own area of enterprise - rather than acting as one large group on a shared task which can be broken down and used to facilitate the emergence of 'organisational consciousness' and 'entrepeneurial literacy' within the large group

At the time and after some discussion I felt we overcame this to some degree by stating that surely the "shared task" was 'the regeneration of Marsh Farm', that we could spend the first week of the OW collectively organising the Um Festival Do Amor, and include a few collective activities like marketing drives - we thought all of these could be our 'glue contracts' before moving into smaller groups?

Anyway me n Matti were refocussing our thoughts in light of that which we all know too well - that the timing, the need to align OW with CERC happenings, the need to catch the summer, the Tudor Trust funding, the Job centre shinanigans and the MFCDT red tape delays have all combined to cause us to yet again revisit the design of the OW.

We knew that all of these factors mean that the playpark space being ready for an August OW is now all but impossible, so we've been forced to look again at inclusion of the deconstruction of the mezzanine and preparation of the playpark space taking place DURING the OW so that the Playpark can be fitted and ready to roll by the END of the OW rather than before it starts.

This, in turn, means that we will have to revisit the OW technical plan and work breakdown structures we did whilst I and I and Raff were here.

So we were in there deep, reasoning about this when I recalled that when we were walking around the mezzanine structures with I and I, at one point Ivan pulled me aside and said "let me show you why the deconstruction of this mezzanine platform is such a great OW activity"

He took off a strip of plastic cladding cover and began counting the screws which hold the glass panels in the temporary workshop spaces together. He began counting and said "one, two, three, four, five - there are six screws for every panel". He then began counting the panels, the number of actual workshops, the number of ceiling tiles in the area we were standing etc.

Then he said to me "do you understand man?"

To be honest - I thought I did at the time and probably said I did - but I know now that I didn't really get the point he was making. It's only in the past few weeks and days since having to refocus our design thoughts and then that chat with Matti yesterday that I now think I really get it.

The point we now think Ivan was making (and please add any comments which help to make this clearer for us Ivan, Isabel Raff, Gav) was that the task of taking down the mezzanine and preparing the space is an ideal OW activity precisely because its so easy to break down in those terms - i.e. the number of single actions an activity will take (in this case such as undoing a single screw, removing a single panel, how long that action takes, what tools are needed to perform the task etc). This makes doing the 'work breakdown structure' (wbs - remember that?) for a task like this relatively simple - and its the availability of the WBS which allows Ivan and Isa to direct the participants to organise themselves in an efficient and collective manner during the OW.

We remembered the sessions we had with Ivan on 'Taylorism' - or 'Scientific Management' techniques, where every single big task (removal of the mezzanine) is broken down into individual motions (screws, panels etc) and studied for ways of making things happen more efficiently? Ivan said that "the problem with Taylorism was that it required workers not to think, but just to do - thinking was for the planning department".

The task in the OW is to capacitate the large group in use of these Scientific Management techniques + introduce Gannt charts (work plans), co-ordinators etc in a way which will see 'ownpowerment' within the group to make efficient and cohesive decisions from the bottom up.

There is also something really important going on in the social psychological field during this collective learning process. I dont quite understand this to the fullness yet, but methinks a decisive shift in levels of consciousness amongst the group takes place - from 'naive' or 'critical' to 'organisational'. This happens as a result of the act of the large group ending up being organised enough to deconstruct the mezzanine in a highly efficient way - a single activity which not only capacitates us in large group self management and organisation but which also leads to a highly visible act of physical transformation with a brilliant send result that will buzz the whole community - a playpark for the yardies!

And finally a question for the Maestros....Ivan, Isa, Raff Gav - Does 'Objectivised Activity' describe the act of learning of vocational skills by 'doing' (like the saw pushing against the grain of the wood example you gave us long ago Ivan) or does it refer to the organisational learning Im ranting on about here as well?

Well thats a bit of a Sunday rant there, but thats why I started this blog - to capture and share these kind of thoughts as they happen and hopefully to generate some feedback and other people's ideas

S'all good

G