BUS RIDAZZ MANAGEMENT -- DECISIONS!
Thread started by
katiepoche at 08.1.08 - 1:55 pm
Hello!
At the last Bus Ridazz meeting, we (Ms. Stephanie, Alex Thompson, mixtemotions, spiraldemon, and myself) sat over vegan foods and discussed next steps to get this bus rolling. One of 'em was how we should organize the management of Yaysayers, LLC. Who will manage the company? How will we assign managers? How much power will managers have? Do we even want managers? We can organize it any way we want. But we have to spell out that we HAVE organized it, even if the answer is "No organization! Fuck you, fascists!" That is an answer.
What I mean by "management" is, people with the power to make big, important decisions on behalf of the LLC. Things like sign contracts. Control the bank account. And generally act as representatives of the LLC. You know. The fun stuff. Here are some initial ideas we came up with. Settle in. Here we go.
Management Ideazz:
1.) Yaysayers, LLC has a member-elected Board of Directors. The Board votes and makes decisions on behalf of the collected membership. Benefit: Streamlined decision-making process. Downside: Not a direct reflection of What The People Want.
2.) Yaysayers, LLC is completely member-governed, with no hierarchy, board of directors, or executor. Every decision is made by vote from all members. Benefit: Every decision reflects exactly What The People Want. Downside: Cumbersome process to get each and every decision made.
3.) An executor (a person who carries out actions, or executes, on behalf of Yaysayers, LLC) is elected and acts on the decisions made by a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors reaches consensus, and the Executor acts upon it. Benefit: Having one person sign all the contracts with the added input of the board. Downside: Not a direct reflection of What The People Want.
4.) Dictatorship. One person has all the power, makes all the decisions, takes other people's wants into account only never. Also known as a Dicktatorship. Also known as flufferdom. Benefit: Includes the word "dick'" in it, so we can say "dick" even more than we already do. Downside: Fascism.
The management needs structure. Or, it needs no structure. Or, it needs a little bit of structure with a lot of flexibility. Or, it needs something we haven't thought of yet. What do you think? Which idea is most in keeping with the Ridazz, with biking, with how we envision this thing looking, feeling, and working? And then, how can we make the idea better? I wanna know what you have to say. I wanna see you pick your favorite idea apart and put it back together again. So give it your best shot, motherfuckers, I KNOW you have an opinion. Probably four. Give 'em here.
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You can call me Dick anytime you want to.
NixonTwin08.1.08 - 2:29 pm
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interesting.. i love the bus designs!
i like the idea of having a member-elect board of dirctors.
"Downside: Not a direct reflection of What The People Want."
well, couldn't there be organized meetings like "city council" where all of us not on the board of dirctors could come and give opinion and sway decisions one way or another? then, wouldn't you be getting to hear the voice of "What The People Want"?
btw, i love that you put this up on the forum.. ^^^ bump ^^^
bondink08.1.08 - 2:44 pm
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@bondink Absolutely we can do that. Great idea. We could have something like a wiki where ideas are posted to one centralized place, they're improved upon and tweaked by the group, and then they can be addressed at the City Council-style meetings. Give people time to think and talk about them before the meeting itself.
katiepoche08.1.08 - 3:06 pm
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You still need executives with the power to sign contracts on behalf of the LLC. Same goes for signing checks and such. You're gonna have a hard time getting money back out of the bank, otherwise. I suppose you could give everyone signing authority, but that's simply asking for trouble. You lose all ability to audit who has done what in that case.
ideasculptor08.1.08 - 3:15 pm
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ideasculpter:
absolutely. the "signers" would be one of the board of driectors, of course decided by whomever they are.. i am saying that we that are not a part of the board could at least have a say to sway and opinionate (i.e. when something happens in your town that you are against or something you want to change.. you read up on it, prepare your ideas and go to the "city coucil" meeting bringing your POV to the table)
and i am sure that this MR group would be open minded to other MRs.. and the meetings probably wouldn't be as boring either seeing as we MR peeps bring the F.U.N.
bondink08.1.08 - 3:32 pm
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ideasculptor, I read your post as addressing idea #2. Is that right? That if we do away with all hierarchy, we'll benefit greatly by at least having an executor. One person to sign the checks, one person for the bank to call.
