Iron collective

Max C. and I were riffing last night on some possible changes to the Iron Collective contract. I decided to jot down our thoughts in the form of a proposal. ⚠️ Keep in mind this was just a fun riffing exercise and is 100000% open to revision or throwing out entirely! ⚠️

First, why change Iron Collective?

1. It’s fun to imagine different structures and write them down as a proposal (main reason).
2. If you fall off the wagon, it’s possible to feel discouraged and stop posting entirely.
3. We don’t have a formalized schedule for when Iron Collective social functions occur, and therefore we’ve only had one official party.
4. The weekly schedule lacks a bit of variety.

Rather than the indefinite weekly posting cadence, we propose to divide Iron Collective time into Sprint months and Rest months.

A Sprint month begins with a casual kick-off gathering. Everyone is welcome to share what they plan to work on for the upcoming month. Then, for every week of that month, the usual $$$ fine is imposed for weeks that participants do not post.

After the Sprint month is over, a Rest month begins. We hold another gathering to mark the transition from Sprint to Rest. The money collected during the last Sprint is used to buy beer / treats for this party. This would also be a time for folks to share in person what they worked on for the past month. This gathering could be a little more structured (maybe we set up a projector and have power point presentations?).

During the Rest month, creative output is still encouraged, and the #collectivecollective channel remains active. However, we take a break from the regular weekly cadence and fines are suspended for the duration of the month. Some folks might choose to keep up the same weekly cadence, while others might disengage completely during a Rest month — either is okay! But mostly we envision it as an opportunity for more unstructured exploration and to plan ahead for the next Sprint month.

We think this proposal has the following advantages:

1. It provides a more formalized schedule for Iron Collective social gatherings.
2. Specific time is set aside for show-and-tell at the end of each Sprint month.
3. It relaxes the commitment pressure a little bit for those that are busy. Individuals can choose to participate on a sprint-by-sprint basis.
4. It could encourage short term participation by folks outside of the core group who want to get their feet wet in Iron Collective, but don’t want to commit indefinitely.
5. By their unstructured nature, Rest months encourage more playful exploration that isn’t as focused on concrete output. These explorations could lay the foundation for future Sprint output.
6. Because they have a beginning and end, completing a Sprint month would provide a nice sense of accomplishment.