# Governance Model
**URL:** https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128
**Category:** Organization circle
**Created:** [18 June 2020 14:52 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128 "2020-06-18T14:52:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@benhylau](https://forum.meet.coop/u/benhylau)
#### Post date: [7 July 2020 11:54 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/82 "2020-07-07T11:54:18Z")
Just read this. I wonder if there is a minimum number of participants to have this many circles. If active contributors are 10 people, how does this work? Wouldn’t everyone need to be in like 4 circles?
Basically, how do we go from what we have today, into a structure like this? Esp since no one is full time on Meet.coop. I do like many of the ideas in there, but concerned about implementation due to capacity.
Hopefully @aaronhirtenstein can have a chance to read this as well and draw parallels from his org.
---
### Author:  [@hng](https://forum.meet.coop/u/hng)
#### Post date: [7 July 2020 15:28 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/83 "2020-07-07T15:28:16Z")
I had the same feeling that 8 circles maybe too much at this point. I think these are all good and sound ideas but maybe a more lean structure can be found for the beginning? I probably won’t have the time to join more than one call every other week.
I think the focus should be on starting to “produce” and get money, while building and evaluating a well-defined and working structure that scales for the future.
---
### Author:  [@benhylau](https://forum.meet.coop/u/benhylau)
#### Post date: [7 July 2020 17:34 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/84 "2020-07-07T17:34:07Z")
Our meeting notes from today’s meeting is [here](https://wiki.meet.coop/wiki/07_July_2020_Governance#Agenda). I believe @aaronhirtenstein and I both believe that ~3 Circles would be the right number for us at this stage, and they should map to critical functions of Meet.coop.
My rough proposal:
- **Organizational Operations**
- @wouter @osb @mikemh @aaronhirtenstein …
- Governance model, financial processes, organizational mission, All Hands meetings
- **Product Strategy and Services**
- @osb @melissamcnab @wouter @hng …
- Determine service levels, reseller program, roadmap, branding, external communications, events liaising
- **Technology Operations**
- @chris @decentral1se @Yurko @hng …
- Manage the infrastructure and GitLab spaces, development of new features, answer technical questions on forum, etc.
Then there is the “everyone” circle that is our general assembly aka. All Hands style meeting. Each other these groups have authority to make decisions within their clearly designate domain of responsibility and decide things based on _consent_ (consent is the absence of disagreement rather than consensus of agreement).
Each circle also needs a _leader_, who is committing the most attention to ensure things move forward. In my opinion it is most important that this role within a Circle is the first waged position. @aaronhirtenstein also mentioned _facilitator_, _secretary_, and _delegate_ positions in Circles, which we can add later.
---
### Author:  [@decentral1se](https://forum.meet.coop/u/decentral1se)
#### Post date: [8 July 2020 07:36 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/85 "2020-07-08T07:36:16Z")
Yeah LGTM!
---
### Author:  [@hng](https://forum.meet.coop/u/hng)
#### Post date: [8 July 2020 07:43 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/86 "2020-07-08T07:43:34Z")
Yeah looks good, thank you for your work! 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Yasuaki](https://forum.meet.coop/u/Yasuaki)
#### Post date: [8 July 2020 23:16 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/87 "2020-07-08T23:16:10Z")
I have just posted this and felt it was so relevant to governance - let me post the link here.
[https://forum.meet.coop/t/weekly-progress-meeting-thursday-9-july/183/2?u=yasuaki](https://forum.meet.coop/t/weekly-progress-meeting-thursday-9-july/183/2)
---
### Author:  [@mikemh](https://forum.meet.coop/u/mikemh)
#### Post date: [9 July 2020 11:08 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/88 "2020-07-09T11:08:17Z")
> [@benhylau](#):
>
> the “everyone” circle that is our general assembly aka. All Hands style meeting
Now that we almost 😄 have a system of three circles in operation, the nature of the ‘everyone circle’ necessarily shifts? Executive action occurs in circles. So maybe, the all-hands meeting now becomes the **Stewards** circle?
‘Steward’ is the word I’m suggesting for the leader of a circle - a rotating responsibility, referred to by @benhylau above, based on @aaronhirtenstein 's framing of how circles work. ‘Steward’ follows the idea that each circle is cultivating a kind of commons, which is the basic purpose of the circle; and ‘stewarding’ is a good commons-oriented piece of language.
In the first instance, the Stewards circle would have three members (from three operational circles). But maybe there’s no reason why this meeting of circle stewards shouldn’t be held ‘in public’ with all hands present and contributing? However, the **executive authority** , that the all-hands meeting might have informally held until now, passes to the circles, in their respective areas?
The work of the Stewards circle is to mop up whatever might not be operationally covered in the other three. So, it takes the view of the overall **venture** , and the overall evolving community of coop membership and usage. Specifically this includes engaging in appropriate ways with ' **passive’ User members** who are relating to [meet.coop](http://meet.coop) like a normal consumer coop, and are not participating in the operational ‘insider’ worker-circles. Eventually, maybe some kind of Assembly will be needed - like the annual general meeting of a consumer coop?
---
### Author:  [@aaronhirtenstein](https://forum.meet.coop/u/aaronhirtenstein)
#### Post date: [9 July 2020 12:06 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/89 "2020-07-09T12:06:08Z")
hi @benhylau great work on this!
