Talk: DisCO Mothership Governance Model

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Welcome to the DisCO Mothership Governance Model

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Overview

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The DisCO Dating Phase

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DisCO Dating Stages

STAGE ONE

STAGE ONE MILESTONES

During Stage One, Daters are required to:

• Follow through of the agreed Mentoring Program and Timeline with Mentor/s.
  • This includes the upkeep of their Mentoring Matrix.
  • It also includes the upkeep and honing of their Initial Qualifying Requirements and Commitment Statement, as well as ongoing feedback for mentors and quantitative evaluation of progress.
• Familiarize themselves with the Ongoing Responsibilities required of all DisCONauts, independent of their longevity.
• Undertake care work following the procedures of the DisCO.NP. Daters receive ongoing mentoring and support while beginning to take on care work tasks autonomously. This care work will be time tracked, but not divested. It will however, tally up the Daters' Total/Historical Credits.
• Take part and vote on DisCO.NP discussions and proposals. Stage 1 Dater votes will be carefully taken into account, but are not binding.
• Ask questions of their mentor or through the DisCO NP's public channels.
• Have a basic understanding of the DisCO NP's Collaborative Tools: What they are, why they are used and how they relate.
  • In the DisCO Mothership's Workflow System this includes how to start Loomio threads and create SpaceTime cards with minimal assistance.
• Have a good working understanding of the DisCO.NP's Working Circles and subgroups and how to navigate them. This also means compliance with all established rhythms without needing outside reminders.
  • As part of the Working Circles. Stage One Daters are expected to join one or two of the most relevant Working Circles for their skillset and becoming fully familiar with those work areas and their needs.
• Having a basic understanding of the DisCO.NP's governance model: the logic behind it, how credits work and where to find more info when needed.
• Being fully familiar with the DisCO.NP's daily, weekly and bi weekly Community Rhythms.
• Having a clear understanding how to Time Track their contributions in all value streams.
  • In the DisCO Mothership's Workflow System this means that the Daters know how to BackBeat their time entries with some assistance and occasional corrections.
• Knowing how to perform the DisCO.NP's chosen Lovework projects and tasks and meeting its minimal quotas.
• Being familiar with the development goals of the DisCO.NP and its current health
• Feeling enabled and supported in communicating any confusion, critique or disagreement with their Mentor, Mutual Support Pal or anyone in the DisCO.NP.
• Feeling integrated within the DisCO.NP through meaningful relations.

If Daters feel that they are falling behind or having unexpected difficulties with any of these requirements, they are expected to ask for help ASAP. Their mentor/s and the rest of the DisCONauts will take the time to ensure that Daters are comfortably able to meet all the milestones.

STAGE ONE DATER RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES

• During Stage One, Daters will be proportionally compensated for any Lovework done at the same rate as DisCONauts. In the Guerrilla Media Collective and DisCO.coop governance models this amounts to 25% of all net income (after expenses and company taxes) of any given month.
  • If there is any previous pro-bono work undertaken during a previous Casual Relationship or DisCOlarship, those credits may be used towards Quarterly Love Credit quotas. Note, these “casual stage” credits would only begin to be paid down on a monthly basis during Stage Two. In Stage only credits created during the Stage 1 timeline will be divested.
• Stage 1 Daters can be listed as special "Additional Team Members" page on the DisCO.NP's website with their bio, images and links.
• No livelihood (paid) work is assigned at this stage. Stage One DisCO Daters are not expected to take responsibility for budgeted tasks with clear goals and deadlines. They can help toward this as part of their program, but all contributions will be tracked in Love Credits.
• In the eventuality that livelihood work lining up with the Dater's skillset needs to be assigned at this time, due to emergency or undercapacity, Daters can be hired as freelancers and paid freelance rates.
  • Any work performed in this capacity will not be tallied towards Historical or any kinds of credits.
  • Quality of work and expediency on its execution can also be factored into the Mentoring Matrix scoring system.
  • We however think that it's best to avoid this scenario and assign Livelihood budgets to more established DisCONauts or outside professionals until the Daters are judged ready to perform Livelihood work while fully following the DisCO's NP Governance agreements, as we will see in the next two Stages.

