Hi Folks,

It is deeply rewarding to see so many encouraging comments and questions about holacracy on this forum!  When Ken and I first coined the term to describe the system pioneered here at Ternary Software, there were zero google hits returned from searching on "holacracy".  There are now about 400, all within the past couple of months, and it seems to be growing exponentially (there were only about 200 just over a week ago).  Very exciting!

I also feel a certain responsibility to respond to that interest in kind and get more information about the approach available as soon as possible - it is so much deeper and broader than any current writing actually captures, though that's something I'm working on changing.  Hang in there - I should have a first cut of http://www.holacracy.org launched before too long!

In the meantime, I've got bits and pieces of information and audio recordings available on my blog.  The most recent post in particular contains some content that may be of interest, including a link to an audio recording on the practices of holacracy.  This earlier post includes a dialog about consent that may be useful as well.  I should add a general disclaimer that my blog is specifically not targeted at an Integral-level or AQAL-aware audience.  I use it primarily for hiring-related purposes at Ternary, and its use to the crowd likely attracted to these forums is probably limited.  That said, the posts and the recorded dialogs referenced above are still highly relevant!

Thanks again to all of you who have shared encouragement and questions - it really helps!

 

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- Brian J Robertson
Ternary Software, Inc.
President & CEO

http://www.ternarysoftware.com
http://www.insideagile.com

BRIAN!!!!!

I am so sorry that I missed the training with you.  But perhaps you could fill me and others in with information on how you have managed your legal systems in line with holacracy.  I started another thread here on Integral Lasw, since that's another of my passions.  True, Ken says that you only need to be an Integrally informed lawyer, but I'm one of those folks who really loved to win and beat my adversary.  Now that won't work for me any longer, but how do you sue or defend a lawsuit using holacratic principles?? OR--is it only to be used in-house?  We've done a good job, I think, in internally embodying these values, but I am really stretching the legal envelope here to see what can come next.

Looking forward to seeing you in person one of these days again,

Lynne

Hi Brian,

Thanks for all the work you are doing on this. I am looking forward to learning more about Holacracy and develing into more deeply with everyone here.

Thanks,
Sue

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And right there was everything I knew and I could not say what that was. - Natalie Goldberg

Like Sue, I am also interested in Holacracy for small town government. I have served as the chair of a small city committee (the bicycle committee) here in Somerville, Massachusetts and would have loved to know even basic consensus building techniques, let alone holacracy! I'm out of politics for the time being, but when we move to Vermont sometime soon, I plan on settling down and getting dirty (good old rich Vermont dirt!) with local politics. I suppose that Vermont may be a perfect place to start a revolution in government, right?

I'll definitely check out the recommendations given here so far, and I'll keep an eye out here, too, for more delicious information. Thanks I-I!

Hmmmm... I wonder, is there any movement on I-I's part to run Integral folks in the Colorado elections? Maybe even on the town council/aldermen/whatever you have? I know that in my mom's town in Maine, there has been a bit of a trend with a certain group of Red-ish folks working together to "take over" the town government. Not that I'm proposing any kind of covert action on I-I's part :-)

Peace, Love, and Bicycles,
Turtle

Hi Folks,

 

I thought some of you might be interested in a new article I wrote recently on holacracy's governance aspects for the agile software development industry.  It should still be understandable even without a background in that though (the quick translation is that "agile" software development refers to the emerging "2nd-tier" understanding of software development and management processes - it's a whole movement in the software industry now).

 

If you're interested, you can download a copy of the report for free using this link [http://www.cutter.com/offers/holacracy.html] and the promotion code listed there (you'll need to fill in your contact details, though you can opt-out of contacts).

 

Lynne - Thanks so much for the question, it's a deep one!  I do have several thoughts on that topic I'd love to discuss, though I'm a bit time limited at present unfortunately - I keep a bit too busy sometimes!  I'm compiling a list of topics I'd like to dialog or write about regarding holacracy, and I'll add this to it.  I also hope to schedule an open conference call soon on holacracy to discuss issues just like this - I'll let you know how and when that pans out, and hopefully we can discuss further then if you're available!

 

Cheers!

