[hackerspaces] Order vs anarchy - how do you deal with that

[Edward L Platt]

Sounds like the space might be growing faster than it can support. It
really helps to have a common vision between members. Several of the design
patterns I wrote about here (
https://elplatt.com/new-hackerspace-design-patterns ) are relevant, in
particular: principles, signage, and physics.

Happy hacking,
Ed

On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 11:23 PM Christopher Agocs <chris at agocs.org> wrote:

> At the South Side Hackerspace in Chicago, we started off with a set of
> bylaws that defined how the space was going to be run. The bylaws defined a
> board of directors, who could appoint members to be responsible for various
> spaces within our hackerspace (woodshop, electronics bench, 3D printer
> zone, etc.). These "area captains" take ownership in making sure tools are
> maintained and things are put away. We believe very strongly in actocracy,
> but we also believe that there needs to be some structure to keep
> things moving.
>
> The bylaws allow for members to be banned (this has only come up once).
> They also allow members to propose rules by which the space must be run.
> One of the rules defines a means storing half-finished projects in the
> space, so long as there is the owner's name and date they'll finish the
> project. If a lot of clutter is building up in the space, a board member
> can put tags on abandoned projects, take pictures of them, email the
> membership, and give people a week to respond before projects are thrown
> out. There's very little email drama around it because people understand
> the rules.
>
> We believe that most people are generally doing good, and so any
> leadership from the board is a light touch.
>
> The bylaws are available here: https://wiki.sshchicago.org/wiki/Bylaws
>
> To answer your questions directly:
>
> > How do you organize your hackerspace?
> We have a group of 5-7 members who serve on the board of directors. The
> positions are elected every year, and any member in good standing may run.
> The board selects members to act as area captains; they're responsible for
> making sure tools are maintained, the areas are cleaned, and supplies are
> bought. They spend some of their time at the space taking care of the space.
>
> > Does really anarchy/actocracy work for you or do you have some set of
> more specific rules?
> More specific. Actocracy works well in early stages when a small core of
> people are building the space, but it doesn't scale well I've found.
>
> > How do you deal with mis-behaving members ?
> The board has the power to ban a member, but it's only happened once and
> after a lengthy series of warnings and uncomfortable conversations. If a
> member messes up, we talk to them, explain what they did wrong, and help
> them improve. If they don't want to do better, well, that's a problem.
>
> > How do you deal with equipment having damaged/stolen?
> Equipment breaks. We set aside some money to fix it. If we find a member
> is intentionally damaging equipment, that's a problem that we deal with.
>
> > Do you reward members having put some efforts in hackerpace running or
> just all members are equal?
> We have two tiers of members with keys to the space: Full members donate
> more money every month; they can vote and get a storage locker. Partial
> members get keys to the space and access to the tools, but they can't vote
> or get a locker. The board can, and does, give people membership upgrades
> to taking on additional responsibilities around the space.
>
> > How do you deal with general mess made by people?
> We grumble and clean it up. Area captains spend a couple hours a month
> making sure their areas are usable. Personally, if I've noticed a lot of
> tools left out, I'll spend some time working on tool storage rather than my
> own projects.
>
> > How do you deal with abandoned dust-covered projects whose owner doesn't
> care about these anymore?
> Create a rule that the membership finds reasonable that lets you give a
> lot of warning that something will be thrown out if the owner doesn't
> remove it or petition for it to be saved in an entirely reasonable amount
> of time. Give plenty of warning, and err on the side of leniency, but you
> can't let your hackerspace become an unusable pile of electronics waste.
>
> Good luck!
> -Chris
>
> On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 5:47 PM Robert Holub <mrholub at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I'm a member of one of hackerpace that is having interpersonal issues
>> now
>> that could be described like this:
>>
>> Although it has about 50 of paying members, only few of these are
>> actually
>> active ( i.e at least showing up sometimes in  place).
>> It is practically impossible to ban somebody for anything (stealing
>> etc.)
>> as there is no any rule for this and as you can imagine single
>> mis-behaving person can be a pain and there is no official way how to
>> deal
>> with it.
>>
>> Hackerspace has moved to the new place and it was a lot of work to
>> rebuild
>> it, some of members has put great effort in that while majority didn't
>> care.
>> There was a great mess in all of stuff after moving in, some of members
>> has categorized stuff like parts, tools, wires etc.
>> There were many dust-covered non-working projects project abandoned
>> years
>> ago so it was decided put these on the table and put it on mailing list
>> in
>> order to let owners know and let decide what to do with these.
>> There was a huge flame war around this despite the fact that NO
>> creations
>> were intended to be thrown away just sort these out somehow (only junk
>> like old PC power supplies having wires cut off were thrown out).
>> Most of people didn't care about these old projects so these were put in
>> the box and again NOTHING was thrown away.
>> Now the place is more or less built up but there is no much of activity
>> there as there are 2 movements in the hackerspace:
>>
>> First movement insists on actocracy but the problem is that leads in
>> long-term to damaged projects/equipment of other people etc.
>>
>> Other movement would like to set more specific rules, for example:
>> - option to ban persons acting against interest of hackerpsace (stealing
>> etc.)
>> - reward members putting efforts in making hackerspace running etc.
>> - avoiding damaging of equipment so members wouldn't need worry about
>> having some more sophisticated (and expensive) equipment there.
>>
>> It was told that actocracy / anarchy works in other hackerspace but no
>> examples were given.
>> This has got me an idea to simply ask how this is actually done in other
>> hackerspaces.
>>
>> As you can probably feel, I'm in movement of setting up some rules in
>> order to be able to keep some more sophisticated equipment in
>> hackerspace
>> without having it ruined etc.
>>
>> My question is:
>>
>> How do you organize your hackerspace?
>> Does really anarchy/actocracy work for you or do you have some set of
>> more
>> specific rules?
>> How do you deal with mis-behaving members ?
>> How do you deal with equipment having damaged/stolen?
>> Do you reward members having put some efforts in hackerpace running or
>> just all members are equal?
>> How do you deal with general mess made by people?
>> How do you deal with abandoned dust-covered projects whose owner doesn't
>> care about these anymore?
>>
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your answers and putting some light in this.
>>
>> With respect,
>>
>> Mr.Holub
>>
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-- 
Edward L. Platt
PhD Candidate, University of Michigan School of Information
he/him | https://elplatt.com | @elplatt | @elplatt at social.coop

Tips for stopping email overload:
https://hbr.org/2012/02/stop-email-overload-1
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