From the About section on LeanPub:
Richard Bartlett is one of the co-founders of Loomio, an open-source software tool for collaborative decision-making. He’s also a Catalyst at Enspiral: a network of self-organising companies who have been working without bosses since 2010. Most recently he co-founded The Hum, a small consulting company to share practical guidance for decentralised organisations.
He’s passionate about co-ownership, self-management, collaborative governance, and other ways of sneaking anarchism into respectable places.
He is the author of the (work-in-progress) book Patterns for Decentralised Organising
Organizations
Primary
Enspiral started with a vision to support more people to spend their lives working to solve the greatest challenges of our time.
Since inception, we’ve been testing ways of working together with trust and respect to share money, information and control as openly as possible. As a community, we’ve supported hundreds of people
to launch and build all sorts of initiatives, projects and world-changing ventures.
We’re committed to continuing to learn and grow our positive impact together.
The Enspiral Foundation is a charitable company co-owned by the Enspiral Members. Its mission is to support the network as a whole, facilitate collaboration between the people and ventures, and further the overall social mission of Enspiral.
Primary
A place for your organization’s serious discussions
With Loomio, people participate on the web, email or mobile, in their own time. Discussions stay on topic, and Loomio suits a variety of discussion formats and styles.
When you’re ready to make a decision, get feedback, or move from talk to action, Loomio’s polling tools are at your fingertips.
Get the best out of your team with Loomio’s effective decision tools
Primary
In late 2018, Richard D. Bartlett published a proposal to start a “microsolidarity” group — a small mutual aid community for people to do a kind of personal development, in good company, for social benefit.
Since then, an open research network has been gradually self-organising around this concept and these practices.
This website is the central hub to collect resources for the co-development of multiple such communities. Read through the articles to understand the project. You’ll find methods for cultivating Crews for peer-to-peer support in tiny groups.
The fifth Microsolidarity Practice Program is happening in September 2020, register here if you would like to join the next practice group.
You can check out some recorded conversations on this YouTube playlist or this podcast feed and be sure to join the Loomio group if you want to connect with other practitioners. Join Rich’s newsletter for occasional updates on this project.
Primary
From The Hum website:
If you are trying to organise in a collaborative team, you may be asking yourself:
- “How do we include people in decisions without spending so much time in meetings?”
- “How do we set priorities, distribute tasks and stay aligned on shared goals?”
- “If we don’t have managers, how do we get feedback, resolve conflict and stay accountable?”
You are not alone! We’ve faced these dilemmas in our own decentralised organisations, and we can help you get unstuck.
Web Properties
Recent Content
Last 50 posts on own channels (YouTube, Podcast, Medium or Website/Blog):
How Growing Up Should Be I Think
Published on: 5 Nov 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Seeing Like a Superorganism
Published on: 28 Oct 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Perceptive or Invasive – Where’s The Line?
Published on: 14 Oct 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
That time I met a cool bird
Published on: 13 Oct 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Fridges Fridgerating Faithfully
Published on: 25 Sep 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Berlin Microsolidarity Project – Nicki Endres & Richard D. Bartlett
Published on: 19 Sep 23 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Our Prototype Retreat Centre
Published on: 19 Sep 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Meaning Legos
Published on: 3 Sep 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Notes from Jesscamp2
Published on: 25 Aug 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Conversations with Nati
Published on: 20 Aug 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
As Pants The Hart
Published on: 11 Aug 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Hospitality is a Two Player Game
Published on: 7 May 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Budgeting for Event Organisers
Published on: 5 May 23 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
Ostrom’s Kitchen
Published on: 13 Apr 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Liminal Village
Published on: 19 Mar 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Fan Letter to Portishead, 25 years later
Published on: 12 Mar 23 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
Wandering Lucky
Published on: 8 Mar 23 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
#12: The Prodigal Son
Published on: 27 Dec 22 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Working with the OpenCollective API
Published on: 20 Oct 22 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
#11 Microsolidarity Updates & Denver Gathering
Published on: 24 Aug 22 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
#10: where’s the place you stand most strongly?