 

- Brian

  

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- Brian J Robertson
Ternary Software, Inc.
President & CEO

http://www.ternarysoftware.com
http://www.insideagile.com

Hey Ralph and Sue: I am a member of Seattle Integral and its Core Group. We aren't really using Sociocracy or Holacracy as of yet. I am the one who is investigating it for use in our group but I haven't as yet got a good enough grasp on it to introduce it to the group. The Holacracy web site is up and running and getting content on it (http://www.holacracy.org/). I am interested in learning how to be a "Certified Holacracy Coach" once more detail is availible on how to do so. =)

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Tom Mu!!
Perichorisis

Is it just my browser, or is that Holacracy website all messed up? For me, all the text is jumbled up in a small, messy pile at the top of the screen...

-Turtle

hey tom! it's great to hear from you.

incidentally, i had the same problem with the link as turtle.

once you become a CHC, i look forward to seeing you down here in portland. the commute couldn't be much longer than the one you're already making to seattle.

ralph

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Hey Ralph: I think that Portland is about an hour longer trip than Seattle but not so long that I can't do it someday. I do go down to Vancouver from time to time to see my girlfriend's parents. =)

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Tom Mu!!
Perichorisis

tom,

we're not yet ready for holacracracy, anyway, but, who knows?, maybe by the time you become a CHC!?

in the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts about it,

ralph

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Hey Ralph: I am most impressed with what I have read about Holacracy and Sociocracy. I would like to get some practical experience with it and have access to someone that I can talk to about it that has experience. How do we take it from theory to practice? =)

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Tom Mu!!
Perichorisis

Hi Folks,

The holacracy website has indeed launched!  It's at www.holacracy.org (there are problems with it in some web browsers still, most notably on Macs; sorry about that, I'll have it fixed as soon as is practical!).  There's still a lot more content that needs to be posted, but at least it's a start!  I've also got the first public holacracy teleconference scheduled; I hope some of you can join me for it!

For more information on these and related topics, please see my recent blog post of holacracy updates, or check out the content on www.holacracy.org!

Cheers!

- Brian

 

 

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- Brian J Robertson
Ternary Software, Inc.
President & CEO

http://www.ternarysoftware.com
http://www.insideagile.com

Hiya - We've been drawing a lot on Brian's work as we design and manifest the Center for Human Emergence in the Netherlands (www.humanemergence.nl), combining holacracy with Chaordic and Spiral Natural Design. Sociocracy was a Dutch "invention", so comes pretty easy to people here. However I'd never really clicked with it until Brian added in the holarchy elements. It's still very experimental of course, and you can follow some of the journey on my blog at http://petermerry.zaadz.com/blog.

In the meantime, here's a question I sent to Brian that has arisen for me. Any thoughts welcome (I'm actually disappearing off to the Fair Isle of Merlin for the next couple of weeks with family and without laptop, so won't be able to respond rapidly).

I have one question on the process, specifically on consent and integrative decision-making. The core assumption is that by listening to the different perspectives and "objections" and trying to integrate the essential point that someone is making, the group can then move on. As I reflected on my experience in CHE so far, and particularly the interaction between Green and Yellow, I met this question:

Say the decision that you know is best for the group and organisation as a whole is one that is informed by a Yellow perspective. How do you know? Because you have been in Green and below before so know the consequences of decisions informed from there. In your group you have folks centered in Green and not yet able to see Yellow. You lay out a Yellow-informed decision, and folks centered in Green come with an objection, probably along the lines that the decision is too authoritarian and needs more inclusion in it. So you listen to the objection, but you know from your higher perspective that going down that road is not good for the whole. So you recognise the perspective and know that integrating the concern in the decision will not be good for the whole. So how is the decision taken? There may well be a majority in the group who share the Green objection. We know (from the theory and experience) that lower-level value systems just can't see higher-level value systems. So what then?

Peter

Peter, thanks for updating us on your efforts. I'll definitely check out your Zaadz blog!

And as for your Green/Yellow question, I'm guessing that the way you can bring everyone together is to find a way to do what Yellow sees as a best solution in a way that accomodates and addresses Greens concerns. Yellow needs to find out specifically what Green is worried about and work with Green to solve those specific issues so the process can move forward. In the case you presented here, I would say that if Green is worried that the current solution isn't inclusive enough, then the best solution needs to be inclusive.

To me, Integral means to include all healthy aspects of all levels and lines, not just the higher ones. An Integral solution allows everyone to feel relatively comfortable.

Peace, Love, and Bicycles,
Turtle

Peter: As I understand the consent process, a proposal goes forward unless there is a reasoned/paramount objection. I would think that would work no matter what altitude the parties were coming from. Methinks that the higher the altitude of the cognition the better the reasoning and the capacity to judge what is paramount and what is not. Tom Mull =)

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Tom Mu!!
Perichorisis