Self-Governance: ​Projects & Project Teams

​“To be happy, we need to be motivated. To be motivated, we need to be responsible. To be responsible, we must understand why & for whom we work & be free to decide how” – Jean-Francois Zobrist
​Work becomes a vehicle where we help each other reveal our inner greatness and manifest our calling.
​Purpose is necessary to make work meaningful1 & people are energized from a desire to accomplish something positive.2 When a Purpose is seen, such as: putting in a road or building a new dome, a Project Team may organically self-organize from interested parties to do so.3
​​People work in natural clusters and self-organize to get things done… Teams coalesce around people’s interests, skills and talents, as they interface with what the world needs.
​Project Teams are self-managing and self-directing, and ideally clearly define their purpose / inspiration in forming the Project Team and what they want to accomplish.4 Project Teams use the Advice Process to consult with the rest of the community re: their plans (insofar as their plans may affect the rest of the community). Project teams automatically disband when the project is complete.
[1] Research has shown that people perform when they pursue a meaningful purpose and have the decision making power and resources to work towards that purpose.

[2] Roles within the Community emerge organically from people’s interests, callings, and the opportunities that appear in the form of projects.

[3] The “Opportunities” section of the Community Intranet can provide valuable assistance in bringing together interested people. As can chatting around the campfire.

[4] Here’s a good question to consider at inception: Does the project do a good job contributing to the Organization’s purpose?
Project Teams are empowered[6] to establish their own
  • Rules & Procedures
  • Budget, Purchasing, capital expenditures, and Compensation Rates[7] for types of work performed. People set their own pay scale[8] using the Advice Process – they have to seek Advice and recommendations from their peers around them[9]. Typically, within the team: all members come together for a meeting to discuss and honor their commitments & contribution to the project and decide on appropriate pay scale levels for each member of the team. It is important that everyone feels their contribution is fully valued, so realistic compensation rates (in cash or slices, with slices preferred if the community is in start-up mode or cash-strapped) are strongly recommended.
  • Membership & training (if required)[10]
  • Commitments / areas of responsibility by members within the team (like everywhere else, within teams responsibilities are self-assigned and self-monitored on an “I want to do that” basis)
  • Planning, Workload, & individual commitments within the team
  • Strategy, scheduling and timelines
  • Safety, quality control
  • Tactical Meetings (if required) and decision making process
  • Delegation of any representative(s) needed to interface with the rest of the Community to engage in the Advice Process when their actions will affect other members of the Community.[11]
  • Pretty much everything else
In conformity with the Transparency principle, all of this information is freely available upon request to the rest of the community.
  • Budgets, expenditures, and Compensation as they affect community finances are posted & tracked in the community finances section of the community’s intranet…
  • To facilitate communications, Project Teams record their existence on the Community Intranet. Project Teams may be defined as “Open” or “Closed” at their sole discretion.  Anyone can join Open project Teams. Closed Teams are subject to an application/approval process defined by the existing project team, which may be quite informal. Community Members can freely join or remove[12] themselves from Open Project Teams and any (open/closed) Project Team Notifications just by subscribing to them online.
  • The online “Opportunities” log on the Community Intranet is a powerful tool for initiating Project Teams, as it gives members an opportunity to indicate their interest in specific Opportunities, which can then be transformed into Projects by their Initiative. ​
[5] Here’s a good question to consider at inception: Does the project do a good job contributing to the Organization’s purpose?
​
[6] “Value is created on the Shop Floor”

[7] When all the colleagues we interact with inform this process, the resulting pay scale is likely to be fair.

[8] Since truthful transparency is a Community Value, other members can share information about their usual fair compensation rates to help new team members peg their own fair compensation rate, to which their colleagues can then react with Advice to increase or lower it.

[9] Budget advisors are available to support teams in financial matters: they can counsel teams, but the final decision is kept in the unit

[10] When a project is initiated, a very natural internal recruitment process involving enthusiasm, connections, trust, esteem, and respect tends to spontaneously occur…

[11] Note that both of the examples above (roads and Structures) DO usually affect the rest of the Community and therefore require that the Advice Process be used to ensure that the Community really wants this. Note that when Budget > $0, the same is also usually true…

[12] Breaking commitments is not pono though…

[13] Encouraged but not Required: Such events can be as small and informal as a picnic or meditation/gratitude session, or as large as an all-night party, or anything in between: the Team is fully empowered to decide.

[14] People vote with their time; Trust the collective intelligence of the System
​Project Teams only last as long as the Project they formed to fulfill, then they dissolve. They are encouraged to throw a celebratory "We did it!" event celebrating the completion of their project.13 Gratitude for their awesome accomplishment is a good way to inspire more of the same…
​It is expected that members of the community are likely to be members of multiple project teams at any given time, and will constantly rearrange their priorities based on what they sense is the most important, urgent, or fun thing to do.14
​Feedback is encouraged at Project Completions…
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