STAGE TWO

By Stage Two Daters should already feel integrated and able to perform many tasks autonomously. The Milestones and Rights and Privileges listed below are mostly identical to those in Stage One, but with a focus on more autonomy and self-reliance.

Stage One is principally about "basic understanding" and "familiarity" with the DisCO.NP's Community Rhythms, collaborative tools and general practices. In Stage Two Daters are expected to have a more competent understanding and good working knowledge of these same practices. The main changes between one stage are the next are marked in bold text.

STAGE TWO MILESTONES

During Stage Two, Daters are required to:

• Follow through of the agreed Mentoring Program and Timeline with Mentor/s.
  • This includes the upkeep of their Mentoring Matrix.
  • It also includes the upkeep and honing of their Initial Qualifying Requirements and Commitment Statement, as well as ongoing feedback for mentors and quantitative evaluation of progress.
• Keep up with the agreed on Ongoing Responsibilities required of all DisCONauts, independent of their longevity with minimal assistance
• Undertake care work following the procedures of the DisCO.NP. Daters receive ongoing mentoring and support while continuing to take on care work tasks autonomously. This care work is still time tracked, but not divested. It will however, tally up the Daters' Total/Historical Credits.
• Take part and vote on DisCO.NP discussions and proposals. As with Stage 1, Stage 2 Dater votes will be carefully taken into account, but are not binding.
• Ask questions of their mentor or through the DisCO NP's public channels.
• Have a full understanding of the DisCO NP's Collaborative Tools: What they are, why they are used and how they relate and having the ability to mentor others in their usage.
  • In the DisCO Mothership's Workflow System this includes how to start and host Loomio threads and create SpaceTime cards with no assistance.
• Being an active member of two or more Working Circles and being fully familiar with those work areas and their needs (even in Circles where the Dater doesn't take part in) while being able to explain them to others.
• Having a thorough understanding of the DisCO.NP's governance model: the logic behind it, how credits work and taking an active part in its development
• Being fully familiar with the DisCO.NP's daily, weekly and bi weekly Community Rhythms and compliance/attendance in concert with these rhythms.
• Having a clear understanding how to Time Track their contributions in all value streams.
  • In the DisCO Mothership's Workflow System this means that the Daters know how to BackBeat their time entries with with no assistance and only occasional corrections.
• Actively taking part in the DisCO.NP's chosen Lovework projects and tasks and meeting its minimal quotas.
• Being fully familiar with the current health of the DisCO.NP, while taking an active part in the development goals of the DisCO.NP. Within Stage 2, Daters should be able to discuss these goals to the DisCO.NP's partners and colleagues.
• Being able to host interviews for those who want to join the collective after passing the initial test.
• Being able to host the DisCO.NP's bi-weekly sprints, with a clear sense of each of the tasks in the interactive timeline and their current status.
• Being familiar with the structure of the Quarterly Evaluations and Retrospectives, while being able to assist in some of the sessions.
• Being able to and confident in representing the collective online through Social Media and other channels.
• Feeling enabled and supported in communicating any confusion, critique or disagreement with their Mentor, Mutual Support Pal or anyone in the DisCO.NP.
• Feeling integrated within the DisCO.NP through meaningful relations.

As before: If Daters feel that they are falling behind or having unexpected difficulties with any of these requirements, they are expected to ask for help ASAP. Their mentor/s and the rest of the DisCONauts will take the time to ensure that Daters are comfortably able to meet all the milestones.

