owned this note
owned this note
Published
Linked with GitHub
# Glashaus
a new paradigm in work; building open companies
### We build things
We know (more or less) what we have to build and we build them. That is the nature of our work. In the grand scheme of things, we are building something that has never before existed and at times it requires for experimentation.
### Parity's Purpose
Our purpose is to be stewards to fully bring about the vision of Web3 to an apex moment in which we can then fully dissolve onto the chain; and continue.
### But how do we do this with our limited resources?
We talk about engaging the community to contribute - that we are not the center - but we struggle. The ecosystem often looks to us to build for them.
### Is there a way to truly shift into this non-centric paradigm?
We have [already started discussions](https://forum.parity.io/t/moving-towards-a-more-open-source-protocol-development-method-for-polkadot/853) in opening up our processes more - this is vital. We still have a lot of internal knowledge (think roadmaps, internal discussions, and decision-making) and that is fine for the time being but if we want to bring about this new world where we are not the main contributers, we have to open up. How can we ask external teams to build if they do not know what we are building in the near future? By keeping certain aspects of our development closed off we are shoe-horning ourselves into having the ecosystem dependent on us. This works really well in the old paradigm of work (think capitalism) but it does not fit our model.
Every product that we create, is essentially for the community. What is the difference between us and the community? We build products that will ultimately be absorbed by the chain.
#### We are already 75% there.
![](https://i.imgur.com/ypKODn9.png)
> (Image credit: Matthew Placek) Yayoi Kusama's Glass House - [Source](https://www.wallpaper.com/design/yayoi-kusama-famous-polka-dots-dress-philip-johnsons-glass-house)
What is remaining is to open Parity up like a glass house. I like to think of it as an all glass laboratory with many rooms. The idea would be that some aspects of Parity, external developers can only observe, other aspects external developers can interact with and contribute. Of course this would have to be thoughtfully planned out and orchestrated (we can't just open up all our Element channels).
We start with developers, and with time we open up other parts of Parity e.g. Marketing.
### Building the community
Instead of thinking of ourselves as leaders, let's think of how to create leaders.
I like the quote:
> If you give a person a fish, you feed them for a day. If you teach a person to fish, you feed them for a lifetime.
By opening up our development processes, we will attract talent. We create leaders through mentorship, through recognition, through proper training.
The ecosystem will get everything they want. They will see all our discussions, all our decision-making. They will realize that we do no magic. We are a limited resource. That things get done through hard work and that there is no other way but for them to help if they want to see something done - that is the moment where we will see the shift.
P.S. It would also fix the "ghost-employee" issue or the lazy-employee-with-phat-paycheck issue.
![](https://i.imgur.com/I72FV5T.png)
Just like with an electron, we can only know it's approximate location. In a similar way, in this new paradigm, we open up an invitation to test a new model of work. We may be somewhere, building something, planting a seed, but the moment you get there, there is no guarantee that we are there. We are there and yet we are not there. And in doing so, we fulfill all our responsibilities.