Hi, Habr! I present to you the Tech Co-op Network (North American Technology Worker Cooperatives) translation of the article " A Technology Freelancer's Guide to Starting a Worker Cooperative ".

Translator's Note

For many, a “cooperative” is something about construction, garages, or agriculture. However, according to this model, many companies are organized in different areas of the world.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative

Recently, I have been interested in IT cooperation issues and I believe that, under certain conditions, this model has significant advantages.

What do you think?

• How much is this model applicable in Russia?
• What are the pros and cons?
• Are there any among us who have had successful or not successful experience in creating an IT cooperative?

It is recommended to read not only to freelancers, but also to all who think about the future, and the possible trajectories of the development of their career.

Content

Why create a production cooperative group of freelancers?
What is a production cooperative?
How to create a production cooperative in IT?
Stories from production cooperatives of the technical sphere

Why create a production cooperative group of freelancers?

At first glance it may seem that the establishment of a freelancers' cooperative contradicts the very essence of this kind of activity. In the end, to be independent, the boss himself, wandering freely lonely wolf, is, like, the main motive of freelancing.

Many of us, having experience both in employment and in the status of a freelancer, then, having become part of a production cooperative, discovered that such a model combines the best of both formats of employment. You still enjoy all the privileges of freelancers, and remain the boss to yourself, but you do not need to pull everything alone. Here are some of the advantages that a cooperative membership offers to a freelancer:

Availability of support

In most cases, freelancing is “something thick, something empty.” In times of crisis, or during the holidays, you have teammates who are familiar with the client and are ready to come to the rescue - after all, as a member of the cooperative, they have the same authority and respect as you.
Providing customers with a 24/7 service in a comfortable mode

For those who must always be available to the customer, and be ready to take a call at any time, day or night, there is an opportunity to share this burden. This is especially true when you decide to start a family, or go to school. And since a cooperative is a democratic union, each participant can take on a fair share of nightly duties instead of one or two recruits all the time dragging this strap.

Ability to pump extra skills

Over time, we all become good specialists in our work - perhaps even too much. But changes in technology, or in the industry, can easily destroy a niche that has been worked so hard for many years. As part of the team, we work closely with colleagues who have different skills that are different from ours, but nevertheless close to them. And in this case, the natural mutual exchange of expertise enriches everyone. The format of a production cooperative, being shared in its essence, encourages the exchange of skills between professionals who in a traditional company could see each other as competitors.

The effect of economies of scale in overhead and administration costs

Combining efforts reduces overhead costs by aggregating purchasing power when leasing office space, purchasing information systems, accounting and legal services, and other production needs. Regardless of the format of your cooperative, it automatically becomes a “customer pool” (in other words, a “no-need-pay-for-all-one” club, because many objects and systems can be shared, and it may also turn out that your new colleagues have skills in those areas of services that you previously outsourced).

The ability to take large-scale customer projects

Did you have to refuse to work due to the fact that the client’s tasks exceeded your capabilities? Or to regret that he took up the work, which in fact turned out to be a little higher than your abilities? As a member of the cooperative, your business opportunities are greatly expanded, because then you will not have to cope with the whole volume alone. At the same time, you may have flexible arrangements with other members of the cooperative, without “all or nothing” requirements, as is customary when working for hire; For example, in a cooperative, its members may be allowed to continue to conduct their own projects with existing customers (or even with new ones), provided that they are also looking for new large-scale projects and are required to take part in their implementation.

Availability of more volume and variety of work, covering more niches

A cooperative of five people can do five times more work than a loner, but the increased volume also gives new perspectives on the market and a greater number of customers. Just due to the fact that you become more visible in the market, you open up opportunities of a higher order, with more “brains” connecting to the analysis and decisions on how to use these opportunities

Professional colleagues support

Even the most difficult situations are much easier to resolve if several “heads” are connected to this, with a different vision of the problem. Daily mutual aid and the spirit of solidarity make even the most tedious work less stressful, and in such conditions satisfaction with work in general increases.

More than just the sum of participants.

The effectiveness of individual team members can grow arithmetically, while the team's efficiency grows geometrically. Each new employee brings to the group additional interpersonal dynamics, more opportunities for the birth of fresh ideas and new views. And the team, most often, makes better and more informed decisions than each of its members individually.

What is a production cooperative?

Before we proceed to a detailed description of how to establish a cooperative, it is important for us to clarify the basic terms. In today's business reality, the co-op format is relatively uncommon, so you may not be familiar with some concepts and structures. Let's deal with them!

A cooperative is a format for organizing a business that is owned and operated by its members, designed to serve their interests. Unlike most business formats, in which profits are distributed according to the share of owners' investments, remuneration in a cooperative is distributed on the basis of how they used the cooperative. And unlike other business formats, where owners have the right to vote on the basis of how much they invested, the cooperative is managed on a democratic basis, where each member has one vote, regardless of the size of the investment.

There are 3 main types of cooperatives. You may be familiar with the notion of cooperative producers — most of them are large agricultural cooperatives, such as Organic Valley, Sunkist, and Ocean Spray, in which independent producers join together to collectively process, sell, or distribute their products. The cooperative’s job in this case is to process, sell, or distribute the products of its members, and all the profits it receives are returned (as dividends proportional to the purchases) to producers in proportion to the way they used the cooperative.

Cooperative manufacturers usually choose the Board of Directors, which manages this enterprise and hires employees who work in it.

You may also be familiar with consumer cooperatives — retailers such as food cooperatives or REI, credit unions or housing cooperatives, where members are consumers of the goods or services that the cooperative provides. The cooperative’s job here is to buy high-quality goods or services and sell them to consumers at a low price. Profit is returned to cooperative members as dividends (in proportion to the volume of purchases), and they elect the Board of Directors that governs the association.

But the purpose of this guide is to introduce you to production cooperatives, which are enterprises owned and operated by the people who work for them. Employees in these enterprises are owners and make a profit according to the extent to which they worked for the cooperative. They themselves control it, perhaps by electing a Board of Directors, which sets policies and hires managers to organize the work. The hierarchical structure adopted in the previously described types of cooperatives, rather characteristic of production cooperatives of medium and large size. Small cooperatives are usually managed / work collectively.

A collective is a group of decision-makers practicing direct democracy. Instead of using representative democracy by electing the Board of Directors to make decisions and monitor their implementation, the team simply meets and makes decisions together. In collective management, decisions are made by a majority vote, either by consensus, or by other means. Usually with such a system there is practically no hierarchy. Like most teams are not production cooperatives (because they do not manage the business and do not own it), so many cooperatives are not managed collectively (because they control through representatives, not directly). However, a large number of small-scale production cooperatives use a collective management format. A cooperative is a form of ownership and management. Collective management is a form of management.

Is a production cooperative commercial, non-profit or non-profit? These definitions can be interpreted in different ways, which can be confusing, and is one of the reasons why we use the word “surplus” instead of “profit” for the sector of production cooperatives. It is certainly true that production cooperatives seek to run a “healthy” business, which means making a profit, paying all expenses and also having a balance after that (surplus capital). But a commercial organization usually refers to an enterprise that is owned by one or several investors, whose goal is to make a profit from investments (for owners). If making a profit means earning extra money, remuneration for the owners (who do not work in the enterprise), then the cooperative does not receive profit, because it does not have external owners.

On the other hand, non-profit organizations usually provide educational, charitable, and other services, and must reinvest all retained earnings into their own operations to meet special state or federal tax exemption requirements and other benefits. Production cooperatives rarely engage in charity and the fact that its members are its own owners also contradicts the principles of non-profit enterprises, which, strictly speaking, do not have owners. Using these definitions, the production cooperative can not be attributed either to commercial companies or to non-profit ones.

However, it is easy to place a production cooperative somewhere in the middle of these two categories: after all, on the one hand, it seeks to get additional profit from the management of a commercial enterprise, on the other hand, it returns it to employee-owners, or reinvests, rather than sends to outside investors-owners . For this reason, production cooperatives call themselves non-profit enterprises.

Is a production cooperative a separate type of legal entity? Again, these terms have several interpretations, and may vary from state to state (“US state” - translator’s note). The principles of a production cooperative (employee ownership, a democratic system of control, the distribution of additional profits according to the contribution of each, etc.) can be spelled out in the regulatory documents of a legal entity of any type: partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or a standard corporation.

If you do not really find fault, production cooperatives can even be equated with non-profit organizations or individual entrepreneurship. However, in some States of America statutes of such enterprises are regulated by law - essentially a hybrid of partnership, commercial and non-profit organization, which clearly states how production cooperatives should be organized, what structure to have, and which of them can count on special tax conditions. , the right to have the word “cooperative” in the title, and other advantages. Some production cooperatives decide to follow these legal requirements, others do not.

Therefore, when you are asked: “Are you a production cooperative?” They may mean: “Does your business belong to the employees and is managed by them according to the principles of the cooperative?” Or “Does your organization comply with the legislative requirements of the State for cooperatives?”. Yes, they can even ask about whether your business is managed collectively or not. Especially if you are just starting a new business, it is important to make sure that all participants in the discussion have a common understanding of the subject.

How to create a production cooperative?

