Decision Making at PanEris

One of the problems of a flat organisation is how to make decisions. Discussions involving more than a couple of people can last forever, suppressing the creative energies of individuals who want to take action. A principal danger of flat organisational structures is that everything gets talked about, and nothing gets done.

In order to empower the individual to make changes, we have adopted an Adhocratic process.

What is Adhocracy?

A mechanism of making decisions by special interest group. It has gained widespread acceptance as a governance mechanism of the internet. Everyone is treated as equal with the power and logic of their arguments being used to decide the outcome. Debates take place in Public Forums and everyone is welcome to contribute.

Specifically for Paneris it means:

1. You can do what you want.
2. Disagreement leads to discussion.
3. Unresolved discussion leads to a call for votes.
4. Any interested party can vote.

How do I change something?

The most important this is to communicate what you are doing. This has two key advantages; the rest of the community is kept informed, and you commit your thoughts to paper, allowing you to spot obvious mistakes. So, communication should follow this pattern.

1. When you have announced what you are going to do, you are free to start work.
2. Others may comment on your proposal / work in progress. You should respond to these comments.
3. When you have finished the work, announce this fact.
4. You are expected to take responsibility for the work you do, so if you have got something wrong, you will need to correct it.
5. You should always be in a position to revert to 'what existed before' should your work be very wrong or too controversial.