Decision making tools

#1

So, we’ve talked many a time about better decision making, but somehow never come to an agreement on what that means…

To me it means bringing in processes that result in the best decisions being made for the Space and its members, in an efficient and consensual manner. That may seem obvious.

Mostly we’ve made good decisions, and so far not made (m)any disastrous ones. But often the process has been painful, and led to members shying away from consulting out of fear of the conversation spiralling out of orbit.

We know there’s great decision making systems out there. It would be really useful to gather them together so we can see what might fit us.

So I thought I’d get the ball rolling with one used by a very effective organisation: the global Transition Town network.

https://www.loomio.org

Have a look, and post other suggestions/links below.

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#2

shame I cant like this post more than once… fantastic idea, the endless threads constantly circling without a resolution are probably the most frustrating thing about Discourse, and meetings.

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#3

Sounds like a good solution! Plus it’s a kiwi company so it must be pretty bloody good :joy:!

#4

Note to all: Decision-making will be discussed as part of the Governance update at the next members meeting.

#5

Loomio looks like a great tool, very similar to what we’ve previously suggested that people should propose changes, debate them, and have an outcome, but this system might help formalise that outcome bit.

Makerspace didn’t used to have a problem of endless conversation, it’s only in the last 18 months that it has become this way, it would be worth thinking about why this has happened, it may need more than just a system to fix the problems.

Any system implemented will only work if members collectively agree to use it as the almost absolute way. The consequence of the of the old system not working was that informal decisions are made on an ad-hoc basis in the space.

This system should either be embraced and formalised, or ended as not conducive to a community run space, either way it needs to be agreed upon by members because currently there is a fair unclear system.

Hypothesis

From my perspective this happened as the directors handed control over to the members without a system for deciding with decision making. We’ve all been telling each other we’ve got a say in how the space is run, but not realised that we can either have a system of democracy where the majority rules and the minority is ignored, or we can have a system where we make compromises on the details to find the best fit solution for all. But either way a say is only a fraction of the outcome.

In other words many of us have a feel we have a large steak in the outcome that we want, but we’re not good at discussing the problem and compromising on the details, often leading to conversations where the majority of the detail between proposals is the same but minor details are different.

Outcome

I would personally rather see Makerspace use a compromise system and only fall back to a democratic system when compromises can’t be made. What I personally wouldn’t like to see is polarising decisions made by poll about major issues, where some people end up feeling like they’ve lost.

The tool appears to have the freedom for a proposal to be made, people discuss the details, make compromises, and then vote on confirming the outcome which seems good, I am not sure where the governance working group has gotten with their conversations though.

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#6

It promises the world. But it would be good to see how it works in real life.

Having worked on a few software roll outs I would say it’s standard practice to trial it before investing too much time on it.

So pick a subject. Nothing to complicated. The easier the better. See if it works for us. Get feedback. And go from there.

If we like it up the ante

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#7

The founders of Loomio are holding a workshop in London in September.

“Patterns for Decentralised Organising”

I’m thinking of going; £40 ticket.

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#8

Looks interesting, Loomio popped up before, but not sure we investigated it properly?

EDIT: yes, I now see this was a thread about Loomio!

#9

What (hopefully) is interesting is the “Patterns” bit, not Loomio being on their CV.

My sense about Loomio is that to use it, we’d need to drop using Discourse. And that’s not a straight swap. Loomio + Membership system 3.0 might be perfect, but that’s a lot of work.

#10

Anyway, point being: if there’s any interest about going from other members, that might tip me from thinking of going to actually getting a ticket.

#11

I’m interested in going.

There’s much to discuss about consensual decision making and non-hierarchical structure.

#12

Anyone else?

People already in this thread should be notified; @directors, the (former) governance working group @jonathanjo @naxxfish @TomHedges…?

#13

I would like to go, but I’ve got plans for that day unfortunately. If anyone does go, it’d be nice to get a quick précis!

#14

Ah, rats. I somehow had it in my head that was mid-week, but it’s plainly there that it’s on a Saturday, and I’m away that weekend.

I really hope somebody does go, I’d happily buy them a pint to talk it through after.