Published on: 5 Apr 22 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
#9: Decentralised Tech & the Future of Organising
Published on: 19 Nov 21 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
#8 Metamodern Social Justice
Published on: 11 Feb 21 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Transformative Learning is all about Practice & Connection
Published on: 9 Feb 21 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
#7: A Collective of Collectives
Published on: 12 Dec 20 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Hosting a gathering during a pandemic
Published on: 24 Nov 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
Hosting a gathering during a pandemic
Published on: 24 Nov 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
Sharing Money With Friends: What Could Go Wrong?
Published on: 13 Oct 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
Sharing Money With Friends: What Could Go Wrong?
Published on: 13 Oct 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
Sharing Money With Friends: What Could Go Wrong?
Published on: 13 Oct 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
#6: Holiday Brain Food
Published on: 15 Aug 20 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
I’m growing a bigger audience on Twitter, which is fun for me because I am
Published on: 6 Aug 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
I have fallen out of love with Medium.
Published on: 6 Aug 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
#5: Exponential change starts imperceptibly gradual
Published on: 11 Jun 20 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Ausus Congregation – 8 June 2020
Published on: 8 Jun 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Better audio quality on your videocalls
Published on: 5 Jun 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
Jordan Lyon – initiating a new microsolidarity congregation in Seattle
Published on: 1 Jun 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Silvia Bastos and Michal Korzonek experimenting with crews – conversation with Nati & Rich
Published on: 1 Jun 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Cultural Catalyst Network – presentation from Karl & Leonie
Published on: 1 Jun 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Maastricht Microsolidarity Congregation: ep 2
Published on: 29 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Coronavirus: light and dark. Collective sensemaking with Ronan Harrington & Richard D. Bartlett
Published on: 21 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Coronavirus: light and dark. Collective sensemaking with Ronan Harrington & Richard D. Bartlett
Published on: 21 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
#4: Expanding possibilities
Published on: 20 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
Better audio quality on your videocalls
Published on: 15 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
5 Decentralised Organising Tips For A New COVID-19 Volunteer Project
Published on: 11 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
Joe Lightfoot & Richard D. Bartlett – Dok Rak Community – April 10, 2020
Published on: 10 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Cultural Catalyst Network – Karl Steyaert & Richard D. Bartlett – April 6 2020
Published on: 7 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – YouTube
by Richard Bartlett
Yah the link is in the blogpost.
Published on: 7 Apr 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
#3: Greetings from quarantine 😷
Published on: 24 Mar 20 in Richard Bartlett – Blog
by Richard D. Bartlett
A quick visual guide to the COVID-19 pandemic
Published on: 22 Mar 20 in Richard Bartlett – Medium
by Richard D. Bartlett
This is a book about working in groups, based on 8 years experience in community projects and startups.
I’m not so interested in what you’re working on together, I’m just going to focus on how you do it. To my way of thinking, it doesn’t matter if you’re trying to build a better electric vehicle, or develop government policy, or blockade a pipeline; whenever you work with a group of people on a shared objective, there’s some stuff you’re going to deal with, some challenges. How do we decide what we’re working on? who does what? who can join our team? what are our expectations for each other? what happens when someone doesn’t fulfil those expectations? what do we do with disagreement? how do decisions get made?
I’m convinced there is not a “one size fits all” recipe, a management structure that you can take off the shelf and install in your collective or your company. But my hypothesis is that there are patterns: common design elements you can draw on as you construct a recipe that’s right for you. Each pattern in this book names a challenge that you are likely to face, and offers tools and techniques you can try in response to that challenge.
This is a book for community organisers, leaders, managers, consultants, coaches, facilitators, founders… if you work with groups of humans, these patterns apply to you.
Why publishing a work in progress?
