We propose to change the CoTech Constitution to form a general decision-making” circle that meets virtually on a synchronous basis once per month.
During the last two days, a group of people from CoTech member coops have been looking at practical steps to improve CoTech's governance and structure. The full proposal is here: https://wiki.coops.tech/wiki/Sheffield_2019/_Cotech_governance.
This was presented to attendees of the gathering and received a widely positive response.
It is not a silver bullet, but hopefully a step in the right direction to allow the network to make decisions more effectively with a view to focusing more on collaboration, skill sharing and
We have deliberately left out details on how decisions will be made to focus solely on where/when decisions are made.
Autonomic Co-operative
Sun 26 May 2019 12:15PM
We at Autonomic are in favour of this!
James Mead (Go Free Range)
Wed 29 May 2019 9:02AM
On behalf of Go Free Range
PollyRobbinsOutlandish
Wed 29 May 2019 11:58AM
On behalf of Outlandish
Chris Lowis (Go Free Range)
Wed 29 May 2019 7:32PM
Sorry, GFR already voted. Consider this a cheer from the sidelines.
Roy Brooks Wed 29 May 2019 12:29PM
Ditto to Polly above
Chris Croome (Webarchitects Co-operative) Wed 29 May 2019 5:33PM
The notes from the first call on 29th May 2019 have been posted to the wiki. A quorum of 12+ (there are 36+ CoTech members) does seem like quite a lot of people to have in a online decision making call to me, but of course I agree that any fundamental decisions should be open to wider consultation and agreement and would expect this to happen.
Chris Lowis (Go Free Range) Wed 29 May 2019 7:28PM
I like the idea of separating (important) proposal rounds from decision rounds by at least one month/call, to give people a chance to think and also notice to attend. Perhaps changes to the constitution should be subject to this criteria at least (that would address the specific concerns @polly had on non-worker-coops and membership fee, for example).
PollyRobbinsOutlandish · Wed 29 May 2019 11:58AM
We do have a bit of a concern about the types of decision that are made on these calls. 1/3 quorum is not necessarily that high, and we are a little worried that key decisions that would change the fundamental nature of CoTech might be made by this minority. For example, allowing on non-worker-co-ops or implementing a membership fee. We feel that there ought to be a higher quorum or another way of consulting on these decisions. However, we're voting yes in the assumption that these details can be ironed out once we get going. Thanks.