You may notice that the following text provides information that is very similar to the sources cited. This is due to the fact that it is impossible to cover a large number of important stages in creating a startup in the format of a production cooperative as part of this brief guide; at least at the level of immersion in the question that is necessary for a serious high-quality start of your business. Fortunately, other authors have already done this work, so we just give a general idea of ​​the process and tell you where to find more detailed information.

1. Find future cooperative partners

So you want to organize a production cooperative. Fine! Unfortunately, it is impossible to do it alone. You will need to find partners - at least two, but better to begin with, from three to five. Perhaps you have in mind friends, colleagues (or even competitors!), With whom you are ready to work together. If not, it could be people with whom you are not familiar yet: you can search in the Union of Freelancers, in relevant groups on social networks, or by the list of contacts in your industry. Let people around you know that you have a desire to establish a cooperative, and see who responds!

2. Agree on a common development concept.

Gather a team, explain why you want to start a production cooperative, and get ready to listen, because now it is a common project! Most likely, everyone will have a different opinion on what the cooperative should do, so the format of the organization that you eventually launch may differ from your initial presentation. At this stage it is very important to be flexible and open to new ideas. For example, one may be important to reduce costs through teaming, while for others the main motivation will be the ability to take big projects due to the presence of participants with diverse skills.

Will you be a group of specialists who do roughly the same thing, or will you become a team uniting workers with different specializations? How will you divide the projects? What type of customers to serve? Why? This is not necessarily a bad sign if the interests in the group diverge. Perhaps you should run a few cooperatives!

Before starting the launch, you need to write a concept for the development of a cooperative that suits and inspires each team member. At this stage, it is not necessary to prescribe everything in detail, however, it is important that everyone has a clear idea of ​​what the production cooperative will do and what is the benefit of joining compared to individual freelancing. And it is important that everyone understands the basic principles of democratic governance (separation of power and responsibility) and ownership (total risks, total remuneration).

3. Develop work processes

Soon, you will have to start making decisions. Before moving on, you need to adopt a decision-making process that satisfies everyone. It will be applied at the stage of creating a cooperative, and, possibly, will evolve into a management model after its launch. There are two main questions to answer: (1) who will make decisions, and (2) how will they do it? For example, what issues require group discussion and involvement of the whole team in decision making? What decisions can be delegated to individuals or small groups? Will the group make decisions by a majority vote? Overwhelmingly (for example, 75%)? Or will the group use a modified or formal consensus? The process should be extremely clear, especially with regard to quorums, votes, time restrictions, debates, and other seemingly small details.

Direct democracy governance is the norm in small production cooperatives, but it is imperative that every team member really accept this model before you go this route. If all participants are serious, it can work perfectly, but if not, it can turn into a nightmare. Decision making is much more than counting votes. You need to think about “inclusiveness, your dedication to following democratic principles, relationships between people in a group, and all questions related to group discussion: the rights of speakers and responsibilities (setting the agenda, informing, formulating, persuading, voting, and the possibility of difference of opinion) , and also about the rights and duties of listeners (comprehension and discussion) ”[Gastil, p. 16].

Take the time to develop scenarios in case the discussion comes to a standstill. We offer to read on this topic:

McLeod, Andrew and Williams, Rachel Deciding how to Decide and Consensus Decision Making. Northwest Cooperative Development Center, Olympia, WA. 2008

Gastil, John Democracy In Small Groups: Participation, Decision Making & Communication. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC. 1993.

Kaner, Sam, et al. Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC. 1996.

4. Create a launch plan to get you started.

Great, you have a team, an agreed development concept and a general idea of ​​how you will make joint decisions. Now it's time for the first joint project: transform yourself from a group of interested people into a workable, full-fledged production cooperative!

Spend some time working out steps 5-10, described below, and form a launch plan based on this.

Break the project into smaller tasks, estimate completion dates and deadlines, compare them with human resources, according to the skills and experience of the participants, break them into groups. Here you can test (and debug) the decision-making process that was approved in step 3. The facilitator, coordinator, or chair may need to be there to guide people and make sure that the work is done and everything is going more or less as planned. Make sure everyone is ready to learn together, in the process of working together.

5. Analyze yourself and your abilities.

You are a group of freelancers totally absorbed in your core specialization, right? It seems to be so. At the same time, the majority of cooperative participants most likely have skills and experience that they do not “demonstrate”, or even forget that they are available. Your new venture will demand a more global vision, and it is more likely that prosperity will wait if everyone fully understands what contribution can make to the success of a common cause. Experience in areas such as marketing, business proposal preparation, bookkeeping, business management, negotiation, meeting organization, training, technical support, office maintenance and even politics can be invaluable to a cooperative.

Before you go further, spend some time on the real excavations. Think about conducting a survey that will go beyond the summary, contain open and verifiable questions. This process usually brings pleasant surprises; upon completion, almost everyone is impressed by the fact that they have learned something new about their team and their changing perceptions of its capabilities. Thus, this process not only clarifies the available resources of the cooperative, but also helps to unite the team, and also gives rise to ideas for entering new markets, offering new services, in other words, opportunities that you have not even thought about before.

6. Test the feasibility of the idea: measure seven times

At this stage, the confidence of all the participants is quite high. As a group of independent professionals, you most likely feel that your knowledge is sufficient for success. When starting a business from scratch, it makes sense to conduct a market research and an economic assessment of feasibility in order to substantiate and quantify your excellent idea in detail. If there are not enough customers in the market, or the cost of your services is too high for their income level, it’s better to know advance and not spend money and time on an idea that does not justify itself.

In your case, you run a business similar in many respects to what the cooperative team used to do alone before, so most likely you already have a fairly clear idea of ​​whether the cooperative business model is feasible. But if you want to add new elements to your business model, you need to think carefully about what financial indicators you can achieve. In any case, an economic assessment of expediency (informal or strictly formal, depending on your needs) is an important step in the development of your cooperative.

So, you are at the stage “measure seven times”. This is not only a manifestation of caution (and the so-called “legal expertise”); You can also be sure that all team members are aware of the opportunities they face. There is another reason - this is team training, because it is extremely important that you have common expectations regarding the future of your cooperative. Do a SWOT analysis to determine your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (step 5 to help you), and brainstorm on how to mitigate negative factors and make maximum use of positive ones. What make changes? Do you need an office, additional equipment, accountant assistance, etc.? Do you want to start small and still work at home in the living room, and then grow into a separate office? Or are you ready to immediately invest in some things?

Gather a team of members of your team from those who like to delve into the numbers, spend time on calculations, and then organize a general presentation. Особое внимание уделите финансам — хотя Вам может и не понадобятся большие инвестиции от участников кооператива, преданность делу, объединенная с финансированием умножает ваши шансы на успех.

Перепроверьте свою маржу, расходы, налоговые обязательства и т. Д. Сделайте консервативный прогноз ваших расходов и доходов. Создайте как оптимистичные, так и пессимистичные сценарии и убедитесь, что все о них осведомлены и отдают себе отчет в возможных рисках.

Хотя ваша команда имеет достаточно знаний о рынке, на котором вы планируете работать, не лишним будет организовать нестандартное маркетинговое исследование. Многие, кто имеет опыт запуска кооперативов, подчеркивают необходимость проведения относительно объективной экономической оценки целесообразности независимым человеком, чтобы ее признали заслуживающей доверия; контакты можно получить в справочнике Democracy at Work, указанном в шаге 8.

Консультация профессионального маркетолога в вашей сфере как минимум позволит сверить ваши предположения и дать критическое представление о трендах индустрии и новых рынках. Некоторые кооперативы предпочитают отдавать проведение маркетинговых активностей на аутсорсинг, чтобы сотрудники могли сосредоточиться на выполнении производственных задач, которыми им нравится заниматься. Необходимо, чтобы ваша команда устроила яркую маркетинговую презентацию, где каждый расскажет о результатах проведенных исследований, и тогда дух сотрудничества будет способствовать поиску новых, более крупных клиентов.
Результат этого процесса также станет базой для разработки Вашего бизнес-плана, о чем пойдет речь в следующих шагах.

7. Бизнес-план

Если вы добросовестно прошли все предыдущие шаги, на этом этапе вам просто нужно будет “собрать всё воедино”. Возможно, разработка бизнес-плана не откроет для вашей команды ничего нового, но в процессе вы обратите внимание на зоны, требующие более детальной проработки или группового обсуждения. Также это важно для введения в курс дела новых членов кооператива — фрилансер, раздумывающий о присоединении к вашей команде, захочет посмотреть бизнес-план предприятия и получить всю необходимую для принятия решения информацию.

Если Вы хотите взять кредит или получить кредитную линию в банке, потенциальные кредиторы захотят ознакомиться с бизнес-планом, и пожелают, чтобы он был очень детально проработан. (Итак, еще раз: если вы начинаете с малого, с самофинансирования, вам может и не понадобится очень формально написанный бизнес-план. Но в случае необходимости привлечения новых участников, либо кредитных средств, он должен быть написан по всем правилам). Важно, чтобы ваш бизнес-план чётко отражал финансовые и другие риски для его участников, и тогда ваши потенциальные партнёры будут иметь возможность принять взвешенное решение до того, как инвестируют время, энергию и свой капитал.

