Hey thanks I will certainly add that to my research.

I don’t know about their origins but I suspect the reason the supermarkets are still successful is because the conventional co-op model works pretty well for that type of business. It’s not a problem-solving firm so there’s not a lot of cross-communication between departments and they tend to be small enough that a flat management structure works just fine. Everybody knows the objective is to get products onto the shelves and out the door.

My model is meant to be more general purpose, enabling the firm to solve complex problems that most co-ops don’t take on.

Thanks for all the great solutions, I’ll be looking into your advice. Like you said it is definitely a massive project for a beginner, I’m going to take it a step at a time, and maybe do a smaller experimental app first to get my bearings. The good thing is I’m not in too much of a rush so I have time to learn.

My current thinking is that the vote is electronic but you get a paper receipt with a bar code or something. Not sure how it will turn out, like many of these apps it’s a whole project in itself

I was thinking lemmy because of the voting structure. Since it’s internal discussion it could be used by the management to gauge sentiment in the company. It wouldn’t be for federation.

You’re probably right about it being too complex though, just not sure if there’s a lightweight option that’s a closer match than discord discourse (does discourse having voting?). Something to consider.

Sorry I know that’s a bit unclear. The “staff roles” and “managers” are roles that the CEO is able to assign to staff through the software. In other words, it’s the mechanism the CEO uses to construct their hierarchy. Same with performance metrics, those are written expectations that would be entered into the system for each person’s role.

Just to provide an update, someone in programming.dev suggested docker containers so I am researching that now. Thanks

Just to provide an update, someone in programming.dev suggested docker containers so I am researching that now. Thanks

Hmmm, doing some research on containers now, and it does seem like the right way to do this. I’m still learning about server architecture but I didn’t mean to imply it had to be a monolith, the key is it having the capabilities I need.

I’m going to look into Docker and see what I can deploy on it. Seems like a good first step.

Thanks

Yes definitely a beginner with anything networking or web design.

Modular is good though, ideally I would like to bring them all together as one package to share as open-source. I don’t know how that would work with permissions for the applications, but I imagine it would be OK with most (foss) licenses.

There are also some things that might need customization. For example, the value of someone’s vote is determined by the equity recorded in the accounting books, so those two applications will need to share information.

In any case you have given me some direction and I appreciate it, thanks.

I paid $160 for my electricity last month. This month the bill came and the watt-hours used was the same but the bill was for $200.

Hello Jacob,

Great post, I think it’s important for us to have discussions about actual solutions that we can begin implementing now for the future we want to see, which is why I’m working on a management structure for a new type of worker’s co-op. I think it fits right into the solar punk ideal, or at least I hope it does. More importantly it answers your question.

In your wiki article you mention that hierarchies in the workplace are often abusive, and I wholeheartedly agree. The problem, as I see it, isn’t the hierarchy itself, it’s that the hierarchy was never elected to their positions, so they have no reason to act in the best interest of the workers. Normally a CEO or other officer gets their position through generational wealth or nepotism, or some other corrupt reason. I would like to correct that.

Most co-ops remove the hierarchy entirely, and while that does remove the abuse, it comes at the cost of lowered overall productivity and strategic direction. So instead of removing it, in my co-op the hierarchy component of management is still there, led by a CEO, but that person has to present a business plan to all the worker/owners and be elected in a popular election. I call this Hierarchy by Consent. They are then empowered by the group to enact their business plan.

I posted earlier today on this sub if you want a more detailed explanation, but if you like you can instead head straight for the draft Articles of Association. I also plan to create open-source management software to go with it, so that will be a big project.

Happy to talk more here but you’re also welcome to PM if you want to see more of my project.

Cheers!

Yes, specifically with a hierarchical management structure for productive work. The idea is to put together a standard template for people to use to found these companies.

Are you aware of a comparable template?

EDIT: Just wanted to expand a bit on this. In my research I did come across this document, which is a template for a set of bylaws for a co-op. It has a Board and it does have a President, but the President’s responsibilities are as follows: “preside at board and membership meetings and will exercise and perform such other powers and duties as may be assigned from time to time by the board of directors.”

So it lacks a CEO or any kind of executive officer, and unlike my AoA, it doesn’t mention business plans at all. I have other issues with it, but I did consider it when writing my template.

Hello everyone, I’m brand new here and this seems like the perfect place to introduce myself.

I applied to join your community so that I can learn about secure network programming and perhaps find collaborators for an ongoing project.

The project is a template for an Articles of Association for a new type of worker’s cooperative. Rather than completely removing hierarchy as traditional cooperatives do, in my model the executive leadership is elected based on their business plan.

I believe that the executive at the top of an operational hierarchy should be legitimized through a popular election enfranchising all stakeholders, a concept I call Hierarchy by Consent. I believe this will lead to more productive and equitable companies. You can read a more detailed description on this Beehaw thread I created.

In order for the Articles of Association to be useful to anyone, there needs to be open-source all-in-one management software because these organizations could become quite complex right from the get-go. For example, it will need secure voting systems. I haven’t officially started on the software yet but my first step will be to create a requirements list.

My background is in mechanical engineering and systems, and I’d consider myself to be an intermediate programmer. I’m comfortable with local programming including database and GUI design but I lack experience with networking.

If anyone has any suggestions on what directions I take in my research, I’m all ears!

Thanks, Juniperus