---
# System prepended metadata

title: SEMF Tooling

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# SEMF Tooling

[TOC]

:::info
*It's not just about a set of independent tools, but about an ecology of workflows.*
:::


Organisational requirement change and so workflows, practices and tools also change. So the goal is not to decide on a monolithic set of tools. The goals is to set a technical infrastructure for organization that involves tools, protocols, social relations and an underlying system that integrates them and gives them a consistent function.

The same way that brain are composed of differentiated parts and parralel processes that fit into a unitary function for behaving coherently as a unity, organizations that are adaptive and have momentum are not far from brain-body systems. At least... this is what the early cyberneticists like Stafford Beer envisioned for human organisations and their role in society. In SEMF, being scientifically minded people who can reflect back on our practices, a very valuable thing will be to also be congizant of our organizational environment, its structure and our relationship to it. So this is a first step to create an autopoietic system with its own function and enact practices of self-organization and democratic functioning that work!

![image.png](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/Hk_BQJlmT.png)


## 1. Communications

#### **Discord**

![image.png](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/S1N1t1xXT.png)

Sometimes, you don't choose the tools, **the tools choose you**! This is exactly the situation with Discord; we made a quick decision to make an admin server and so far it has worked (for the most part). So there is no point looking around for a replacement or anything adittional so far.

However, Discord has a lot of functionalities and there are some technical operational decisions we need to make *inside of it*. These are:
- delegating a **mod/community manager**, both for the internal and external servers to:
    a) manage the organization of the channels (archiving, permissions, decluttering. etc.), 
    b) the flow of the conversation, 
    c) onboard newcomers
    d) introduce bots, webhooks and integrations for facilitating certain functions
- schedule standard **discord admin calls** (led by the mod), to decide on discord issue that affect the work of others.
- define the structure of the organizationa and the delegation of **roles** and what permissions they can have onthe server.

One the other side, there are certain things that Discord is not the best choice for and that we might want to add another tool for. For example, discord takes a lot of bandwidth + loading and syncing takes time so it is not the best tool for speed when quick or urgent communications are needed. This is especially important for conference organizing, retreats or for travels to and from Madrid. For that, I would propose an additional more lightweight communication app such as **Telegram** or **Signal** (depending whether we want something approachable or private respectively). Especially, Telegram allows the possibility of having sub-channels, so we can move some of the conversations there to have better organization.


## 2. PM (Project Management)



**Candidates:**

- [x] Trello

    Pros:
    - Easily accessible and intuitive.
    
    Cons:
    - Free plan is quite limited (support only Kanban view).
    
- [x] Taiga

    Pros:
    - Easily accessible and intuitive.
    - Open source
    - Interoperable: you can import whole taskboards directly from trello, jira and Github!
    
    Cons:
    - It is a bit early stage and we don't know if it will become proprietary soon.

- [x] TeamGhantt

    Pros:
    - Interoperable with Trello, through plugin
    
    Cons:
    - Calendaring is behind paywall

- [x] Open Project
- [ ] Wrike


## 3. KM (Knowledge Management)

From Meeting: Information generated from the organization is differnet than a knowledge based project.

**Candidates:**

- [x] Notion

- [x] Obsidian 
    - [ ] Publish
    - [x] Sync
- [x] Hackmd
- [ ] Curvenote


## 4. Visual Tools

**Candidates:**

- [x] Figma

    Pros:
    - The Figjam boards are excellent for making diagrams, doing collaborative brainstoriming sessions and generally supporting a multimedia way of generating information that can be easly shared. I have used it for 2+ years and especially for work
    - It supports both browser and desktop app.

    Cons:
 
- [x] Miro

  Pros: 
  - Same as Figma but with more options.

  Cons:
  - Takes too much time to load

- [x] Excalidraw

  Pros:
  - Very easy to use and very nice aestetic
  - Open Source
  - Can use as a plugin inside Obsidian

  Cons:
  - Hard to Collaborate on same file

- [x] Mermaid Diagrams
    
    Pros:
    - It is an easy way to create dynamic but rigorous diagrams that are easily interoperable and can be implemented to any publication format.

    Cons:
    - It is a javascript-based syntax (much like markdown), which take time to learn and get used to.
    
## 5. Optional | Web3 Tools



## Summary | The Brain of SEMF

### 1. Communications (Parietal) 

:::success
**Organizational Communications:** Discord Admin Server
**Public Community:** Discord Public Server + X + Mailing List
**Notification and Announcements**: Mailing List + Discord
**Conference Organizing**: Telegram group
**Quick Communications:** Telegram group
**(Private Communications):** Signal
:::

### 2. PM (Prefrontal) 

:::info
**Default Global Task Board:** Trello Workspace
**Project Specific:** Trello Boards
**Interorganization Collaborations:** Trello
**Sprints**: Taiga Scrum board
**Large project scheduling:** TeamGhantt

:::

### 3. KM (Temporal/Hippocampus)

:::warning
**Media Storage:** Google Drive
**Meeting Notes:** Google Docs, Drive -> Hackmd
**Library/Archive:**
**Knowledge Graph:** Obsidian Sync
:::

### 4. Visual (Occipital)

:::danger
**Organizational Design**: Figjam
**Brainstorms and Workshops**: Figjam
**Visual Notes**: Figjam, Excalidraw
**Interoperable Diagramming**: Meermaid Plugins
:::