Традиционный бизнес-план обычно содержит: краткое резюме документа, информацию о компании, описание продуктов и услуг, маркетинговый и финансовый планы, а также различные сопровождающие документы. Так как вы, как группа профессионалов, хорошо знакомы с индустрией, возможно, сможете написать большую часть силами кооператива. (С другой стороны, независимая оценка добавит авторитета для кредиторов, если вам нужно дополнительное финансирование. Если вы планируете привлечь профессионала позже, сфокусируйтесь сейчас на сборе информации и выработке основных стратегий, а придание финального лоска оставьте ему).

8. Организационный план

Наконец, пришло время определиться с типом юридического лица, который будет использовать ваш кооператив, и его оформить. Будет ли ваш кооператив партнерством, обществом с ограниченной ответственностью или корпорацией? Есть ли в вашем штате особое законодательство о компаниях кооперативного типа? Вы должны изучить преимущества и недостатки всех возможных типов и обсудить их командой. Наиболее важные вопросы: в каком объеме владельцы разделяют юридическую ответственность организации; каким образом облагается налогом прибыль предприятия; насколько легко зарегистрировать юридическое лицо и им управлять; и насколько легко будет добавлять или исключать членов в будущем.

Можно обратиться к уже работающим ИТ-кооперативам, чтобы они поделились с вами своим опытом. Если у вас есть возможность нанять опытного адвоката, который бы помог вам разобраться с юридическими аспектами во избежание серьезных неприятностей в будущем, это определенно стоит сделать. (Но остерегайтесь адвокатов, которые не разбираются в особенностях работы кооперативов. Некоторые из них имеют сильные ложные убеждения в этом вопросе и только внесут путаницу).

Когда определитесь с правовой структурой, создайте ваши основные уставные документы, управленческие и операционные процедуры. Вам может потребоваться соглашение о партнерстве (для полного товарищества), Устав организации и учредительный договор (для ООО), или Свидетельство о регистрации корпорации (в случае Корпорации). Среди прочего, в них должны быть обязательно прописаны: первоначальная капитализация участников, ответственность, процедура принятия решений, распределение прибыли, правопреемство, выход участников и процедура ликвидации.

Этот этап может отнять много сил, но небольшая предусмотрительность в этих вопросах позволит предотвратить очень болезненные ситуации в будущем. Некоторые люди легко справляются с такого рода работой. Вам нужно обнаружить таких в вашей команде и предоставить им возможность руководить этим процессом. Опять же, помощь адвоката здесь будет очень полезна, либо вы можете позаимствовать для переработки Уставные документы функционирующих производственных кооперативов.

Если вы разработали документы самостоятельно, вам нужен юрист, который, по крайней мере, проверит их, прежде чем вы пойдете дальше. Также вам нужно создать первоначальный план операционной деятельности, где будут описаны все политики и процедуры, по которым ваш кооператив будет работать.

9. Регистрация и запуск

Во-первых, прежде чем получить первый доллар дохода, найдите хорошего бухгалтера, который настроит бухгалтерский учёт вашего кооператива. Если в вашей команде есть человек, который “дружит с цифрами”, он может выполнять эту роль; в противном случае вам может потребоваться помощь внешнего специалиста. В любом случае, настройте эту работу заранее. Позже вы скажете себе за это “спасибо”.

Теперь, когда все предварительные подготовительные этапы пройдены и вы готовы совершить финальные шаги и юридически основать свой бизнес. Далее подайте все необходимые документы и ждите подтверждения; зарегистрируйтесь в Вашем штате и Федеральном правительстве, чтобы получить реквизиты работодателя; зарегистрируйте свое предприятие. (Вероятно, в вашем штате или городе доступны «Руководства по запуску предприятия малого бизнеса», которые помогут вам не пропустить ни одного шага). Соберите со всех участников первоначальные денежные взносы («долевое участие») и положите их на открытый для вашего кооператива банковский счет. Потратьте время на изучение различных видов страхования бизнеса и приобретите подходящую вам страховку (особенно важно обеспечить страхование гражданской ответственности за причинение вреда третьим лицам, страхование на случай ущерба вследствие ошибки или упущения).

10. Doing business

You did it! Although, wait, this is just the beginning. Start your business! Share information about your new status with existing customers, or advertise to find new ones. Be sure to disclose the benefits of your cooperative in your marketing activities; You may be surprised to learn that people are happy to work with you, as they perceive your team as democratic, trustworthy, responsible and ethical, or for some other positive ideas about you.

Скорее всего, многие вещи проявятся только после того, как вы по-настоящему начнёте работать вместе: не совсем работающие структуры и процедуры, всплывут ситуации, к которым вы не были готовы. Ничего страшного, просто обязательно фиксируйте ваши операционные политики и процедуры и пересматривайте их в случае необходимости.

Обязательно часто встречайтесь всем составом кооператива. Подробно ведите протоколы каждого собрания — прописывайте обсуждаемые вопросы, принятые решения и совершенные действия. Тщательно записывайте и храните эти записи, поскольку они являются юридическим подтверждением ваших бизнес-решений.

Убедитесь, что ваши сотрудники в курсе положения дел в кооперативе: его политиках и процедурах, финансовом положении и т. д. Большинство производственных кооперативов считают, что это способствует непрерывному обучению всех участников — в области финансов, управления бизнесом, маркетинга, а также развитие корпоративной культуры, что укрепляет бизнес и способствует предотвращению проблем. Поддерживайте отношения с другими производственными кооперативами в вашей отрасли и в регионе для получения поддержки и поддержания духа солидарности. Если в вашем районе есть местная федерация производственных кооперативов, присоединяйтесь!

Истории создания и функционирования производственных кооперативов

This is followed by the stories of ten small democratically controlled IT service providers, told from the first mouth. Seven of them are production cooperatives from all over the United States, providing a wide range of technological services (design, programming, hosting, repair) with different business structures. They are followed by the stories of three cooperative enterprises, which can not quite be called production cooperatives: one in the process of transformation into a cooperative, an informal producer cooperative and an informal consumer cooperative, managed on a voluntary basis.

Каждый из десяти авторов говорит с разных точек зрения — вы прочтете истории формирования кооперативов и их деятельности, узнаете о финансовых структурах, истории запуска бизнеса, совместной работы, аспекты организации работы группы и процесса принятия решений, условиях труда, схемах оплаты/распределения вознаграждения и ценностях компаний, а также об опыте взаимодействия между разными кооперативами — все 10 историй демонстрируют огромный и вдохновляющий диапазон возможностей, доступных для использования в демократически управляемых группах.

ИСТОРИИ: Brattleboro Tech Collective

Автор: Джейсон Мотт

Как инженер-программист я вышел из корпоративной среды. Я получил свои технические навыки во время ИТ- бума 1990-х годов. В течение этого десятилетия мне удалось вырасти в довольно опытного инженера-программиста. Однако, меня не покидало ощущение, что чего-то не хватает. Не было уважения со стороны руководства. Я чувствовал себя эксплуатируемым. Мне это напоминало мои первые годы на заводе в качестве рабочего. Я всегда был осведомлён о проблемах “трудящихся”, но в конце концов осознал их. Я начал понимать, что богатство строится на дешевой рабочей силе, то есть эксплуатации людей, которым не платят столько, сколько на самом деле стоит их время.

Причиной того, что я и мои коллеги кочевали с одной работы на другую, сталкивались с увольнениями, было то, корпорации безо всякого зазрения совести добивались удешевления рабочей силы. С особым усилием они заставляли нас конкурировать с индийским рынком труда, где работа стоит копейки.

Мне хотелось работать на себя, но я не был заинтересован и не хотял тратить силы на объединение с кем-либо. Мне импонировало профсоюзное движение, но я не видел в этом пути, который обеспечит владение собственным трудом. Второй вариант — начать собственное дело. Тем не менее, я знал, что если пойду по данному пути, то в один прекрасный день я стану тем “плохим парнем”, стремящимся заполучить дешевую рабочую силу. Нет, мне хотелось быть хозяином собственного труда, и никогда даже не пытаться завладеть чужим. Кроме того, я не желал работать в одиночку.

Отличным решением стало присоединиться к движению профессионалов-собственников! Как только я узнал о таком формате бизнеса, начал искать возможности стать его частью. И это привело меня в Brattleboro Tech Collective (BTC) Братлборо, штат Вермонт. BTC была дочерней компанией Eggplan Active Media.

BTC пишет и поддерживает веб-приложения с открытым исходным кодом. При создании компании мотивами стали не только страсть к веб-технологиям и желание участников быть равноценными собственниками, но и желание поддерживать очень личные, и поэтому хрупкие взаимоотношения в команде, бдительно следить, чтобы они находились в балансе. Структура, при которой все работники являются владельцами уникальна тем, что каждый член должен в равной степени принимать участие в контроле за денежными потоками, управлении и заработком. Это неизбежно приводит к конфликтам, которые, при неправильном подходе к их решению, могут разрушить всю систему, от функционирования которой зависит каждый участник.

Чтобы всего этого избежать, в BTC создана культура честных взаимоотношений, интенсивного общения и уважения друг к другу. Мы установили процедуру проведения ежемесячного общего собрания в течение целого дня, где мы обсуждаем все вопросы, которые на уме у каждого и могут повлиять на участников кооператива, положительно или отрицательно. На этом собрании мы принимаем большинство важных решений с использованием модели консенсуса. Мы также создали правило, которое лежит в основе всех остальных правил: постоянная их корректировка по ходу дела. Это означает проявление достаточной гибкости, чтобы изменять установленные процедуры, если они больше не работают.

