STORY
Somewhere around mid 90s of the last century, I felt an attraction to computers. It continued at university where I found myself consciously studying not how to program, but how computers work. As knowledge emerged, I soon realized that always a combined (computer hardware and software) performance is what impacts the end user experience.
Related jobs followed and when I moved into a domain where it was about software development using computers rather than supporting computer users, I soon realized that success is not only determined by how good one is at programming, but also what interaction is like with the other people. It’s always both – technology and psychology.
After years, I got a book called “Finding Your Element” by K.Robinson after I had seen some of Ken's TED talks. It’s a practical book. While reading it and doing exercises, I soon realized that I am ‘in my element’ when I, put simply, facilitate other people. I suddenly was able to give a common denominator to the most of my professional past. But mainly it gave me clarity about what I want to do further.
Since all the time I was around computers that’s where I went on. I started a steep journey towards becoming better at facilitating others, learning and practicing coaching. I started to pay attention to working together, I started to value how rewarding it is to see others succeed in what they are doing together and how important that actually is to the everybody involved. Believe it or not, but soon I became a Scrum Master as that was the perfect fit to what I wanted to do. Although today I am practicing as an Agile Coach also beyond IT, becoming a Scrum Master was a new turning point...
Below is a video answer from Lyssa Adkins to my question as a starting Scrum Master:
November 2024 my Agile Coaching engagement ended sooner than expected. And I think it was for good. Because it made me return to the roots. And those roots are love for facilitation. In many contexts: work meetings, trainings, conferences, discussions, etc.
2feetmeetings.com is the newest name of my website ivopeksens.com. To maintain traffic, there's simple redirect for now.
So what is the story of 2feetmeetings ?
In 2015 I discovered an Open Space unconference in Sophia, Bulgaria, namely Agile Lean Europe 2015 that I visited. I was literally blown away by the format. For three days pressure free, deeply democratic, engaging and humane interactions. I came back home elevated. Was more than sure we have to do it in Riga as well. Unfortunately, hype faded out, but not fully. Two years later in 2017, we tried Open Space in Agile Days Riga and it worked :).
The magic of Open Space is in its simplicity. And only one law guides everybody. It is a low of 2 feet. Meaning, you can go where you find you can contribute or if you cannot or do not like to, walk away without asking permission. This sounds unreal, but it is real and very powerful. And it is sabotage minimizing/eliminating as well :)
2feetmeetings is to foster this idea of free will joining and withdrawing beyond Open Space into many other kinds of meetings. However, there is something else besides this. And it is the starting point which is even simpler than many things mentioned so far. It is inclusion of others into discussing and deciding about stuff that's impacting us. As a result combo of free movement and inclusion creates a strong foundation of psychologically safe ways of meeting & working together.
So, 2feetmeetings is about including everyone into the action and establishing one law - the law to 2 feet. The time has come to emphasize the importance of inclusion and reliance on collective intelligence.
Continue to Vision.