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+# Governable spaces
+
+=> https://luminosoa.org/site/books/m/10.1525/luminos.181/
+
+## Introduction: democracy in the wild
+
+* Online communities are different to in-person communities.
+* Online politics in the small reflect in the large.
+* Online communities must explicitly be democratic, self-governance instead of top-down authority => governable spaces.
+* Democratic erosion in the world is influenced by online communities.
+* Users of online communities perceive arbitrary rule enforcement, unaccountability.
+* Online movements have not resulted in lasting gains.
+* The design of online spaces has atrophied everyday democracy skills.
+* Garden club from 1960 with eight pages of bylaws => more successful than most only communities that will not live as long.
+* Fervent US enthusiasm for forming associations observed by Alexis de Tocqueville in 19th century US.
+* Tocqueville: democracy requires education, democracy in education requires political engagement.
+* Tocqueville: associations can serve the social order.
+* Will bad players behave better if they care about mini-democracies?
+* Online spaces are different, more churn, faster, distributed, diverse.
+* Participating in online spaces correlate to political participation.
+* Author unclear about his disagreement with Tocqueville's conclusions, author is more optimistic.
+* Democratic self-governance is harder in online spaces, but possible.
+* Design to achieve self-governance, refuse corporate control.
+* Technical solutions are not sufficient.
+* People do not believe their governments are democratic.
+* People are more willing to change due to technological progress.
+* Governments use technology as an "unavoidable excuse", but it doesn't have to be this way.
+* Introduction of citizen voice happens even authoritarian governments (!)
+* Crypto ledger structures have new power structures, even though it's often antidemocratic, but presents an opportunity.
+* For many, democracy is something that was created for them before they were born, or something they won't have in their lifetime.
+* Online communities are closer to most than their democracy.
+* Designing online communities offers chance to learn how to shape the larger government.
+* No single design can work for all scenarios.
+* Design should be based on accountability.
+* Democracy on a small scale gives hope that it's possible on a bigger scale.
+* From server control to community control.
+* Implicit feudalism: power derives from founders and admins.
+* "Governable stacks", "modular politics" to learn from.
+* Widespread participation => burdensome, elitist, uninformed governance? Overwhelming to participants.
+* Sometimes governable spaces should be highly participative, in others, use representation.
+* Governance designs sensitive to economy of attention.
+
+## Implicit feudalism. The origins of counter-democratic design
+
+* A popular group that called for accountability had a flagship organization with a single board member.
+* Facebook claimed having "the hacker way": open, meritocratic, but Mark Zuckerberg has majority control.
+* Founders solidify.
+* Early social platforms had technical conditions that grant administrators complete control.
+* Use of "feudalism" is not historically precise.
+* "Implicit" because it is not explicit.
+* Sometimes platforms do not even allow transfer of power.
+* Democracy can arise in feudal technologies due to pressure, this democracy can be similar to primitive democracy.
+* But democracy in technology tends to go against the design, the most natural outcome is nondemocratic.
+* Implicit feudalism is not a feature, it is merely seen as a non-intentional lack of features.
+* First step: perceive lack of democratic features.
+* "Exit" vs. "voice"; can only leave, vs. can change things.
+* Exit can have costs => captivity.
+* Refine voice into "Effective voice" vs. "affective voice" => venting vs. being able to make changes.
+* BBS: runs in the sysop house, sysop has absolute power, but also most responsibility and maintenance burden.
+* Users being able to leave makes some accountability.
+* Limitations of real world (sysop responsibility) lead to implicit feudalism.
+* Usenet was bigger scale than BBS, but ultimately "the big 8" ruled (and they named their successors). But Usenet hosted more popular communities than BBSs.
+* Usenet hierarchy is decided by the big 8.
+* Mailing lists follow similar patterns, administrators have all the power.
+* In IRC, iconic channel/network names are a big factor in popularity over performance.
+* IRC pioneered bots to execute authority.
+* BBS, Usenet, mailing lists, IRC's structure follow that of UNIX, with root, etc.
+* Linux and Wikipedia are very productive.
+* Linux has BDFL (feudalism).
+* Git seems to break feudalism with its distributed nature, but Linux uses a mailing list and the BDFL to control.
+* GitHub promotes forks, and user voice in issues, but each project has owners and collaborators.
+* Git/GitHub make "exit" easier, but not effective voice.
+* Linux added a code of conduct, GitHub encourages project to have one.
+* Debian Project Leader is elected, technical barriers of entry.
+* Debian/Apache are outliers, non-profits. (Linux is a non-profit too.)
+* Wikipedia also has self-governance, but also has BDFL.
+* Wikipedia uses MediaWiki for governance (dogfooding).
+* But most MediaWiki sites do not have self-governance.
