^
- I'm Chris from Go Free Range
- Go Free Range is often abbreviated GFR and I might switch between the two during the talk
- About us
- Tools and processes
- Benefits and challenges
^ I'm going to talk about:
- our company structure
- the tools and processes we use to run the company without a boss, and
- the benefits and challenges of working the way we do
^
- We're a software company
^
- We're very experienced Ruby developers
^
- who specialise in the Ruby on Rails web development framework
^ The company was started in 2009
- Chris ❤️
- Kalv
- James A
- James M
- Jase
- Tom
^
- I joined as the 6th member in 2010
- Which signalled the start of 4 members leaving the organisation
- 3 even went as far as emigrating!
^
- Kalv moved to Vancouver
^
- Jase moved to Paris
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- James moved to Austin
^
- Tom left us for the greener pastures of Basecamp
- Formerly 37signals and the creators of Ruby on Rails
^
- We finally managed to reverse that trend last year when we increased our headcount by 50%!
- That’s right - we took on a single new member in the form of another Chris
^
- We’ve been fortunate enough to have three main clients that have helped sustain us since we began
^
- Open University backed online education platform
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- Responsible for, among other things, the single GOV.UK website
- Private company limited by shares
- We're a co-op(ish)
^
- I’m relatively comfortable describing ourselves as a worker co-op and we’re in the process of updating our Articles of Association so that they’re compatible with Coops UK.
- Directors
- Equal shareholders
- Employees
- Running the company
- Client and non-client work
- Equal pay
- Monthly pay
- Annual pay reviews
^
- We keep money in the company to ensure we can pay ourselves in the absence of client income
^
- What we do day-to-day to keep the company running, specifically how we capture work we need to do and how we keep on top of that work
- The idea is to minimise the amount of admin required so we can focus on the work we enjoy and get paid for
- Mostly asynchronous which means that we don’t all have to be working together at the same time, e.g. Chris is in Colombia right now
- Single face-to-face (physical or virtual) meeting each week to do the things that are harder to do asynchronously
^
- Single company email address
- We try to encourage people to email our group address so that no single member becomes responsible for something
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- Single board for running the company
- Single place to help decide what needs to be done
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- Random assignment of our recurring tasks
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- Real-time(ish) communication
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- It’s evolved over time and has been influenced by software development practices like eXtreme Programming (XP) and Lean, and personal productivity practices like Getting Things Done (GTD).
^
- Central to the process is our Trello board
- We use a single board containing 6 lists to organise our work (represented as cards)
- Inbox
- Discussing
- Harmonia
- Priority
- Doing
- Waiting
- Contains: Ad-hoc cards
- Processed: Daily
- Example: New client enquiry
^
- Cards might be added based on an email we receive
- Or based on an idea we've had
- Contains: Non-actionable and negected cards
- Processed: Weekly
- Example: Ask HSBC about overdraft/loan options
^
- Non-actionable is something that doesn't have an obvious next step. E.g. a card expressing an idea we've had that we want to discuss in the group
- Example was identified as neglected recently
- Contains: Tasks assigned by Harmonia
- Processed: Regularly
- Example: Pay our wages
^
- Mostly recurring tasks
- Processed regularly - ideally before the due date
- We introduce new tasks when we notice a pattern (e.g. put process in place to go through DO&S opportunities)
- Contains: Tasks assigned manually
- Processed: Regularly
^
- Mostly ad-hoc tasks
- Assigned when processing the Inbox
- Contains: Cards being worked on
- Processed: Regularly
- Contains: Cards we're waiting on
- Processed: Regularly
^ We regularly maintain the board to try to ensure nothing falls through the cracks
- Frequency: Daily
- Goal: Clear the Inbox
- Action: Do it, assign it, move it to Discussing
^
- Task assigned by Harmonia
- Frequency: Weekly
- Goal: Identify cards with no recent activity
- Action: Move cards to the Discussing list
^
- Task assigned by Harmonia
- Frequency: Weekly
- Goal: Clear the Discussing list
- Action: Improve and move, or delete them
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- Processed weekly during company meeting
- Collectively decide what to do about them
- Make them actionable and move them to Inbox or Priority
- Potentially delete them. If they’re important we’ll remember them.
- Prepare for coming week
- Business development
- Discussing column
- Retrospective
^
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- Look at calendar to remind us what we've got coming up in the next week
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- Discussing any leads that have come in during the week
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- Collectively try to unblock any non-actionable/neglected cards
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- Celebrate what’s gone well and identify things that can be improved
^ I'm going to run through some examples of our recurring tasks to try to illustrate the types of work this allows us to share.
- Pay our wages and pensions
- Pay Corporation Tax, VAT and PAYE
- Prepare and send invoices
- Schedule regular meetings
- Monthly drinks
- Monthly Show & Tell
- Quarterly company away day
- Weekly blog post
- Show & Tell write-ups
^
- We use our weeknotes to be transparent about what we're doing and help reflect on what we've done
- Maintain a spreadsheet of leads
- Go through DO&S opportunities
^
- Digital Outcomes and Specialists are part of the Government's Digital Marketplace
- Organisational resilience
- Lower barrier for new members
- Avoid knowledge silos
^
- Distributing responsibility for running the company should mean it's more resilient to change in membership.
- Chris was able to submit our VAT return within his first couple of weeks. Something he had no prior experience of doing.
- Avoid the problem of power inequality through knowledge
- Control over what we do
- Flexible working
- Selling point
- Last company we work for?
^
- Control over what we work on
- James and I worked in Switzerland and New Zealand respectively
- Chris is currently working in Colombia
- Paying the people that do the work and run the company. It's in our best interest to do a good job.
- I'd like to think we can continue to evolve the company to support our changing needs.
- Admin overhead
- Decision making
- Equal effort
- Members leaving and joining
- 4 members left!
- Lack of diversity
^
- Running the company still takes quite a large chunk of our time. Maybe we do too much.
- We definitely struggled on occasion when there were 6 of us. It's easier with 2 or 3 but still requires effort.
- I'm worried that things aren't necessarily fair in terms of working vs holiday time. Our contributions are mostly based on an honesty system given that we don't track our non-client time or holidays
- We don't have a process for members leaving and joining. It's probably been slightly different each time it happens.
- We've clearly got some way to go if this really is going to become the last company we want to work for.
- There's an obvious lack of diversity in our all-white, all-male group. We're aware of this and would like to do something about it.
^
- I tried freelancing in the past but wasn’t very good at the business bit - I would get to know people and then feel uncomfortable charging them which meant I got into lots of debt. Joining GFR felt like the best possible mix of being freelance while having the support of other people.
- James recalled freelancing being a lonely experience. Had to work on things individually that were out of his comfort zone. They might still be out of his comfort zone but being to talk about them and work on them collectively makes them easier to handle.
- Chris joined for a greater sense of liberty and autonomy. To experiment with new ways of working. Escape the tyranny of the man. Do all of this alongside and in support of two of my friends.
- James Adam
- James and Chris
- Outlandish
^
- James Adam for starting Go Free Range, encouraging me to join and for his continued work on Harmonia
- James and Chris for their continued help and support in running Go Free Range
- Outlandish for introducing us to CoTech and the like-minded people it contains. All of which has encouraged us to more formally adopt the cooperative principles.