STAGE TWO DATER RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES

• During Stage Two Daters are proportionally compensated for any Lovework done on a monthly basis at the same rate as established DisCONauts.
  • Any previous pro-bono work undertaken during a Casual Relationship or DisCOlarship begins to be paid down on a monthly basis at a 50% rate, those credits may still be used towards Quarterly Love Credit quotas.
• Stage 2 Daters can still be listed as special "Additional Team Members" page on the DisCO.NP's website with their bio, images and links.
• Any Livelihood (paid) work assigned at this Stage is paid monthly at a 50% rate. Note that the other 50% will be redeemable upon succesfully completing Stage 3.
• Carework continues as above with a stronger emphasis on autonomy. This carework will be time tracked toward Total/Historical credits, but will not be divested.
• Daters are expected to contribute and vote on the DisCO NP's discussion and decision making processes.- Dater's votes will be considered but not be binding.

STAGE THREE

Stage Three can be seen as the "polishing stage" of the DisCO Dating Phase. This means that Daters are already well familiar and competent on the DisCO.NP's tools and practices and able to perform most tasks autonomously.

Stage Three is more bespoke than the two preceding stages. Mentor and Dater alike will carefully go through the Mentoring Matrix to identify weak areas and work on improving their scores before the final Dating Stages evaluation.

The Milestones and Rights and Privileges listed below follow the same structure as Stages One and Two, this time focused on full autonomy and identifying red lines (areas and Working Circles where the Dater may feel inadequate or incapable).

Stage Three is designed to improve weaker areas where the Dater and Mentor feel improvement can be achieved.

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		The Feynman Technique We are making a special note here to explain the importance of being fully familiar with the host DisCO.NP's Governance Model and Methods and how this is tied to the Feynman Technique. Named after Nobel prize physicist and all around quirky character Richard Feynman the technique consists of four simple steps: Choose a concept to learn: Select a topic you’re interested in learning about and write it at the top of a blank page in a notebook. Teach it to yourself or someone else: Write everything you know about a topic out as if you were explaining it to yourself. Alternately, actually teach it to someone else. Return to the source material if you get stuck: Go back to whatever you’re learning from – a book, lecture notes, podcast – and fill the gaps in your knowledge. Simplify your explanations and create analogies: Streamline your notes and explanation, further clarifying the topic until it seems obvious. Additionally, think of analogies that feel intuitive. Source By Stage Three Daters are expected to be able to present the governance model publicly, and/or teach it to DisCOlars, new Daters or anyone interested. For those anxious about public speaking it can be as simple as explaining it to other DisCONauts or trusted persons. They key takeaway is that complex systems are always best understood when, first, internally conceptualized and, then, made legible to others. Failure to understand or being able to explain the model breaks the delicate balance between self and mutual coordination that's is at the heart of each DisCO and will likely result in serious Care work Imbalances. In plain English: Not internalizing the model means that someone else has to clean up after you, whether they've chosen to or not. Barring learning disabilities and justifiable time and life constrains, knowing, caring for and co-creating your DisCO's Governance model, together with other DisCONauts is the (codified, evolving) soul of each DisCO. Don't skimp here: No governance and carework = No DisCO. We understand that DisCO Governance can seem complex or overwhelming at first. As long as there is good mentoring and inclusive resources, experience as has shown us that it's not. Like most worthwhile things it takes time, attention and care, both from Daters and Mentors alike.

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STAGE THREE MILESTONES

During Stage Three, Daters are required to:

• Have a full understanding of the DisCO.NP's governance model: the logic behind it, how credits work and taking an active part in its development.
  • This means having internalized it to the point where Daters can identify blindspots to the governance model and suggest improvements as well as being able to teach it to others through the Feynman Technique, as explained above.
  • All of the Milestones below are based on patterns derived from this governance model. It is up to each DisCO, or DIsCO.NP to create its own Governance Model and develop it according to their real life circunstances. What we offer here are Pattern Templates for DisCOs to discuss, adapt and modify for their purposes.