I think the 3 circles you’ve outlined make sense to me. A few things spring to mind:
1. **Frequency of meetings** - we should agree something rational and avoid too many meetings in a single week. Perhaps the all hands meeting could be less frequent?
2. **Balance of meetings and work** - meetings should be about planning / reviewing work and getting input and avoid circular discussions that don’t lead to action. We need to be really mindful of this and be prepared to raise this (and other issues that hinder getting stuff done)
3. **Meeting facilitator** is a really important role and will help with getting the most out of talking time. It will help with the point 2.
4. **Purpose and value of All Hands Meeting** - as @mikemh says this can focus on information sharing and gathering input rather than on making lots of decisions or planning work.
5. **Leader role** - I don’t think this is such a crucial role, I would prioritise importance of the work in terms of waged positions e.g. sysadmin. I’m not even sure at this stage we need a leader role, having just been in a presentation from Outlandish about their circle structures. They don’t have a leader role, they have a “climate” role, someone responsible for the emotional climate of communications / organising. It is a similar but emphasis is slightly different.
Looking forward to catching up later
---
### Author:  [@benhylau](https://forum.meet.coop/u/benhylau)
#### Post date: [9 July 2020 14:11 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/90 "2020-07-09T14:11:29Z")
9 members voted **Agree** to adopted this on July 9, 2020 All Hands.
_\*Probably we should move all these proposals to a single tag_
---
### Author:  [@benhylau](https://forum.meet.coop/u/benhylau)
#### Post date: [9 July 2020 16:50 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/91 "2020-07-09T16:50:14Z")
I agree with all you said. Also regular recurring meetings are important so we don’t have to keep sorting times.
> [@aaronhirtenstein](#):
>
> **Meeting facilitator** is a really important role
The [meeting chair](https://handbook.hypha.coop/roles.html#cultivator-aka-meeting-chair) is also the first role that emerged at Hypha, and second is Notetaker.
> [@aaronhirtenstein](#):
>
> focus on information sharing and gathering input rather than on making lots of decisions or planning work
Something we are also learning at Hypha All Hands!
> [@aaronhirtenstein](#):
>
> **Leader role** - I don’t think this is such a crucial role, I would prioritise importance of the work in terms of waged positions e.g. sysadmin. I’m not even sure at this stage we need a leader role, having just been in a presentation from Outlandish about their circle structures. They don’t have a leader role, they have a “climate” role, someone responsible for the emotional climate of communications / organising. It is a similar but emphasis is slightly different.
I feel having someone make a commitment to make sure things move forward is really important especially bc [Meet.coop](http://Meet.coop) is completely part-time members. This can be achievable without a specific leader role, or a rotating Chair dual as “Leader” durationally?
---
### Author:  [@wouter](https://forum.meet.coop/u/wouter)
#### Post date: [10 July 2020 10:23 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/92 "2020-07-10T10:23:19Z")
Last week we worked on a “one-pager” to describe the most relevant aspects of Meet.coop in terms of its sustainability model. This morning I have updated that pad that we worked on and copied it to the wiki, to this page:
[https://wiki.meet.coop/wiki/Online\_Meeting\_Coop\_Wiki:About](https://wiki.meet.coop/wiki/Online_Meeting_Coop_Wiki:About)
Even though not all aspects are 100% agreed and will need to be amended still, I hope this gives a more accurate overview than we had until now. My hope is that we can have a working model without seriously conflicting positions and get started ASAP.
You’ll see that it incorporates the Membership definition with suggested amendments + the Circles proposal we voted for yesterday.
Doubts, things that need to be improved until we have rough consensus, or consent:
- Voting strength: I have put a draft in there, but I also saw another proposal by Mike to link voting strength not only to membership class but also to circle participation. My gutfeeling here is that we need a simple model that can evolve and get more complex over time, but please disagree.
- **Spaces for decisionmaking** ; is it worded correctly or do we need major changes for now?
- we’ll need to work out some basic “[Compensation framework](https://wiki.meet.coop/wiki/Online_Meeting_Coop_Wiki:About#Compensation_Framework_.28pending.29)” that allows us to pay people for work. This is not trivial, but a draft version is rather urgent so key workers know more or less how compensations can be expected to work.
- Collective Fund: all revenues that Meet.coop can dispose of: how will we manage that?
- Service Levels: the summary is in here, but details are referred to in the wiki:service\_level page
Maybe not all details need to be in this same wiki page About Meet.coop and can be linked to detailed pages elsewhere in the wiki.
Then we should make sure the rest of the wiki is made consistent with the ongoing consent on terminology etc. And next we should add some parts to the front website org.meet.coop
I hope is a step forward.
Cheers, Wouter
---
### Author:  [@strypey](https://forum.meet.coop/u/strypey)
#### Post date: [15 August 2020 08:56 UTC](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128/93 "2020-08-15T08:56:03Z")
> [@benhylau](#):
>
> We also expressed intention to try and capture how we have been making decisions, and extend from that to build a governance model.
I just want to +1 this and acknowledge that it’s a really key insight. If what you’re doing so far seems to be working, documenting and clarifying it is the logical first step in formalizing governance.
[Previous page](https://forum.meet.coop/t/governance-model/128.md?page=4)