Когда BTC начал свою работу, два участника-основателя решили, что у них не будет удаленных сотрудников. Все они должны были жить в Братлборо или около него и работать в одном офисе вместе. Это стало основой эффективной коммуникации, необходимой для обеспечения здоровой атмосферы в команде. В рамках правила “корректировки по ходу дела”, это правило с тех пор было нарушено, и у нас есть один удаленный участник. Но важно отметить, что он первые несколько лет работал с нами в BTC в офисе Браттлборо. Кроме того, он по-прежнему лично посещает ежемесячные собрания. У нас по-прежнему присутствует правило, что любой новый участник должен начать работать в офисе Братлборо, чтобы мы имели возможность узнать ее или его достаточно хорошо, чтобы поддерживать необходимую интенсивность общения.

Благодаря нашей структуре, мы создали невероятную компанию, принадлежащую работникам, в основе работы которой лежать твердые принципы, доказавшие свою эффективность. Эти принципы включают в себя ограничение количества часов работы в день и в неделю, назначение достойной ставки за работу, которая учитывает ценность нашего труда, очень внимательное отношение к тому, с какими клиентами мы работаем, и получение удовольствия от работы, которую мы выполняем. Эти принципы не только позволяют нам производить программное обеспечение высокого качества для наших клиентов, но и дают нам возможность владеть собственным трудом!

ИСТОРИИ: Design Action Collective

Автор: Сабина Басра

Design Action Collective is a graphic design studio in Oakland, California. We are a company created to meet the need for visual communication for progressive movement, the driver of which is our mission. We are also a production cooperative with six members.

Design Action was founded in 2002 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Inkworks Press, owned by printing workers, established in 1973 to provide support for the social change movement.

When the revolution in the field of designing for the printing industry happened in the 1980s, the Inkworks computer prepress department quickly expanded, offering layout services and graphic design services. As graphic design became an increasingly important element for non-profit organizations and activist groups, Inkworks faced the fact that design and prepress processes were not always well combined. After a series of discussions on how to ensure the high-quality implementation of both directions, it was decided to allocate the design direction into a separate business unit.

Thus was born the company Design Action. Two Inkworks designers went there, and they were replaced by prepress specialists. Having started working at home in a living room in Berkeley, as a small studio of 2 people, Design Action quickly expanded and expanded the range of services provided. In 2003, we moved to the center of Auckland and initially shared office space with Ruckus Society and the Third World Majority. Then we began to attract new members of the cooperative. In 2008, Design Action moved again, and now occupies more than 2,000 square meters. office space in downtown Auckland.

Despite the fact that we are also working closely with Inkworks, each company is an independent production cooperative. We work with the same clients, and Design Action has managed to expand the range of services by developing design for the Internet and multimedia, as well as for other types of printing, such as printing on T-shirts and banners. Now we also offer the development of full-cycle advertising campaigns, including copyright, communication strategies, which are becoming increasingly important for campaigns whose work is aimed at making social change.

Without urging to chase the image, neglecting the essence, we in Design Action are sure that the “For Social Justice” movement has enough good ideas, theories and even good reliable models to implement the necessary changes. At the same time, the other side spends billions of dollars annually, bombarding citizens with messages that there is no alternative to the current device. Therefore, it is so important for progressive organizations to find a way to clearly convey their concept of the development of society, and the task of Design Action is to provide opportunities to realize this through visual communication.

At the same time, Inkworks was able to pay more attention to the technical side of printing and prepress - to modernize its printing presses, as well as to launch an online order-taking system. Thus, the separation turned out to be a win-win for both companies.

Design Action originally borrowed most procedures from Inkworks. We have a clear decision-making system and an equal payment system. The probationary period for admission to the cooperative is 9 months, and we do not have a down payment. Weekly team meetings are held during off-hours, but are considered as a contribution to the enterprise as a political project.

Most day-to-day decisions are made by a two-thirds majority. However, some of the more important decisions that strongly influence the work of the entire cooperative (for example, hiring and firing) are made by consensus. We also have weekly production meetings (as scheduled), where we distribute work and inform each other about upcoming projects. Each participant has administrative duties, responsibilities for project management, design development and production. In working roles, positions there is no separation. We have an accountant who visits us once a week, but we all have to be aware of the state of our bank accounts, payroll and invoices to customers.

Design Action Company is registered as a California cooperative modeled on Rainbow Grocery, Arizmendi cooperatives and other similar formats. Members of our team are actively involved in various social movements, and the company is also a member of the Gulf Production Cooperative Network, the Federation of Production Cooperatives of the United States and our Union of American Communications Workers (AFL-CIO). The fact that we are part of the Union allows us to have a voice in the labor movement and ensures that we continue to adhere to Union standards as our cooperative grows. Design Action also has been certified as a “Green Company” in the Alameda District.

At the end of each fiscal year, a part of the profit is distributed to each member of the team in proportion to the hours worked this year. 75% of the profits are distributed among all participants according to the principle mentioned above, and the remaining 25% is left to the cooperative. Remuneration is paid in installments to ensure cash flow in Design Action accounts.

Most of the members of the Design Action team are non-white people who are native speakers of Indonesian, Spanish, Hindi and some Bengali languages. We strive for diversity in our team when we attract new members. In the future, we hope to organize internship and training programs so that more people become specialists in political graphic design.

STORIES: Electric Embers

Author: Brent Emerson

Electric Embers (EE) is a production cooperative that provides Internet hosting services to progressive non-profit organizations, cooperatives, artists, and other related organizations. We strive to help our customers first imagine, and then create a world that will be fairer, more stable and beautiful, providing an Internet hosting service that is different from the ordinary in terms of environmental friendliness, economy and social responsibility.

EE's roots go back to 2001: Adam Bernstein set up and deployed open source software to provide his consulting clients with the ability to use high-quality communications within small budgets. At the same time, I was engaged in transferring my Linux hobby server, used for friends and family, into a small side business. We met as technical consultants working on a non-commercial basis, and soon we were co-founders of the IT underground.
It soon became clear that we were faced with a dilemma: we liked working with non-profit organizations, but we did not have the opportunity to actively use our favorite UNIX-like operating systems and free open source software. Our small hosting companies became the launching pad, and we naturally began to cooperate: Adam leased his area when I needed an upgrade, I was engaged in supporting his clients, when he went to India for a long time; we jointly bought and used a backup server. Over time, we realized that by working together, we can achieve more than ourselves. And so, in May 2003, Electric Embers was born.

The progenitors of EE as a legal entity became me and Adam, as sole proprietors. We studied various options and chose the format of a general partnership, which seemed the simplest and most reasonable solution for the development of our self-managed business. Writing a partnership agreement, in which we consolidated our democratic principles of governance, was not very difficult (with the help of a couple of books), and I was able to file the tax returns of our company without any help from an accountant. Nevertheless, by 2005 we decided to add a third employee (and now we are looking forward to the fourth, and maybe the fifth), and the static partnership structure turned out to be an obstacle to this; technically partnerships must be terminated and re-registered upon arrival or deletion of a partner.

As our business grew, we also began to understand the personal property responsibility we had, using the form of a Partnership. Thanks to our membership in NoBAWC, we had the opportunity to learn about the different types of legal entities used by other production cooperatives on the coast. This time, keeping in mind the need to protect the responsibility and succession of members, we reformed into an Electric Embers cooperative consisting of three participants, choosing what seemed to be the most appropriate structure: we united in accordance with the California Consumer Cooperatives Act, following the format concept of membership and patronage. We hired an experienced lawyer who helped develop the Bylaws, and consulted with a professional accountant about our bookkeeping — he is now preparing income statements for us. As we became employees of the corporation, we retained payroll services to calculate our income taxes.

EE does not have a single working space - all 3 participants work from their homes in Auckland and Portland, San Francisco. Each of us works 4 days a week in a sliding schedule, so 2-3 people are on duty every day. We talk for 1-2 hours once a week during working hours; for the rest of the time, all our communication takes place via e-mail, or in the ticket system, which we use to organize the work of projects for clients, or in direct messages to each other. When we all lived in the same metro zone, we often held meetings at one of us, rather than by telephone, and then worked together all day to develop a comradely spirit and maintain social connections, which is difficult to do at a distance. . All our decisions are made by consensus; Now there are only 3 members in the company, the process is fairly loosely organized, but it may be necessary to make it more formal if we encounter disagreements or emotional problems.

Every two years we get together for a short “corporate event”, during which we develop a strategic plan for the development of our cooperative, which is then re-evaluated and updated in the future. As our business grew and our systems improved, we became two “clones” (which duplicate each other’s work functions) into a unified team of three people, with different specializations, chosen on the basis of the interests and skills of each. Our division of labor is a balance between coarse symmetry (we can all perform equally well the duties of regular system administrators and customer support staff), and growing specialization in certain technologies, as well as other aspects of running a business.

As a result, EE can provide a good level of customer service on an ongoing basis, regardless of who is at work today, while benefiting from the use of deeper skills that participants gain by focusing on specific tasks.

Looking into the future, we have to admit that, despite our slow but steady growth over the past 5 years, our industry is unpredictable. On the one hand, the main technologies that we use are 20-30 years old. On the other hand, it often becomes clear that the Internet is on the verge of change: from a structure where many powerful users on the network freely exchange data, and there is a place for organizations such as EE to a structure where several companies are located in the center of network storage and control the flow of information.