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• Complete the agreed Mentoring Program and Timeline with Mentor/s.
  • This includes the upkeep of their Mentoring Matrix.
  • It also includes the upkeep and honing of their Initial Qualifying Requirements and Commitment Statement, as well as ongoing feedback for mentors and quantitative evaluation of progress.
• Keep up with the agreed on Ongoing Responsibilities required of all DisCONauts, independent of their longevity with no assistance
• Undertake care work following the procedures of the DisCO.NP. As with the previous two stages, Daters receive ongoing mentoring and support while continuing to take on care work tasks autonomously. This care work is still time tracked, but not divested: It is automatically converted to non-divestable Total/Historical Credits.
  • Carework will begin to be divested according to each DisCO.NP's Carework Value-Tracking Protocol after completion of Stage 3
• Take part and vote on DisCO.NP discussions and proposals.
  • Unlike Stages 1 and 2, Daters votes are now binding, but they are not allowed to block voting processes. If they feel a process should be blocked, they will expected to make their case, but will not be able to block.
  • Daters can add blocking to their voting options after completion of Stage 3.
• Ask questions of their mentor or through the DisCO NP's public channels and, also be able to provide answers to other members' questions.
• Progressing from Stage Two: Have a thorough understanding of the DisCO NP's Collaborative Tools: What they are, why they are used, how they relate and, in Stage Three having the ability to mentor others in their usage.
  • In the DisCO Mothership, this means having Full Autonomy in the usage of our tool set and workflow system.
• Stewarding at least one Working Circle and being a member of another.
  • Stewarding implies overseeing the Community Rhythms and Commitments of that particular circle.
  • By this Stage it's required that Daters be fully familiar with each circle's purpose.
    • This means full knowledge of each Circle's function, rhythm and needs, including those Circles where the Dater doesn't take part in.
    • When we speak about "full knowledge" of each Circle's purpose and rhythm of each Circle describes a top level view. For example, one member may define a Circle as a "Red line area". This means that they are not willing or able to do that Circle's work, even in an emergency: they know what the Circle does, but they may be unfamiliar with its specific workflow. The latter is only required if Circle members and Stewards.
• Being fully familiar with and able to mentor others in the DisCO.NP's daily, weekly and bi weekly Community Rhythms and full compliance/attendance with these rhythms.
• Having a full understanding how to Time Track their contributions in all value streams. This includes performing regular Time Tracking Audits and mentoring others on Time Tracking.
  • In the DisCO Mothership's Workflow System this means that the Daters know how to BackBeat their time entries with with no assistance and only occasional corrections.
• Having a full understanding of any Tokenization present within any of the DisCO.NP's 3 Value Streams.
• Actively taking part in the DisCO.NP's chosen Lovework projects and tasks, meeting its minimal quotas and mentoring others in the Lovework procedures.
• Being fully familiar with the current health of the DisCO.NP and taking active part in its development goals. Within Stage 3, Daters should be able to discuss these goals to the DisCO.NP's partners and colleagues.
• Being able to host interviews for those who want to join the DisCO.NP after passing the initial test.
• Being able to host the DisCO.NP's bi-weekly sprints or any Community Rhythm involving hosting and moderation with a clear sense of each of any tasks in the DisCO N.P's chosen Workflow system
• Being fully familiar with the structure of the Quarterly Evaluations and Retrospectives, and being able to host or co-host one or more of the sessions.
• Feeling confident in representing the DisCO.NP online and in public, whether through interviews, public appearances, at events, etc
• Being able to answer incoming correspondence or requests toward the DisCO.NP, whether for collaborations, funded work or possible membership.
• Feeling enabled and supported in communicating any confusion, critique or disagreement with their Mentor, Mutual Support Pal or anyone in the DisCO.NP.
• Feeling integrated within the DisCO.NP through meaningful relations.

As always: If Daters feel that they are falling behind or having unexpected difficulties with any of these requirements, they are expected to ask for help ASAP. As mentioned above, Stage Three is the "polishing stage". Mentor/s and other DisCONauts will take the time to ensure that Daters can meet all the milestones.