+* After Wikipedia's BDFL overreaches, BDFL has diminished power.
+* Although software designs can have power vacuums, in the absence of technical software vacuums, "tyrany of structurelessness" often arises.
+* Anyone could participate, but not everyone has the time, knowledge, and incentives.
+* Big corporate platforms could not have the technical limitations of smaller earlier platforms.
+* US Communications Decency Act protects platforms from liability from user behavior.
+* Companies could control the platform, but let communities self-govern.
+* Facebook/Reddit are different (real names vs. pseudonyms) and in theory provide more control to users.
+* Management of communities requires a lot of effort.
+* AOL tried to reduce cost of access to voluntary moderators, but moderators realized they made benefits for AOL without sufficient compensation.
+* To offload moderation to volunteers in a cost-effective manner, they are paid with unchecked power.
+* Author thinks Slashdot moderation worked well and satisfied users, but failed in producing benefit from provocation/engagement.
+* Facebook/Reddit grant "affective voice" through karma, etc.; but not "effective voice". Exit is the most effective voice.
+* Facebook/Reddit provide moderation tools and gamify moderation (reports on groups performance to incentivize admins to maximize usage). This amplifies implicit feudalism.
+* Mark Zuckerberg has power over the Facebook group admins, and engages in democracy theater (2009 referendum on changes to terms of service, required 30% of participation, only 29% achieved, declared "advisory", did what they wanted).
+* 2015 "Reddit revolt", blackouts by making subreddits private. Reddit tightened their rules.
+* Conway law => structure of software reflects the structure of the organization.
+* Facebook/Reddit => the structure of the software shapes the structure of the organization.
+* Facebook tried to go to individuals over communities, mirroring WeChat/TikTok which have no social graphs, only driven by personal habits.
+* Because TikTok etc. do not have communities, there is less politics, but everything is still controlled by the company.
+* Implicit feudalism => control over communities, founder authority, named succession, opaque policies/decisions, supression of user voice, user exit only effective means, only platform owners resolve disputes.
+* Implicit feudalism made some sense with limited resources, but not so much with unlimited resources from large corporations.
+* Implicit feudalism is part of the business model.
+* In contrast, authocratic governments have more democratic "performances" because it resembles legitimate authority.
+* But no major online community offers possibilities of even democratic "performances".
+* Implicit feudalism is not so effective; most Reddits are small, Miecraft servers median lifetime is eight weeks.
+* Exit leads to variety, choice, innovation, but effective voice leads to comitment and stability.
+* Example of BDFL becoming inactive led to subgroups becoming more resilient.
+* Debian does not exist in isolation; sits between Linux and Ubuntu (both with BDFLs).
+* Ubuntu benefits from Debian.
+* Debian/Wikipedia combine elections with meritocratic barriers.
+* Self-governance seems to emerge more in nonprofits or cooperatives, mirroring ownership structures and technical infrastructures.
+* Usenet has some shared governance and autonomy in newsgroups.
+* Combination of different power structures helps self-governance; electoral processes + meritocratic barriers for popular but capable leaders.
+* Multiple governance mechanisms helps prevent one entity from becoming too powerful, but also allows differently-skilled users from having voice.
+* Python had PEPs, when BDFL retired they had some prior art in choosing their new governance, with elections.
+* Disassociation/cancellation => no appeals, how long does it last? Affective, not effective voice. These things come because there is no process to challenge those in power.
+* communityrule.info => online design of community rules and publication/forking. Try to make it easier to create self-governance.
diff --git a/blog/content/notes/cliffs/mythical-man-month.gmi b/blog/content/notes/cliffs/mythical-man-month.gmi
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+# The mythical man-month
+
+## Chapter 1: the tar pit
+
+"Program": complete in itself, ready to be run by the author on the system on which it was developed. What we initially develop and delivers some value is normally a program.
+
+"Programming product": can be run by anybody, in any operating environment, for many sets of data.
+
+* A programming product is thoroughly tested.
+* A programming product is thoroughly documented.
+* A programming product costs three times the cost of the program.
+
+"Component in a programming system": works as a part of a larger product.
+
+* A component in a programming system follows a well-defined interface.
+* A component in a programming system is tested in integration.
+* A component in a programming system costs three times the cost of a program.
+
+"A programming systems product" is a programming product and a component in a programming system. A programming systems product costs nine times the cost of a program.
diff --git a/blog/content/notes/cliffs/peopleware.gmi b/blog/content/notes/cliffs/peopleware.gmi
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+# Peopleware
+
+## I. Managing the human resource
+
+People are different from software.
+
+### 1. Somewhere today, a project is failing
+
+* 15% of all projects deliver nothing.