We try to find a solution to this problem every 2 years, while updating our strategic plan. One of the results of this is that we consider personal customer service as our main product, not the Internet technology itself - we will never compete with Google for price or fashionable technology, but our customers are delighted with how we communicate with them and respond to their requests. Other issues we face are: should we advertise ourselves more aggressively to ensure faster growth? What is the optimal size for our business? What salary corresponds to our work? What gives more benefits to business - working together in one office or working from home? Is our current division of labor fair and sustainable? We are not able to be both marketers, accountants, economists, sociologists, futurists (when we mostly want to be IT specialists), however, we are still interested in addressing these issues with inspiration.

STORIES: GAIA Host Collective

By: Benjamin Bradley

GAIA Host Collective offers Internet hosting services, domain registration, provision of managed dedicated servers, creating managed applications for organizing e-mail newsletters, managing the base for them, and developing custom web applications with open source. We try to contribute to environmental sustainability and support the social justice movement through non-profit organizations and cooperatives.

The history of the GAIA Host Collective began with the company Onechoice Digital, which provided Internet hosting services and was registered as an individual entrepreneur, owned by web designer Charles Streider, now co-founder of Gaia Host. Onechoice was sold to a new enterprise, Gaia Host Collective LLC, founded in October 2004 by Charles, in collaboration with Mark Bucchereli. Having bought an existing company, rather than creating it from scratch, Mark and Charles spent the first two years trying to increase their customer base and build a basic technical and organizational business infrastructure. At the end of 2006, Mark's professional priorities changed, and he began to gradually go out of business. At the same time, Charles began to discuss with Benjamin Bradley joining the team. Over the next two years, Charles and Benjamin spent a lot of time expanding the range of services offered, improving their internal business infrastructure, and forming strategic partnerships with web designers and website developers who shared their values. As of September 2008, we feel that we are ready to attract a third co-owner employee.
Why did we choose the format of a production cooperative?

Charles: “I strive to build relationships in the form of collaboration in my personal life as well as at work. Having experience in traditional corporations and Internet start-ups, I consciously worked on the creation of a production cooperative based on my initial business. I believe that employee-owned businesses can play a key role in creating a fully democratic society of empowered people. ”

Benjamin: “I heard about the model of the Mondragon Corporation, the amazing success story of employee-owned cooperatives. I was disappointed in the format of work in a tightly regulated structure, over which I had no control, and where I received a small reward. Most of all I was tired of wasting my time and energy on a company that gave me practically nothing in terms of satisfaction with life, except for monetary rewards. Before, several years ago, I had more than once thought about how to empower workers, believing that the employee-owner would be more interested in the success of the business, more creative in solving problems, and this would provide him with a higher quality of life. ”

We decided to register GAIA Host Collective as a limited liability partnership in Massachusetts, and not as a cooperative. The choice of format LLC has given us the following advantages:

• We could become a bit more creative and organized like a group of equals, embodying our organizational principles in LLC
• In LLC, the owners do not have to be “hired workers”, which allows us to work on a pure profit distribution model without the restrictions that accompany the presence of employees
• Ease of creating and registering an organization. To create a cooperative, three members are required, and GAIA Host was only launched by two people.
• Ease of preparing annual financial statements and a simple tax calculation system

The main disadvantage of this structure is that each member of an LLC is obliged to pay self-employment tax on the basis of its profit, while a member of a cooperative can pay self-employment tax, taking into account only wages. (This problem still exists, and the legal precedent of one co-operative on this matter is under consideration in court, and is awaiting the decision of the IRS as of the summer of 2008.)

У GAIA Host нет центрального офиса; сотрудники работают из дома или откуда сами захотят. Мы распределяем между собой смены дежурства, чтобы техническая поддержка была доступна клиентам 24 часа в сутки, но у нас нет фиксированного графика работы в остальное время. Таким образом, каждый участник свободно выбирает себе место работы и, в значительной степени, свой график. Это дает большую свободу каждому, но может вызывать затруднения в групповой работе.
Мы разработали набор «лучших решений», чтобы по максимуму использовать уникальность такого формата работы, а также сгладить потенциальные проблемы:

Расстановка приоритетов. Когда всплывают вопросы для обсуждения, мы распределяем их по “приоритету срочности”:
Серьезная проблема — следует обратиться к другому участнику по телефону для срочной консультации, Проблема средней срочности — требует внимания в ближайшее время, но не критична. Проблема, не имеющая большого значения — следует отправить имейл для обсуждения в обычном порядке

Еженедельные встречи. Мы встречаемся в режиме онлайн (в закрытом чате), чтобы обсудить нерешенные технические вопросы, бизнес-планирование, планирование графика работы и другие вопросы средней срочности. В период, когда Бенджамин интенсивно работал над наращиванием оборота бизнеса, у нас были встречи два раза в неделю, и, как только он вышел на удовлетворяющий уровень, сократили их до одного раза в неделю.

Персональная “рефлексия”. Мы делимся личной “рефлексией” во время наших еженедельных собраний, это значит, что каждый участник должен озвучить свои стрессы по поводу бизнеса, и не только. Мы также можем обсуждать «интуитивные» ощущения во время этих встреч, связанные с бизнесом, клиентами или членами нашей команды. Поскольку мы мало контактируем друг с другом непосредственно, жизненно важно заранее проработать потенциально разрушительные ситуации, а не позволять им кипеть и превращаться в обиды. Это помогает нам в GAIA Host поддерживать очень высокий уровень доверия друг к другу и эффективно работать относительно независимо на протяжении месяцев.

Принятие решений на основе консенсуса. GAIA Host взяла на себя обязательство использовать принцип консенсуса в качестве нашей модели принятия решений. Достигнуть консенсуса было относительно легко с участием только двух членов, хотя иногда мы «отстранялись» от решения, когда по сути соглашались не соглашаться.

Баланс принятия решений, принимающихся индивидуально и коллективно. Большинство повседневных задач так или иначе являются рутинными. В общем, решение всех вопросов, которые выходят за пределы категории «ранее всплывающих проблем», отдается на откуп участника, с ними столкнувшимся. Коллективно должны осуществляться крупные финансовые закупки, а также производиться значительные изменения в технической инфраструктуре.

Отслеживание ответственности. Целью нашей системы подотчетности является поддержание высокого качества работы, выполняемой нашей командой. На сегодняшний день мы сообщаем о пропущенных сроках и невыполненных обязательствах, а также об ошибках, которые значительно повлияли на финансы, временные затраты или наш имидж в глазах клиента. Каждый может подать отчет об ответственности любого участника компании, включая себя самого. Эта идея все еще на ранней стадии внедрения, но уже хорошо сработала для повышения нашей осведомленности о перечисленных выше проблемах.

GAIA Host Collective сейчас вступает в фазу большого роста. Мы уже расширили нашу физическую инфраструктуру и находимся в процессе добавления третьего сотрудника-собственника. Когда это случится, межличностная динамика команды значительно изменится, перейдя от команды из пары человек к группе. Мы с воодушевлением принимаем эти вызовы и находимся в поиске возможностей как для личного, так и профессионального роста. В процессе поиска третьего участника нашей команды мы запрашиваем конкретные технические навыки, а также ожидаем от него заинтересованности в развитии бизнеса как организации.

Однако основным критерием отбора потенциальных кандидатов является желание работать в такой компании, как наша. Поскольку GAIA Host является коллективом, принадлежащим работникам, основа нашего бизнеса — это люди. GAIA Host дает больше возможностей участникам для реализации своих ценностей в работе. Мы заботимся о людях и окружающей среде и хотим, чтобы данные ценности находили отражение в нашей работе.

ИСТОРИИ: Quilted

Авторы: все члены команды Quilted

Quilted — это компания, принадлежащая работникам, объединяющая технологии и социальные преобразования, предоставляя услуги по разработке графического дизайна, веб-разработке и стратегическому консалтингу частным лицам и организациям, преследующим аналогичные цели деятельности. Мы делаем ставку на очень удобный дизайн, выполненный по стандартам, и используем технологии с открытым кодом, такие как Drupal, WordPress и Ruby on Rails.

Компания Quilted появилась на свет благодаря тому, что небольшая группа людей осознала искреннюю потребность зарабатывать на жизнь тем, что нам небезразлично, и оказывать позитивное влияние на мир. Как результат нашей первой встречи в Бруклине в конце 2004 года мы эволюционировали от сети, состоящей из пяти независимых фрилансеров, к компании с ограниченной ответственностью из трех человек в середине 2007 года, в которую вошли два сотрудника, занятых на постоянной основе и стажёр, находящийся в районе Залива. И в Бостоне у нас на сегодня есть один постоянный сотрудник, а также один потенциальный кандидат на участие с частичной занятостью.

К моменту нашей первоначальной встречи в 2004 году, двое из нас — Эрик Хопп и Бен Мауэр — уже начали работать по субподряду, но всех объединяло недовольство тогдашней ситуацией. Первоначальное воодушевление от свободы, которую дает фриланс, к тому времени прошло, и мы страдали от отсутствия структуры, недостатка социального общения, последовательности в работе и стагнации навыков. Те же, кто работал по найму, были разочарованы зачастую опустошающей природой работы в корпорации: отсутствие реальной заинтересованности в работе, а также ощущения, что твоя работа имеет хоть какую-то ценность для общества.