STAGE THREE DATER RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES

• During Stage Three Daters are proportionally compensated for any Lovework done on a monthly basis at the same rate as established DisCONauts.
  • Any previous pro-bono work undertaken during a Casual Relationship or DisCOlarship can continue to be paid down on a monthly basis at a 75% rate, those credits may still be used towards Quarterly Love Credit quotas.
• Stage 3 Daters can still be listed as special "Additional Team Members" page on the DisCO.NP's website with their bio, images and links.
  • Once Stage 3 is surpassed, they can be added to the DisCO.NP's team page and receive an email address with the DisCO.NP's website domain
• Any Livelihood (paid) work assigned at this Stage is paid monthly at a 75% rate with the remaining 25% redeemable upon surpassing Stage 3
• Carework continues as above with the expectation of full autonomy in regular tasks and established rhythms. As before, carework will be time tracked toward Total/Historical credits, but will not be divested.
  • Carework begins to be divested after Stage 3, but Dating Stage Carework is locked as non-divestable historical credits.
• Daters are expected to contribute and vote on the DisCO NP's discussion and decision making processes. Dater's votes are now binding, with the exception of blocked votes.

The Mentoring Matrix

The Mentoring Matrix is our suggested method for Mentors and Daters to evaluate the latter's progress through each of the Milestones. Conceived as an integrated module of the DisCO DECK (DisCO's proposed Value-tracking and work organization program) it can also be implemented on paper, spreadsheets etc.

Mentoring Matrix Structure

Here is a visual representations of what a Mentoring Matrix can look like, based on the Matrix currently used for the DisCO Mothership. As you will see, each section corresponds to previously described DisCO Dating criteria.

From left to right, the Matrix Displays sections for evaluating different sections of the Dating Phase and the DisCO.NP's Governance Model:

Starting Requirements

3 Stage Timeline

Ongoing Responsibilities

Commitment Statement

There are also two additional, more personal spaces:

Questions or concerns

Dater feedback for their mentor

These last two are more general in intent. The main sections of the Mentoring Matrix also include spaces for comments and feedback on specific aspects. Each section is, basically, a separate tab on a spreadsheet with template cells describing and scoring the main aspects of the Dating Phase process.

The Mentoring Matrix in Action

To illustrate the different sections of the Mentoring Matrix, we will use anonymized screenshots of the DisCO Mothership's Template Matrix, one category at a time. Each section contains direct links to the Governance Model sections the Mentoring Matrix refers to.

Scoring is done from 1-10 in conversation between Dater and Mentor. TBoth need to agree on the current score for all of the items listed, identify strengths and weak points and, together, develop and overall vision of where the Dater is at with the hosting DisCO or DisCO.NP.

In the DisCO Mothership we use a color convention where:

• Green is optimal, or "done" (7.5 and above)
• Blue is In-progress or "good" (5.5 to 7.5)
• Yellow is "Started but missing major elements" (3 to 5.5)
• Red is not started, pending. (Below 3)

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1: STARTING REQUIREMENTS

The first view assesses comprehension and progress in the Starting Requirements needed before dating at the DisCO Mothership. These are listed in the leftmost column, with Daters' averaged scores for each of the current or completed stages:

Starting Requirements view of the DisCO Mothership's Mentoring Matrix. Click to enlarge

Although these are prerequisite to dating, we don't expect anyone entering the Dating Phase to excel in all aspects. We do however require a firm commitment towards learning and meeting these requirements. The Staged approach allows us to discern progress. By Stage 3 all the Starting Requirements should be marked green (Score of 7.5 or above)

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2: STAGE 1-3 MILESTONES

The second view scores the Dater's progress through the 3 DisCO Dating Stages. The leftmost column describes each of the milestones and includes hyperlinks to this governance model and other materials. The second column shows the average for each of the milestones. The third column color codes their status while the fourth is used for feedback and comments.