This book is not 100% complete yet. My intention is to release it early, so I can improve it with your feedback. I’m eager to hear any comments you have after reading the book: do you have unanswered questions? are there any parts where the writing could be improved? do you want to share an insight with me? Join the conversation in our discussion group on Loomio: patterns.loomio.org
Recent Videos and Podcasts where Richard Bartlett has been interviewed
Jared Janes and Jason Snyder talk with Richard Bartlett about what led to his interest in group dynamics, quarantine in Italy, local vs digital collaboration, social enterprise, metamodernism & an action-oriented critique, rivalrous dynamics,
…Read more
Rich, co-founder of The Hum (a non-heirarchical business consultancy), is back to talk about the differences, both positive and negative, with virtual and physical relationships. We talk about how geographical
…Read more
In this episode, Rich, the co-creator of Enspiral and Loomio(complex collaborative systems) and I talk about about why people have such a hard time working together, from how we were
…Read more
In this conversation, I speak with Richard Dennis Bartlett. Richard is an author, organizational consultant, and founder of Loomio and The Hum, as well as a member of Enspiral network.
…Read more
You’re very little. Some feelings are overwhelming. You call for help. Here’s Mum. She syncs her nervous system with yours. You feel slightly bigger. She shows you that she can
…Read more
On the surface, microsolidarity is a community-building framework, an engineer’s attempt to invent a cure for loneliness. But beneath the waterline, there’s a deeper project.If I’m honest, I am trying
…Read more
I feel like my capacity to subtly influence people keeps growing, but my ethical framework is not necessarily keeping up.esoteric beings influence each other with subtle psychic energies, by DALL-E
…Read more
Photo by Lars Falkdalen LindahlAs I’m sitting here writing at my window seat, there are a couple of wagtails walking the grounds outside. Literally early birds getting the worm. I
…Read more
We’ve spent a bunch of time in these industrial parks lately, working on the camper. I can feel my memories being erased even while I’m sitting here looking at the
…Read more
Nati & I just signed a short term lease on a lovely villa in the south of Spain. We’ll be living here until the end of February:For years we’ve dreamed
…Read more
This week I started a new class at the School For Social Design. They’re teaching me how to be more articulate about my values, so I can design social systems
…Read more
Earlier this summer I spent a week in a Black Forest hotel with 75 tenderhearted nerds from Twitter. I had an extremely good time. I’ve spent the last 6 weeks
…Read more
My wife Nati and I love to get slightly too high on caffeine and have deep & hilarious conversations. Sometimes we wonder if it might be interesting for other people
…Read more
Yesterday when the mushrooms came on I tried to enter the perspective of a deer. What is it like to be a deer? I guess they don’t think very much
…Read more
today’s view from the kitchenAs soon as we arrived in the Balkans, it was obvious they’ve got the hospitality turned up a few notches compared other parts of Europe. It’s
…Read more
Artwork by solarpunk illustrator Dustin JacobusWe spent last week at the Solarpunk unconference at the Commons Hub in Austria. Solarpunk is a mix of high- and low-tech, politics and art.
…Read more
Today we leave Liminal Village, heading towards Frankfurt to host a workshop for a client. Liminal was the first real stop on our tour. I’m glad we came here first.