В течение двух лет мы работали как сеть независимых фрилансеров под общим именем и портфолио, на условиях эксклюзивного субподряда, но наши бизнес-показатели сократились, так как три участника первоначальной группы решили, что фриланс им не подходит. Кто-то устроился на работу, кто-то пошёл учиться в аспирантуру. В конце 2006 года Эрик переехал из Новой Англии в район Залива и начал сотрудничество с Колином Саганом, между ними возникла настоящая профессиональная “химия”, и тогда Эрик предложил Колину присоединиться к Quilted.

С новым приливом энергии и небольшой, очень мотивированной группой мы решили совершить скачок и создать совместный бизнес. После долгих изучений мы выбрали формат компании с ограниченной ответственностью (ООО). Quilted всегда представлялся как кооператив или коллектив, принадлежащий его работникам, где каждый участник имеет равный вес в принятии решений, равную долю в награде за успех и равную ответственность за неудачу.

Мы выяснили, что, к сожалению, юридическая модель кооператива сложна, в ней не хватает ролевых моделей, профессионального опыта и ресурсов для тех, кто хочет создать демократическую рабочую среду, выходящую за пределы района Залива. В отличие от Калифорнийских кооперативов, формат ООО существует во всех 50 штатах, и практически любой юрист и бухгалтер понимает основные его юридические и налоговые нюансы. Мы считаем одной из своих долгосрочных целей распространение информации о том, как можно использовать ООО в качестве эффективной юридической формы для кооперативов и коллективов, и таким образом уменьшить «барьер для входа», не позволяющий, по нашему мнению, многим людям, запустить свой кооператив, хотя сама идея им нравится.

За прошедший год Quilted добилась значительного прогресса в расширении наших бизнес-возможностей, в продуктивности сотрудничества команды, работающей не только в рамках побережья, а также в создании системы работы, которая поддерживает Quilted как бизнес, а его участников — как личностей. Недавно завершил стажировку наш первый ученик, Алекс Хейдж, и начал обучение в рамках компании второй, Кайл Вагенер. Мы также наняли четвертого работника, не являющегося основателем, и рассматриваем ее в качестве потенциального участника кооператива, Мишель Мун Ли.

Сегодня Quilted прочно стоит на ногах, но мы как организация непрерывно обучаемся. Наша структура постоянно пересматривается, чтобы лучше отвечать потребностям бизнеса, членов команды и нашего сообщества. Вот краткое описание нашей текущей модели.

Мы принимаем решения на основе неформального консенсуса, а не системы голосования или вето. Иногда участник соглашается по вопросу, даже при отсутствии полной удовлетворенности, при достижении договоренности, что, по мере развития проекта или ситуации, сможет внести изменения.

Мы готовы принять новых участников после прохождения пробного периода в минимум 6 месяцев и 520 рабочих часов, по окончании которого мы можем сделать выводы. Также потенциальный участник должен внести долю в капитал в размере 5000 долларов.

Мы работаем по системе почасовой оплаты, выставляя счета нашим клиентам по скользящей шкале от 150 до 0 долларов в час, исходя из их платежеспособности. Как действующему, так и потенциальному члену, в равной степени платят 25 долларов в час за всю клиентскую и внутреннюю работу, а каждому ученику — 15 долларов в час. Социальный пакет предоставляются в виде ежемесячных или ежегодных выплат на поддержание здоровья и велнесс, оборудования и т.д. Определенный процент от прибыли на конец года реинвестируется в бизнес, а также откладывается на будущие субсидированные проекты. Оставшаяся прибыль делится между участниками на основе процента отработанных часов.

У нас есть две еженедельные встречи, еженедельные индивидуальные проверки и ежеквартальные аттестации участников. По понедельникам мы устраиваем рабочее совещание, на котором мы получаем краткую сводку нашего финансового состояния и просматриваем бюджет, статус и следующие шаги по каждому проекту. Совещание по стратегическому планированию мы проводим по пятницам, где размышляем о бизнесе Quilted, думаем об улучшении систем, которые помогут работать нам более эффективно.

Еженедельные индивидуальные проверки оказались невероятно эффективными для прояснения индивидуальных трудовых вопросов, помощи людям в решении сложных задач и создания духа сопричастности между офисами на разных побережьях. Каждые три-пять месяцев мы собираемся вместе для недельного корпоратива и проводим квартальную оценку нашей деловой активности, где у каждого участника есть возможность поделиться своими личными и профессиональными целями, и мы можем вместе подумать о способах их достижения.

Будущее Quilted выглядит многообещающим. Уже сейчас все участники имеют стабильный заработок, выполняя важную для них работу, в демократической рабочей среде, а наши клиенты наращивают свой бизнес-потенциал по доступным им ценам. Мы видим всё больше возможностей для решительного и уверенного роста нашей компании и укрепления бизнес-модели, чтобы иметь возможность оказывать более ощутимое влияние Quilted на общество. Мы вносим свой небольшой вклад в продвижение концепции демократического общества, развивая свой бизнес как пример кооператива с коллективным управлением, и служащий одной из моделей в многообразии идей, формирующих социально-справедливое будущее.

ИСТОРИИ: TechCollective

Автор: Йохай Гал

Существует много версий происхождения TechCollective; у каждого человека своя история. Я могу говорить только за себя. Моя история началась 3 года назад. Как и многие технические специалисты в районе Залива (ключевая роль здесь принадлежит тому, что мы технические специалисты, а не только веб-разработчики и графические дизайнеры), я не чувствовал свою значимость в компании, а скорее ощущал себя недооцененным там, где работал на тот момент. Я наблюдал, что к техническим специалистам, особенно специализирующимся на “железе”, как правило, отношение как младшим по чину. У меня появилось намерение создать кооператив технических специалистов. У меня были дикие идеи о создании огромной компании, своего рода супермаркета, такого как CompUsa, но работающего по системе кооператива. К счастью, я позвонил Дейву в NoBAWC и он убедил меня сделать шаг назад, начать с малого, найти сначала подходящих людей и т.д. После нескольких встреч меня настигло разочарование и я приостановил работу в этом направлении.

По стечению обстоятельств, я столкнулся со Свеном, моим старым другом, который переехал в Силиконовую долину на очень хорошо оплачиваемую работу (порядка, 45 долларов в час). Излишне говорить, что у него была отличная работа. Но он все больше ощущал себя игнорируемым и бессильным даже на такой работе. Итак, в День благодарения мы встретились и разработали план. Я остался в штате малоизвестной некоммерческой организации (так возможно сделать), и приступил к работе в Центральном компьютерном центре, в центре Сан-Франциско. Я решил туда проникнуть, чтобы собрать команду. Мягко говоря, это было очень наивно.

После 6 месяцев изматывающего труда (это было УЖАСНО), выполняя низкооплачиваемую техническую работу, я сблизился со многими их сотрудниками и менеджерами. Я собрал много информации, находясь там, как в целом по отрасли, так и по их специфике работы. Именно в тот момент они не только перестали повышать заработную плату, но и начали увольнять сотрудников по надуманным причинам. Это была многомиллионная компания, относящаяся к своим работникам, как к грязи. Именно тогда несколько сотрудников оттуда решили встретиться. Я не был первым, кто предложил покинуть компанию и создать свою собственную (возможно, прихватив некоторых клиентов Central!). Однако, я был тем, кто первым предложил идею кооператива. И им действительно понравилась эта идея! Мы решили встретиться в следующую субботу в Subway рядом с Central. Предполагалось, что нас на встрече будет четверо.

И тут случилось удивительное! Встреча в субботу собрала почти в 2 раза больше людей, чем ожидалось. Не все лица мне были знакомы — были люди, ранее покинувшие Central, либо сотрудники других ИТ-компаний. Свен тоже там присутствовал. Мы познакомились и единогласно решили, что начнём процесс юридической регистрации и договорились встретиться в следующую субботу. Всё началось именно тогда. В следующие несколько недель мы выбрали должностных лиц, придумали название, логотип и составили график работы.

Сначала нам было очень сложно, мы ничего не знали ни о бизнесе, ни о ведении бухгалтерского учета. Изначально мы зарегистрировались как партнерство, поняв позже, что это было очень плохой идеей. Мы писали регламенты, определялись с оплатой и т. д. Здесь было много споров, но в конце концов мы остановились на выставлении разной оплаты за разные работы. Например, веб-разработчик или программист зарабатывают вдвое больше, чем обычный технический специалист, так как они и приносят денег вдвое больше. Конечно, им платят так много, только когда они выполняют именно эту работу. Мы также ориентируемся в оплате на отраслевые стандарты.
Сразу же нам начали поступать телефонные звонки и рабочие запросы от других кооперативов и некоммерческих организаций. Некоторые наши старые друзья, работающие в других компаниях, также предложили нам работу. Мы работали очень много, иногда по 14 часов в день. Это были тяжелые первые несколько месяцев.

Были и внутренние проблемы. Я стал враждовать с одним из наших основателей. Вражда распространилась не только на совместную работу, а приобрела личный характер. Короче говоря, он решил уйти через четыре месяца. Не только по причине вражды, он также понял, что не верит в модель кооператива — в конце концов, она и правда не всем подходит. Я был вынужден выполнять вместо него работу бухгалтера и веб-мастера. Это было очень тяжело, у меня не было предрасположенности к математике. Я начал с того, что взял несколько частных уроков. Благодарю Бога, что послал мне Мелиссу из Arizmendi; она помогла мне больше, чем может предположить!