The 3 Stage Timeline Milestones in the DisCO Mothership's Mentoring Matrix. Click to enlarge

The color coding allow Dater and Mentor alike to identify which areas need the most work. In this case the dater needed extra help understanding our Community Rhythms and some of the Mothership's tools — in this case Loomio and Trello, as well as email management (all marked as yellow). They showed good starting progress in all other areas.

As stated before the ultimate goal of the Mentoring Matrix is to have as many Milestones marked green as possible. By Stage Two we can see that they dater has improved in most of the areas: most milestones are either Blue (in progress) or Green (Optimal/Done). New milestones are introduced at each stage, so it's not surprising that Dater may feel less comfortable or familiar with some of these, which are marked yellow (started but missing major elements)

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3: ONGOING RESPONSIBILITIES

DisCO's Ongoing Responsibilities are not limited to Daters, but applied to all active (or "Core Crew") DisCOnauts.

(INSERT SCREENSHOT)

The Mentoring Matrix doesn't expire once the Dating Phase is completed. It is instead used ongoing by the DisCONauts to monitor the upkeep of their Ongoing Responsibilities and Commitment Statement. Of these two "Ongoing Responsibilities" are more granular and may reflect current projects and goals, while the Commitment Statement is more generally applied to the overall values of the DisCO.NP.

PLACEHOLDER/PENDING.

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4: THE COMMITMENT STATEMENT

The Commitment Statement is both a mark of solidarity as a well as an invaluable self-assessment tool for all DisCOs and their DisCOnauts. Daters, DIsCOlars and DisCONauts alike need to sign, reflect, and follow through on their commitments. It is an explicit agreement to the foundational goals and values of any DisCO or DisCO.NP:

The Commitment Statement in the DisCO Mothership's Mentoring Matrix. Click to enlarge

As mentioned, the Commitment Statement is not limited to Daters: all DisCONauts reflect on it during group Quarterly Evaluations and SpaceCamps and need to sign it anew in order to be considered Core Crew (main, everyday "staff") or DisCO Regulars (peripheral "staff" with agreed-on constancy).

In the case of DisCONauts, the Stages Columns is extended into quarters (Q1, Q2, etc). This provides a historical overview of DisCOnaut follow through on commitments while also serving to identify problematic areas.

The scores do not reflect intention of fulfillment or sympathy with the commitment, but actual follow through since the last check in. During the dating phase these check-ins follow the agreed-on Dating/Mentoring Timeline, usually every time the Dater has a call with their mentor.

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Mentoring Matrix Final Overview

The score from all the previously explained sections of the Matrix are then tallied up into a General DisCONaut Score. This score is not to be taken literally: Quantitative analysis can only go so far, much like the Value Flows we will analyze in the [| Value Tracking] section, clear data is necessary for clear conversation. Negative scores should not be seen as an automatic justification for graduated sanctions but as "live feedback" on the health, and the health of its members.

That being said, by the end of the Dating Phase, it is expected that most, if not all, of the areas examined in the Mentoring Matrix are coded as green. The exceptions can serve to clearly identify Red Lines (areas and Working Circles where the Dater may feel inadequate or incapable). Not all people can or should excel at all things. Knowing this and skillfully complementing each others' skills, strong areas and weaknesses leads to resilient thriving and diverse teams.

The key is finding the balance between understanding the logic behind the requirements and values reflected in the Matrix while being able to perform those tasks more closely aligned with the Dater's skillset. This also means ensuring that more difficult asks are in the care of other DisCONauts: No DisCO commitment left behind!

Finally, as we've mentioned, once Dating has been successfully completed the Mentoring Matrix continues to be used by all DisCONauts as a way to self-evaluate their progress and commitment to the DisCO.NP.

Working in a DisCO.NP

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Value Tracking

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Decision Making

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Pattern Process and Conclusion

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Links and Resources

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