Self Management Scale

--- ###### tags: `UX Research` `Ops Research` --- # Self Management Scale 03-15-22 *Notes on Holocracy org management as it might be applied to WarCamp/DH.* ### **Vocabulary** - There are distinctions in the management space: capitalizing certain words, align behind a common definition, to avoid repeating ourselves. - Examples: *tension* and *solution*. - We might move to a habit of identifying tensions without the need for solutions. ### **Systems** - Two pizza teams (as a scale). Things begin to break down beyond this point, a slow process that is difficult to notice. - We require a system that allows us to manage beyond this scale. - When a team gets to a certain size, some tensions begin to drag and distract. We might honor each tension as significant without always needing to put them on the back burner due to a consensus problem. - Every individual is their own sensory receptor. One may have all their senses pointing in one direction, a tension might seem important to an individual, without requiting all the other sensors being recalibrated. - Correlated to natural systems: biological or sophisticated organisms with more complex sensors. We need increased capacity to differentiate signal > noise. - Some individuals rise to the occasion of addressing questions without jumping to solutions (is this emotional intelligence? Org intelligence?). We must continue to work on this collectively as we scale. ### **Skill Development** - Certain skills might be developed, like *restraint.* - Holocracy provides tools/habits for collectively processing tensions ala Scrum/Agile. - Individuals make proposals - the group can ask clarifying questions (without dismissal) - every individual gives their reaction, moves to an objection round - no objection allows the proposal to pass. - Akin to conflict resolution and Scrum/Agile, but designing for a unique purpose, a social/managerial goal. - Two kinds of Holocracy meetings: - **Tactical**: topical, more focused on creative/strategic iterations - **Governance**: weekly 90mins, for processing as many tensions as possible (usually 3-4 proposals), moving towards adding/editing roles (among other things). This process iterates weekly. - Micro Skills we might practice - Identifying **tensions** (mentioned above) - "Is this objection coming from a role or from an opinion?" - Operating from a **role**, practicing an awareness of ones own role. Particular roles retain local authorities, *giving the organization memory*. Regardless if they are explicit, *people will implicitly take them on anyways.* - If the org doesn't have a role to steward a particular issue, this might be the first step for alleviating a tension. - We might create a role and invite others into it, even if it remains unfilled. This allows for **targeted onboarding/recruiting**, allows the org to have a memory to return to this role/issue later. - **Roles must have clear purpose and accountibilites!** ### **Scale** - What is the relation between circles and super circles? How might we negotiate hard/on-chain governance with the soft, fluid governance of Holocracy? How do we use a Moloch DAO with this stuff? - Representative roles that allows information to pass across "membranes" or "cross links" allows discrete groups to process information at different speeds/scales. - #### In trad Holocracy: - Beginning: no domains, ie everyone can do anything they want. - Domains are formed, attached to specific roles with privleged access to certain areas of the org. - Towards the formation of a Super Circle: group of representatives of the DAO that hold roles with purview over certain domains. - Supplemented by policies that ammend/modify privleges of the role constellations. - But Holocracy is just the building blocks and any kind of org can be formed! #### How would you capture a Holocracy? (or rather, avoid capture!) - Everyone agrees on a Constitution... - A process of unpacking as many tensions as possible while steering towards the desired outcomes. - Outer circle: a board that holds the keys (power silo danger!). Could be the DAO, so that on a lower level it is difficult to capture anything meaningful. - Sub circles: composed of specialized roles with accute focus over their responsibilities. Accountibilities should be clear and account for the sub-circles governance, align group sentiment. Still highly reliant upon P2P trust! #### Moloch(stlye) DAO integration: - DAO shares resources, but there are numerous peripheral resources that the DAO does not need to be active in controlling. - Particular policies that address particular tensions might be local tensions that would not (necessarily) require management by the DAO as a whole. - Shares might be used to signal preference, or 1:1 voting, without needing to codify the result of those policies... related to soft/hard governance components. #### Representative Roles in Holocracy: Three kinds of **Links** - **Lead Link**: member of a sub-circle as a lead link (Rangers Lead), representing their sub-circle in the Super Circle (rep of Rangers). The sub-circle matures through processing the tensions of the Super Circle, disseminated through the Lead Link of that team. - Sub-circles might have sub-circles, each with their own representative Links. - How does Holocracy protect against the "soft power" of influence by individual representatives? - Lead Link has power disseminated from above, based on limitations upon proposals flowing through the network. - Super Circle attendance is limited to role fillers, appropriate representatives of their sub-circles to avoid bringing up sub-circle tensions. ### **POWER** - The reality is that **many of these issues will need to be attended to on the human layer.** Adopting a Holocracy-style system moves towards trying to be **explicit** about their formations/formalisms, to **avoid siloing.** - It is possible to stack the roles to minimize access of some contributors, but ideally the roles are occupied that are skilled to serve that position. - A Holocracy system cannot serve as a surogate for human interaction! - We might consider **DAO-native tweaks to ammend/supplement this system**, for example: - Permission for all members to participate at the highest level, direct influence on the shared resources of the DAO, without intermediaries. - We might lean into this to hold each other accountible for these semi-hierarchical Lead Link roles => can be booted/kicked via DAO proposals. Are there guild kick mechanisms native to Holocracy? - Holocracy Apps: preconfigured role constellations, determining the orgs process for hiring/firing (and other roles).