How might we best make decisions together?

Dan Cunningham Public Seen by 181

As the members of the IO Collective, we are to a large degree autonomous, and there are things we will benefit from deciding on as a group, such as:
* our brand and purpose statements
* our organisational structure
* how we invite in and onboard new members

How might we best do that in a way that allows us to make decisions in a timely manner, based on and informed by the perspectives, feedback, advice and input from everyone with something to add, and with sufficient support for any given proposal to proceed with it?

Dan Cunningham Sun 19 Jun 2016 1:16PM

One proposal from Luke was to use Facebook reactions:

What I would love is for us to "build with, not for" not just as a collective in the wider world, but as individuals within the collective.

This means I would love be told if you/ some people are working on designing a resource/ structure for us, and consulted - do I understand why you're about to build/ write/ create a thing for us? do I want it? do I have any ideas about how to go about it? You don't have to take my advice because we're autonomous, but if I feel I had an opportunity to contribute, then it won't be a surprise, I'll be looking forward to using it ; )

Does that make sense?

We could play with a 'Twinkle fingers' reaction here; if you hover over/ long-press on the Like button, you'll see several voting options.

We could try (left to right):
Love = strongly for
Haha = for
Wow = abstain/ meh
Cry = against
Angry = strongly against/ block

Suggestion from DanC: if reacting with against/ strongly against, Dan & I (at least!) would enjoy you giving a reason.

so if that ^ works, it could serve as a temperature check (at least for now) though we might feel moving over to Loomio (especially for bigger decisions - if we want to decide things together at all!) feels more suitable.

And thumbs up if you didn't read this all the way to the end ; )

https://www.facebook.com/groups/946636088786883/permalink/993473977436427/

Dan Cunningham Sun 19 Jun 2016 1:18PM

Another proposal from Dan was to use Facebook polls:

Totally agree with Luke that one of the most crucial things that will help and empower us as a group is having a good process for decision-making together.

Here's my proposal: I propose that whenever you make a proposal, you seek the reactions and input of the collective by using a Facebook poll.

I further propose that we try this proposal for a month or so to see how it works for us, and we can review and change if by that time there is a better way.

I further propose that you also give a time window in which to reply, so that people know how long there is to give input before a decision is effectively made. e.g. please reply to this one by the end of Saturday this week (18th June). I propose the following choices can be used:
- For
- Strongly For
- Abstain / meh (let the group decide)
- Against (we can do better + offer a suggestion of why and any ideas you have)
- Block (I would leave the Collective if we went ahead with this + say why)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/946636088786883/permalink/993479550769203/

This got 14 "for" + 1 "the monkey" so we basically have consensus that it is our decision-making process for the time being.

Poll Created Sun 19 Jun 2016 1:25PM

Use Loomio for collaborative decision-making Closed Fri 24 Jun 2016 1:02PM

Although we have agreed for now to use Facebook polls, I believe there are several advantages of using Loomio:

It's purpose-built for collaborative decision-making
It keeps all proposals and decisions in one place, rather than interleaved into all the other Facebook group activity
It doesn't clutter up our Facebook group feed with lots of decisions some of which might be small and only effect specific working groups for example
Proposals in Loomio are well-structured, with 4 consistent voting options, and a timescale by which a proposal will be acted upon

The main disadvantage I see is that people need to create an account. However, that is very easy to do with sign in via Facebook, Twitter, Google account, etc.