…Read more
Today’s ten days since we made the shift into the camper. Day 1 was rough, I gotta say. We had a huge mission to move out of our flat, then
…Read more
This is a story about my surprising turn back towards Christianity, 15 years after being excommunicated. It’ll take about 10 minutes to read, so I would love it if you
…Read more
Usually this newsletter is quite eclectic but in this issue I’m going to focus on just one topic and give you a download of all the recent updates from the
…Read more
Hello mates, I have a juicy update here: some musings on what it means to feel at home; a stack of my new writing & podcasts; and your invitation to
…Read more
If you believe in the social impact potential of cooperatives, self-managing organisations & mutual aid networks, but, like me, you’ve been skeptical about web3 (cryptocurrencies, DAOs & blockchains) then I
…Read more
I’ve been looking forward to writing this post for a while. Usually I just use this newsletter to share my favourite readings and podcasts, but today I want to preface
…Read more
Greetings humans! I’m really jazzed today because I have some exciting updates from the microsolidarity network. In this issue I’ll give you a quick summary of the news, and also
…Read more
I’m about to get on a ferry to Corsica for a week or two as a beach zombie. Before I head offline though I wanted to send out some hot
…Read more
Hello human! How are you in this moment? I’m in a great mood today. I discovered this thing called a milkweed but I prefer to call it a “giant dando”.It
…Read more
Hello dear reader. Please find enclosed: your invitation to join me in conversation Apr 20my favourite new podcasts about self-managing workplacesupdates from the Microsolidarity projectand some juicy links and tidbits
…Read more
Hey folks, welcome to the third issue of my newsletter where I share “what I’m paying attention to”.I’ll start with an update on my situation in locked down Italy, followed
…Read more
Sharing my Spreadsheet For Calculating Ticket PricesPhoto by StellrWeb on UnsplashOne of the challenging things about running community events is how to manage the finances. If you’re hosting an event with an
…Read more
Yesterday I was scrolling twitter, and saw someone shared a clip from your Roseland NYC video. I didn’t even have the sound on, just recognised the picture, and immediately my
…Read more
OpenCollective is a financial & legal toolkit for grassroots communities. It’s awesome! We’re using it to transparently collect & spend money in the Microsolidarity Network.Anyone who contributes to our fundraising
…Read more
The making of an amazing online courseNati and I are putting the finishing touches on the course design for our guided learning program: Patterns for Decentralised Organising. I’m feeling totally jazzed
…Read more
How to take care of people at an event that could kill themStock photo by Cristina CerdaHosting events is a big part of how I earn my livelihood and how I do
…Read more
How to take care of people at an event that could kill themStock photo by Cristina CerdaHosting events is a big part of how I earn my livelihood and how I do
…Read more
Running the Finances for our Freelancers Collective with One Awesome SpreadsheetThis is partly a tutorial about how to make awesome spreadsheets, and it is partly about how we manage a
…Read more
Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense. Stuff and nonesense.
…Read more
Running the Finances for our Freelancers Collective with One Awesome SpreadsheetThis is partly a tutorial about how to make awesome spreadsheets, and it is partly about how we manage a
…Read more
I’m growing a bigger audience on Twitter, which is fun for me because I am just being a friendly loudmouth nerd. From there I can promote content that is hosted
…Read more
I have fallen out of love with Medium. It is a good place to write, and some kinds of content get discovered here. But I don’t like that my audience
…Read more
How to: record great-sounding podcasts over ZoomI’ve been experimenting with different methods for improving the audio quality of my videocalls, both for meetings and for recorded conversations like podcasts. So I
…Read more
How to: record great-sounding podcasts over ZoomI’ve been experimenting with different methods for improving the audio quality of my videocalls, both for meetings and for recorded conversations like podcasts. So I
…Read more
Photo by Will H McMahan on UnsplashEngaging volunteers; learning loops; decision-making; care; celebrationToday I had a call with Manu Alzuru from Fight Pandemics, a brand new volunteer project enabling peer-to-peer mutual
…Read more
Yah the link is in the blogpost. Reshared here. Data format will be out of date now tho so you might have to mess around with it. I don’t have
…Read more
Updated March 21stI’ve been producing my own charts to understand the Johns Hopkins coronavirus data. Here’s the situation on March 21st.Reported DeathsHere’s all the countries with 100+ reported deaths. I have zoomed
…Read more
Updated March 21stI’ve been producing my own charts to understand the Johns Hopkins coronavirus data. Here’s the situation on March 21st.Reported DeathsHere’s all the countries with 100+ reported deaths. I have zoomed
…Read more
Thanks Andrew, for now it is easiest to follow me on Twitter for latest updates. If I get a chance over the next few days I may make a better
…Read more
A practical guide for the aspiring DIY data scientistLiving in Italy is intense right now.It took only 17 days to go from first noticing the COVID-19 outbreak, to having to refuse
…Read more
A practical guide for the aspiring DIY data scientistLiving in Italy is intense right now.It took only 17 days to go from first noticing the COVID-19 outbreak, to having to refuse
…Read more
Choose your price. 75% complete.