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0 pointstomatowurst4y ago0 comments

> The biggest challenge is growing: I'm in a 5 person co-op. In a previous life, I was in a 25-person collective which became hell to manage, as everyone wanted to be heard, but few wanted the responsibilities.

yeah but you see the problem here? without a central leadership, everybody will have equity and you can't really steer the ship anymore.

I don't know too much about reseau or how it functions but i have a lot of difficulty with say a SaaS being run like a coop. 25 developers divide equally the loot? But there will be disagreements and disproportionate equity right off the bat. How do you remove somebody who plays politics and is able to win consensus but you know its going to impact your business? How do you arbitrate disagreements over distribution or spending of resources or the manner in which they conduct operation?

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tsimionescu4y ago· 2 in thread

> How do you remove somebody who plays politics and is able to win consensus but you know its going to impact your business? How do you arbitrate disagreements over distribution or spending of resources or the manner in which they conduct operation?

Who is this "you" in "your business"? The business is as much "theirs" as it is "yours". If they can convince enough people of a course of action, even if somr are not convinced, why do you assume that the course of action will be bad?

The biggest weakness of traditional companies is exactly that a sibgle hair-brained boss can wreak havoc on the whole organization below them. Democracy solves this problem, it is much more resistant to a bad actor than autocracy is.

stormbrew4y ago

I think top-down and bottom-up organizing styles create essentially two different, but similar, versions of this particular failure mode.

In top-down there's always the risk of someone coming in and making a long string of bad decisions and essentially wrecking everything by leading everyone on a wild goose chase, while in bottom up the risk is someone obstructing good things happening by either being a drag or exercising whatever veto or FUD power they have (whether designed or organic) to prevent action. This looks less dramatic as it's happening but stagnation is just as powerful a force as havoc in the long run.

There's a really tricky balance to strike somewhere in there.

mgbmtl4y ago

I like the concept of shepherding, not leading. Being on the sidelines, encouraging people to take the lead, but bring them back on track when necessary.

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