Прошло уже почти полтора года. Мы зарегистрированы как Калифорнийская кооперативная корпорация. Количество наших участников выросло — как в кадрах, так и в отработанных часах. От новых членов кооператива мы требуем внесения вступительного взноса, хотя ни от кого пока не получали его (были моменты, когда это было просто невозможно). Мы приобрели магазин в Mission на 23-й улице. Наша база клиентов также значительно выросла благодаря мощным прогрессивным движениям в обществе и в бизнес-сообществе. В настоящее время мы ведем переговоры о приобретении другой технологической компании, сотрудники которой согласились присоединиться к TechCollective в качестве полноправных членов. Они были, конечно, такой включены в процесс обсуждения, как и владелец компании. Надеемся, что однажды последуем модели Arizmendi и расширимся (но каждая локация будет независима и принадлежать ее членам). Вот и вся история!

STORIES: Web Collective

Author: Alex Tokar

Web Collective is a seven-person cooperative that provides professional-level Internet expertise services to enterprises and organizations focused on sustainable development. We are in Seattle and registered as a legal entity for 16 months.

Our path to building a Web Collective began with shared values, unshakable idealism and a common desire to find pragmatic solutions. We knew that we needed work, but we also realized that democracy in the workplace, saving the earth and social justice are important to us. Even without taking into account the values, it was clear to us that mutual trust is the most important component of success. The main driver of our evolution from individual owners to cooperative owners was the growing trust in each other. Evolutionary compensation policies and business practices reflect this growing trust and serve as markers of this in this transition.

The Web Collective began its existence in 2002 as a partnership of Internet professionals who met, volunteering at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (www.balleseattle.org). We found that people performing similar work and naturally competing can also naturally be partners. We started with subcontracting for small projects, and gradually confidence grew between us, as we had the opportunity to be convinced of the honesty and professionalism of each other.

In 2005, we met a student at Antioch College, who was studying the process of forming a production cooperative for his thesis. Although we were still not sure that we wanted to create a cooperative, we agreed to become his guinea pigs. Since for his thesis it was important for us to meet off-line, we planned a time for discussion. For several months, contacting only to share our thoughts about the format of the cooperative, we trusted each other more and understood our goals better. The main conclusion of the thesis is that the dialogue, namely, the process of listening to the ideas of other participants without any specific goal is crucial for our successful collaboration.

We decided to create a cooperative for several reasons. First, we wanted to take larger and more interesting projects. Secondly, there was a desire to benefit from economies of scale thanks to the joint accounting and office use. We also liked the idea of ​​having the opportunity to go on vacation, so that there were people nearby who could answer calls while retaining their right to vote in work management. However, we still had to learn to trust each other more to combine finances. To this end, we have identified the most urgent common problems that can be solved with the help of small, concrete steps. The most important decision taken at the initial stage was an obligation to work together one day a week, even if at that time we are engaged in our own projects. The establishment of this rule has expanded our opportunities for informal communication and brainstorming, and has promoted collaboration between the participants. We worked with Interra on the Boston Community Change project, which allowed us to gain experience in joint project work.

At that time, until the time of legal registration, we limited the number of founding members to seven in order to simplify the decision-making process. Then we went to a three-day cooperative to develop common values ​​and a concept of development, and there they decided to apply the principle of formal consensus for decision-making.

The evolution of our compensation system reflects the growing trust in each other within the team. Initially, most of us were individual entrepreneurs who subcontracted with each other on projects using a fixed rate. Then we began to participate in tender projects together, which required greater transparency and risk sharing. If the project was delayed or completed earlier, we would have suffered or won equally. It so happened that on different projects set completely different hourly rates. This was a problem in terms of a fair approach, as not all participated in all projects, but we all benefited from well-executed projects.

In accordance with the tradition to refer to the main agreements when creating titles, we called our first compensation plan for the newly created cooperative (May 2007) “Boot Strap-On”. Since we were already working together, it secured everyone. In order to balance the risks associated with the needs of the cooperative, we assigned a monthly fee for the company's expenses to each, and set an hourly rate for paid projects. This helped solve the problem of differences in payment for different projects. Each of us also made a contribution to a member of the cooperative.
In July, we switched to the “Boot Shining Sooth Sayers” payment system. In accordance with this policy, we set a base salary equal to the rate for twenty hours of work. Participants were paid hourly wages, standardized for all projects, and Web Collective paid its members time spent on unpaid projects. Mandatory testing of the fixed number of hours was not required.

We also experimentally introduced a bonus system called “What is important now!”, Which allows us to quickly highlight the general priorities of the company and then distribute the bonuses depending on the contribution of participants to these projects.

After a year of work, we were ready for our last transformation, this time it was a transition to a full salary payment system. According to the policy of “wallets-kidnappers”, we are now paid a fixed monthly salary, based on the established number of hours of employment per year. Each of us now has an obligation to work out the time stated for the year. Monthly hours spent are no longer paid directly for monthly payments.

People can significantly exceed the stated time of work, as well as experience a shortage of time. Now we even have paid holidays in the amount of six weeks per year! If at the end of the year we received payment, but did not fulfill the obligation for the elapsed time in full, we must company for this time. In order for this system to work, it is necessary to track in detail the time of each.

Over the past 16 months, significant changes have occurred in our policies and ways of doing business. The level of trust was a limiting factor in our development, its increase has become an important component of our success.

STORIES: Chicago Technology Cooperative

By: Jim Kraner

Chicago Technology Cooperative (CTC) is a team of web developers and designers that creates websites and online applications for non-profit organizations and public associations. In less than four years, the organization has increased its staff to nine people and works with clients from all over the United States. The CTC structure is rather unique, but I don’t think any of us would like to work anywhere else! As one of the founders of CTC and the current “managing partner” responsible for operations, I would like to tell a little about the history of its creation and tell about our values ​​to other people who are thinking about creating a cooperative or team.

CTC was founded in early 2005 by three colleagues who worked on the development of non-commercial technologies, performing different roles - from consultants to volunteers. Based on our experience, we concluded that there are no vendors on the market that would provide affordable and efficient IT services to non-profit organizations on an ongoing basis. We created a cooperative to be able to help non-profit organizations in need by solving their IT needs, and to do it on our own terms: use free software such as Linux, instead of relying on Microsoft's handouts! Virtual office with low overhead costs instead of a chic office in downtown Chicago! Most importantly, we wanted freedom in managing our daily work and career as a whole.

The first two years of the cooperative’s work were very complex: we had no money, no office, no real business and management skills, no marketing plan ... and too often, there were no customers. During this time, two of the three co-founders moved to other organizations, and the CTC staff was staffed by one founder, several part-time friends, and friendly freelancers. Everything progressed slowly, but we gradually began to work on more and more large projects during this period, which allowed us to eventually achieve some recognition in the Chicago non-profit community.

This led to the emergence of even larger projects. Finally, in the winter of 2006-07. we got such a big project that it made it possible for some of our freelancers to work full-time, so our permanent staff grew to three employees.

Over the past two years, the number of CTC employees has tripled and reached 9 people working in almost five different states. We gained experience in projects with different clients, ranging from neighboring tiny associations of citizens, to large national funds. Our employees are recognized as leaders in the software that we use, we publish software and case studies, and we also regularly speak at conferences. The key to success was that we relied in our work on principles shared by many teams and cooperatives.

Technically, our cooperative is a commercial corporation established according to the laws of the state of Illinois. In our state, as in many others, there is no legislation concerning traditional production cooperatives. Considering that our main mission is to assist non-profit organizations, rather than make a profit, sometimes the question of reorganizing us into a non-profit structure came up. However, we decided to leave the current appearance of the legal entity in order not to deal with the many rules and regulations that apply to non-profit organizations.

Unlike some other production cooperatives, we have not yet formally distributed the company's property to the whole team. It is still being discussed how best to do this - conversations on this topic, begun even before the founding of the CTC, continue in subsequent years. Approaches to the distribution of property, management, responsibility, and "profit" differ in each cooperative. We, most likely, will not finalize the structure until we achieve stability in size and we do not have more time to discuss issues relating to the team. The only thing we agreed on is that we all want the company to be jointly owned, where all teammates can be not only colleagues, but also co-owners.

The governance model is also often discussed, although we were able to find a hybrid between direct democracy and a benevolent dictatorship, and it works quite well. We try to remain as flat and non-hierarchical as possible: each team member has a say and we encourage everyone to participate in discussions on long-term planning, management issues and strategies until a sense of satisfaction is achieved. This happens both formally, during spontaneous common corporate events, and informally, in the process of daily interaction in our group chat. In the process of developing the company, it became clear that some team members, in fact, have no desire to participate in management discussions or in decision making - however, we continue to send them invitations to these meetings.

When we work on projects, it is impossible to remain a completely flat team: each project requires a manager to coordinate tasks between several team members and communicate with clients. We have one “managing partner” who sets priorities and distributes tasks among our several parallel projects; this officer also performs the general administrative and financial responsibilities that one person is supposed to perform.