If you were addressing bondink's suggestion -- well, I'll let you two duke it out.
katiepoche08.1.08 - 4:00 pm
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Some stray thoughts based on working in various group organizations that might not coalesce into a coherent suggestion:
Having a single, static executor might be efficient, but could also backfire over time if there is not a designated way to replace that person. I would be less worried about someone not acting in the best interests of the group than with having someone move out of town or simply start having other priorities.
Consensus often sounds good but works poorly. Individuals end up having too much power to stop things from moving forward -- or, more often, allow things to move forward that they don't really like, just to be agreeable. People should be able to stand by their convictions. I would go for 2/3 or 3/4 majority vote over 100% consensus.
Maybe an elected board of directors, with a rotating, elected chairman who has legal authority, but not sole decision-making authority (s/he can sign things, but must act as the group votes)....??? Or perhaps the voting pool consists of whomever is willing to show up to meetings? Level of commitment = level of power...???
I dunno.
theroyalacademy08.1.08 - 4:22 pm
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Wow, Sean, that was a lot of words and very little coherency. Good job!
If I can boil it down a little bit: whatever the actual organizational model is, I
strongly recommend against consensus as a decision-making process.
theroyalacademy08.1.08 - 4:36 pm
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I vote for #4 with Borfo being Bevenolent Dictator.
toweliesbong08.1.08 - 7:02 pm
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Sean & Sam! Will you be able to make the meeting Mon @ 8?
mixtemotions08.1.08 - 9:31 pm
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YES please. Come! You two clearly have experience and opinions.
Which is what we need.
Monday at 8 pm, at Ridge Way.
COME.
katiepoche08.2.08 - 3:01 am
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guys. this is amazing. you are amazing. I am leaving for six weeks but am looking forward to being a bit more involved when I get back. also please tell me someone is documenting this whole process.
redridinghood08.2.08 - 10:55 am
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I fell asleep, while revising the types of management to reflect y'all's suggestions, with my fingers on the keys. I do that sometimes. Sometimes, what I've written while sleeping is obviously just my fingers slipping over the keys, all consonants and no spaces. Sometimes, it's the letter "f" hundreds of times. Sometimes, and I don't know how this happens, it's words, alright, but they don't make any sense next to each other. It makes for an interesting kind of freaky post-modern poetry.
God, I hate post-modern poetry.
We're meeting about this TOMORROW NIGHT (Monday). Last call for comments before the meeting! I know someone in there wants a dicktatorship, they're just too shy to say it. But what kind? There's more than one way to tie together a bundle of sticks.
I love you!
katiepoche08.4.08 - 4:18 am
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lol, katie!
ever fall asleep while riding your bike?
or did you write that for the lulz?
spiraldemon08.4.08 - 9:22 am
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Nope, didn't write it for the lulz. I used to drop off while instant messengering my friend Dave in the middle of the night. He has some of the transcripts. One of them went a little something like this:
Makennert aroberos and the loves of barnert ...
Which is totally almost words. And yet, they have no meaning.
I've never fallen asleep on my bike, though I've heard of it. Jesse says he has.
katiepoche08.4.08 - 4:59 pm
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DINGO DOES THIS ALL THE TIME, YOU SHOULD SEE HIM GO, ASLEEP....
eddieboyinla08.4.08 - 5:34 pm
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Oooeee, thanks, spiraldemon!
Things that will be at the meeting:
8 beers/person. (Please bring 8 beers.)
Bells.
DBU.
Flulffa.
RED NINJA (1).
mixtemotions.
Mixed emotions.
katiepoche.
katiepoche's apartment.
Some other people. (Come!)
Lotta bikes.
Bike talk.
Bus talk.
2 months' worth of recycling.
Who has a cat? Bring.
This is very exciting.
katiepoche08.18.08 - 12:39 pm
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Ridazz Roulette!