Post #543701
2026-02-05 12:12 UTC
Replies (19)
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@hopeless@mas.to 2026-02-05 13:00
@cas I think the challenge is only people motivated to do particular work, are in the running to do that work. Certainly how you're structured can get in the way of stuff getting done. But a project structure itself won't bring into being motivated people to write and debug code, ensure that current code works well on old, ignored platforms etc. In a company, where you pay, you can command it (+/- people leaving) but in FOSS contribution usually only lasts so long as it feels fulfilling.
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@diffrentcolours@tech.lgbt 2026-02-05 13:51
@cas Might be worth talking to @quinnmx at https://fishpercolator.co.uk/
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@McNeely@indieweb.social 2026-02-05 13:56
@cas this might be in @shauna wheelhouse with relational tech
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@mhoye@cosocial.ca 2026-02-05 13:57
@cas hey @brainwane ^^^
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@cthoyt@scholar.social 2026-02-05 14:00
@cas I'm curious how many external contributors you already have / how consistent they are?
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@vladh@merveilles.town 2026-02-05 14:06
@cas @mirandah is a psychology/philosophy PhD researcher who just did an excellent talk at FOSDEM 2026 about the psychology of Open Source teams. I think she would be a valuable voice to have on board. By the way, if you end up doing any open calls, or community consultation, I'd love to join. Good luck! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxqISedSnI
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@papiris@hachyderm.io 2026-02-05 14:27
@cas these folks are well-versed in the co-op space, maybe they've got some advice: @kawaiipunk @workers_coop @Wtebbens
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@lebout2canap@mastodon.tedomum.net 2026-02-05 14:57
@SociocracyForAll Perhaps you would like to get in touch? 👆 @cas
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@arod@social.coop 2026-02-05 16:31
@cas very cool! I have also been working on starting an online-first worker cooperative project grounded in consent based decision making, @mirlo . Feel free to dm if you'd like to chat about your situation. I think you're onto something and would love to help if I can
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@dtbeltramo@mastodon.green 2026-02-05 16:46
@cas I'm no expert, I've just been doing some research on various coop structures for tech orgs. But based on your description, I wondered if you might be interested in something like Sociocracy (and I see someone from their org has already responded too). https://www.sociocracyforall.org/sociocracy/
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@ocdtrekkie@mastodon.social 2026-02-05 17:03
@cas One thing that really excites me for hijacking prevention is @OpenSourceCollective. The OSC can steward ownership of your project's domain name or trademarks, and no single individual can run off with it. OSC also will only permit transfer to other nonprofits. So it can be a real commitment to the commons and solid proof you can't go commercial.
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@coopcloud@social.coop 2026-02-05 17:13
@cas you might get something out of this also https://tv.lumbung.space/w/7CzzFRNNfCGDZYvCGTLVYJ -- d1
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@JohanEmpa@mastodon.green 2026-02-05 19:07
@cas Sociocracy 3.0 or Holacracy could potentially be options. The latter seemingly could solve the hijacking and drifting issues. I don't have the experience you ask for, it's just that I too contemplated how to delegate responsibility in a volunteer FOSS project.
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@ChrSt@lethallava.land 2026-02-07 11:38
@cas@social.treehouse.systems A friend of mine, who is not on fedi, is versed in working in/with software teams and does coaching/consulting in this regard as well. He's also quite knowledgeable in the theory of things – might be a nice fit. He is located in Germany and I can connect you, if you are interested.
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@msavoritias@tilde.zone 2026-02-09 09:18
@cas I am writing Guidelines to give projects a guide on how to make a governance that works for their needs! The Structure is not finished yet (its a pr), but I can offer the Decision Making process that I am confident in. That said I have setup the structure too in a couple of places already so it has undergone practical testing. https://codeberg.org/Vojkruco/Cooperative_Development_Guidelines > Templates, guides and values to structure our spaces by-and-for us, the community, with a dynamic structure (without hierarchies or voting) and participatory processes (plurality, diversity, platforming, etc.) I have helped setup a couple of communities some tech some not (some of them listed in the repo). I don't have a site myself yet, but I am free to have a call whenever you want.
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@aral@mastodon.ar.al 2026-02-21 11:44
@cas One piece of advice: in addition to the democratic processes, adopt a not-for-profit structure and a constitution that requires consensus to change and clearly states that the organisation will not accept venture capital and cannot be bought, won’t own a commercial arm, etc. In other words, a constitutional poison pill to ensure you don’t ever turn into a Mozilla and that postmarketOS never becomes a KaiOS.
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@mistergibson@turtleisland.social 2026-02-21 13:03
@cas I'd like to recommend a book called "Who Decides who decides?" by Ted Lau Sociocracy might help you organize
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@seigea@mastodon.ashevillains.org 2026-02-21 17:06
@cas www.sociocracyforall.org @SociocracyForAll would certainly have great perspective, advice, and has extensive consulting services and experience.
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@cas@social.treehouse.systems 2026-02-05 13:18
@hopeless@mas.to yep that we are volunteer run is definitely an important factor to consider. Our model should take into account trust that people are willing and capable to follow through and do the work without being paid. That being said, this is hardly new territory, many projects including postmarketOS only got to where they are through the dedication and work done by volunteers, so it's not something I'm inherently concerned about. Of course introducing complicated processes and overhead in order to be able to get involved and do the work is something that can push people away, and definitely something we want to be conscious of. We already have motivated people and project-wide goals that we all work towards. Changing the structure doesn't mean broadening the scope or expecting to be able to get more done or move faster, rather it's a reaction to the growth of the project up to this point and dealing with the bottlenecks and power dynamics we have today that make it harder to scale up and increasingly drift from our mission statement. Specifically: the core contributors today have ultimate power over the project, they are unelected, have no term limit, and can only be removed by unanimous vote from rest of the core contributors. This model makes sense for a small project with a dedicated team but the decision making process can't really be scaled beyond ~7 or so people without significant delay. We also may not properly represent our community, and as we hope to expand postmarketOS and build a true competitor to Android and iOS we need to ensure that our community are empowered to keep the project aligned with its core goals. Sorry for the ramble, I have a lot of thoughts on this topic so it's useful to get an outside perspective and have to justify them. In case you're unfamiliar, our current governance structure is documented here https://docs.postmarketos.org/policies-and-processes/governance/groups-and-teams.html