Although we still do not comply strictly with the definition of a production cooperative, all CTC members are very pleased with the current situation and our prospects for the future. Currently, CTC allows each member to:

• work in an ideal environment with colleagues sharing many key values;
• work on interesting projects that satisfy us both as technicians and as individuals;
• be free to plan and control your career while maintaining a job and medical insurance.

The history of the creation and work of our cooperative was very interesting and intense, and we hope that we will continue in the same way in the foreseeable future!

STORIES: Tech Underground

Author: Brent Emerson

Tech Underground (TU) is not a cooperative of employees. More formally, one would call it a producer cooperative. Its members are independent technical consultants working in the local non-profit sector, providing IT consultancy services. They became part of the TU, for jointly selling services and having a community to collaborate, support and educate each other. TU is an example of an alternative way of doing business in which the balance of teamwork and individual responsibility is respected.

The history of TU began in 2001. Immediately after the Internet boom, The Management Center (TMC), a well-known non-profit consulting agency in San Francisco, came to the conclusion that it was time to launch an IT consulting service. They hired a program coordinator, whose work combined counseling for individual clients, as well as managing a network of freelance consultants. TMC sold its consulting program to clients in the following way: transferring projects of its network of freelancers and taking part of the payment for each hour to cover overhead costs. In a short period of time, freelancers got to know each other, attracted others working with non-profit organizations, and started meeting about once a month, or so, in informal meetings managed by the program coordinator.

The IT consulting program was successful, but the effect of the Internet boom was unpredictable: TMC also invested heavily in one of its main sources of income (the popular nonprofit job opportunity Opportunity NOCs), but was quickly replaced by a newcomer named Craigslist (site with electronic announcements). TMC was forced to wind down many of its areas, and technical consulting was one of the first.

We, freelancers, inherited TMC customers, but we suffered from the lack of a supporting network that formed between us. We all liked the benefits of independent work, including the freedom to manage our work (for example, the choice of equipment and software that needs to be promoted and supported, as well as which clients to work with and for what reason), and the lack of overhead (and, as a result, the need to take a lot of money for the work and reduce the rate of specialists). But we also felt the benefits of membership in a larger organization: access to technical expertise of colleagues, availability of labor resources to cover up emergency support, if necessary, well-organized marketing activities, and a search system for new clients, as well as market identity.

In 2002, wanting to recreate the elements of the TMC program, the four founders of the TU wondered where to start: should I register as a non-profit organization? As a result, we have chosen the simplest organizational and legal structure: its absence. We could not even have a partnership (after all, by default these are people united by joint business), because we did not have common assets and we did not work with clients on behalf of one organization. TU has become an informal pool of consultants who have separate business relationships with clients; A source of information for non-profit organizations that need technical assistance, a marketing resource and a resource for attracting clients, which will provide these consultants with services, will become a source of mutual assistance, cooperation and support.

We began to hold regular monthly meetings to develop materials that will help us sell our services together, as well as to communicate and exchange experiences. We created a quick guide to fix our policies and procedures.With regard to potential liability, we held a series of meetings and, ultimately, more clearly defined the contractual relationship between the client and the consultant and other systems in order to preserve our informal structure and at the same time protect ourselves. After the change of several generations of newcomers, and a period of sluggish activity of the participants, we regrouped, having spent a long time on self-determination and thoughtfully reviewing our Guide.

Responsibilities in a team are distributed in a certain way. The webmaster updates and monitors the operation of the shared website. When we receive a request from a potential client, the New Client Coordinator contacts him, and then sends the request to the Consultant Group Coordinator, who may end up serving the client.

If the TU cannot find a consultant among the participants of the association who is able to serve the client, the client is given recommendations from which external professionals can be contacted. The community coordinator governs the process of adding new members. There is an individual person who is responsible for document circulation and monitors the work system. He is responsible for the order in the storage system of all records and other documents, stores all written records and other systems of the group in order. There are also occasional meeting coordinators and secretaries who keep meeting minutes that help organize TU meetings every 6 weeks.

Where the TMC program failed, the self-managing model of the cooperative that the TU uses shows its effectiveness. Our fees (paid directly to consultants instead of going through filter stages, where overhead is deducted) are quite low to save our customers money, but high enough to support our needs. Customer-consultant relationships remain strong and are implemented directly. And unlike the group of disparate consultants, we have a lot of strong advantages that the consulting team gives us, increasing our reliability, expertise and geographic coverage. It is beneficial for TU customers to work with a united team, because it has more skills, knowledge and experience, greater accessibility than a single person.

In addition, the TU affiliate network provides a higher level of support than we originally expected. System consultants regularly assist each other and connect with clients who require a wide range of skills. We use our contact lists as a source of advice, industry information and answers to the most complex questions. The developers worked together on projects requiring both planning and customization; and often the TU system consultant is ultimately involved in the implementation! When two TU members began to provide Internet hosting services (eventually transformed by Electric Embers), new opportunities emerged for easier interaction and communication between the host and the consultant.

In the future, participants hope to provide free services together on days of group services for organizations that are not able to pay for their services. With six active members and 14 honored retired professionals and former members, Tech Underground belongs to the thriving non-profit IT community in the San Francisco Bay area.

STORIES: May First / People Link

Author: Alfredo Lopez

May First / People Link was created in 2006 as a result of the merger of two progressive technology organizations: the May First Technology team (a group of consultants engaged in providing services to non-profit organizations) and People Link, an Internet provider with left-wing views, founded in 1994 year

The period of time when the company was born, in many respects determined what kind of company MF / PL became, because we were formed simultaneously with the technology, and the way it was used radically changed.

The social justice movement (representing a significant part of the nonprofit community) and the progressive movement in general, became more and more familiar with communication technologies and appealed to them more readily as these technologies became more convenient to use and became a ubiquitous part of our life. More and more people learned how to use them, and more and more people learned how to work with them.

And we broke through the social shell, which was often hidden behind this technology: local networks, the interaction of which was limited to the exchange of data between offices or desktops. Now everyone has used Internet technology. More than a billion people went online as a result of the most breakthrough changes in society in modern history, and activists of our movement could communicate with all these people, work together to develop and use software, share any information with them, and then perform actions based on this information using this software.

In these circumstances, May First Collective found that its future is financially fragile and politically untenable. And People Link was limited to a small staff and resources, and was not able to achieve its goals.

Two members of the May First Collective, Jamie McClelland and José Guillen, began meeting with People Link founder Alfredo Lopez every week to discuss the situation and understand how to respond.

During these months of discussion, it became clear to us that something special was happening: the Internet was not just technology, but also a movement of people, so natural, dynamic and unpredictably powerful, like nothing else that existed before it appeared.

We immediately realized that the traditional formats of "providing services" on the Internet do not correspond to this reality. If the Internet is a movement, much of which consists of a progressive community, we, as progressive activists, should be involved in its organization. We must find an approach to it on the same principle as activists usually use to interact with any mass movement.

At the same time, we realized that such an approach is impossible if we follow the usual organizational patterns and culture. This movement is due to the use of technology and consistent practice: communication. In this context, the political organization on the Internet is also an IT company, and all information technology activities in this environment are in fact political.

The sticking point in these discussions was the choice of a name that would reflect what we did. We decided to combine the stories of the two organizations by simply connecting their names, and so was born May First / People Link.
MF / PL today exists as a membership-based organization that participates in the organization of the organic Internet, supporting a jointly managed system for sharing Internet resources. We are like a union or cooperative. Our 270 members (mostly organizations) pay annual fees, which are used to buy and maintain a network of 38 servers that host more than 500 websites and several thousand email accounts.

In accordance with this vision, MF / PL rejects the idea of ​​paying for Internet services. In MF / PL, a member pays fees and uses all the resources he needs and wants. For example, members usually have more than one website, some have five or six. There are no restrictions for e-mail, mailing volumes and other resources.

No one pays for it all.

Participants also provide technical support and network administration, and all our systems are sharpened for it. We use a publicly available support system at support.mayfirst.org, which allows all participants to post questions and comments in applications, which can be answered by any participant who has logged in and viewed them. Anyone, participant, or not, can access and read all requests. For us, the process of technical support is another organizing tool - a form of training and coverage of any Internet users.

MF / PL currently has no paid staff. While our main activity is to provide tools for continuing our political work on the Internet, MF / PL is also an activist organization involved in educational work, organizing its events, and participating in others.

Perhaps we are known primarily because we were leading the organization of the Working Group on Technologies at the US Social Forum in 2007, which used Internet technologies to organize an event directly, and then to register, register for work sessions, for information displays , road organization and accommodation. And also for blogging the forum by its members. But this is just one of many events and activities in which we participate throughout the year.

In fact, the MF / PL seminar “Collective Democracy,” in which participants use an Internet program to organize an open, coherent and transparent, democratic process based on the writing of the Declaration of Rights on the Internet, has been invariably popular among participants at many conferences.

Our book, Organic Internet, is published. This is a jointly written group of essays that form a progressive concept for the development of the Internet - it is on sale in paper form, and is absolutely free to download from our site in PDF format.

In the long term, the goal of MF / PL is what we already do every day - to create shelter for any progressive organization and individual citizens of this country through recruiting new members, as we continue to work hard to achieve our goals and build relationships, form coalitions with other progressive Internet companies and providers (avoiding the poisonous capitalist model of competition).