+* 25% for projects >25 work/years
+* Not for technical reasons, "politics" => sociology
+
+### 2. Make a cheeseburger, sell a cheeseburger
+
+* Errors should be encouraged
+* A project objective is to be ended. Therefore, a project is never steady. Therefore, a project is always changing and there is no steady state
+* Need to think more about "why" this task needs to be done rather than how the task must be done
+
+### 3. Vienna waits for you
+
+* Spanish Theory Management: increase productivity by extracting more work for the $
+* Mechanizing development, lowering quality, standardizing procedure reduces enjoyment of work
+
+### 4. Quality-if time permits
+
+* Self-esteem makes people emotional
+* Self-esteem is tied to the quality of our work
+* Deadlines conflict with quality
+* Manager: Market wants time-to-market over quality
+* Builders: want to match their past best achieved quality, more than what the market wants
+* But quality is a means to productivity
+
+### 5. Parkinson's law revisited
+
+* "Work expands to fill the time allocated for it"
+* Parkinson was a humorist
+* Motivated people do not want to work forever in the same task
+* The team can motivate people better than the manager
+* Productivity by task estimator. No estimate > Systems analyst (unbiased expert) > Programmer > Programmer + supervisor > Supervisor
+* Bureaucratic work does expand
+
+### 6. Laetrile
+
+People are desperate to increase productivity, fall to the seven sirens, seven false hopes of software management 
+
+* Missed something obvious: no
+* Others are succeeding, you are getting outdated, not using the right programming language, need more automation: technical gains affect just a small part of the total effort
+* Need to get to the bottom of the backlog: bottom of the backlog is worthless
+* Workers need more pressure
+
+## II. The office environment
+
+It's hard to increase productivity, but easy to decrease it
+
+### 7. The Furniture Police
+
+Optimizing for cost, and uniformity is not productive
+
+### 8. You never get anything done around here between 9 and 5
+
+Top performers work in quieter, more private, with less interruption, bigger spaces
+
+### 9. Saving money on space
+
+Cost of workplace is a small past of cost of worker
+
+### Intermezzo. Productivity measurement and unidentified flying objects
+
+* Gilb's Law: Anything you need to quantify can be measured in some way that is superior to not measuring it at all
+* Individual productivity should only be measured by the invidivual
+
+### 10. Brain time versus body time
+
+Interruptions are expensive
+
+### 11. The telephone
+
+Ensure people attend their email with reasonable frequency (3/day) to allow prioritizing non-interrupting communication
+
+### 12. Bring back the door
+
+People work better in quiet environments
+
+### 13. Taking umbrella steps
+
+* Developers should design the working environment
+* Windows
+* Provide outdoor space, public space
+
+## III. The right people
+
+Get the right people, make them happy, let them work
+
+### 14. The Hornblower factor
+
+* Difficult to improve people, choose well
+* Appearances << capabilities
+* Do not hire for uniformity in the company
+* No dress codes
+
+### 15. Hiring a juggler
+
+* Interviews are about performing, not talking
+* Portfolios
+* Aptitude tests are not for hiring, they are for self-assessment
+* Audition on topic related to work selected by the candidate
+
+### 16. Happy to be here
+
+* Turnover is expensive and leads to short term planning => needs quick promotions, leads to inexperienced people doing the building
+* Company moves are the worst
+* Good companies *retrain*
+
+### 17. The self-healing system
+
+* Humans can improvise, automated process cannot
+* Big M Methodologies automate: a) No improvisation, so must grow to cover all cases b) Lots of documents
+* Big M Methodologies take responsibilities away from people into the Methodology
+* Big M Methodologies lead to malicious compliance- follow the Methodology even if it has bad outcomes
+* Convergence of methods is good, easier to onboard, etc.
+* Achieve convergence of methods by training, tooling and peer review, without forcing a Methodology
+* Hawthorne Effect: people perform better when trying new approaches
+* Do new things on every project to benefit from the Hawthorne Effect
+* But have a 10-page max. standard
+
+## IV. Growing productive teams
+
+Teams working as one on a challenge are the objective. Help the team form
+
+### 18. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts
+
+* Jell: a jelled team is more than the sum of its members. Jelled teams enjoy the work
+* Jelled teams have a common objective, low turnover, strong sense of identity, feel elite, join ownership of product, enjoyment
+
+### 19. The black team
+
+* The black team tested other teams code.
+* The black team outlived the original members
+* Identity: dressed in black, some evil mustaches, mystique
+
+### 20. Teamicide
+
+You can't make a team jell, but you can prevent it from jellying:
+
+* Defensive management: preventing people from making mistakes. If the team cannot do the job, they cannot do the job.
+* Bureaucracy
+* Physical separation
+* Fragmentation of people's time: the team must be together most of the time
+* Quality reduction of the product: quality jells a team
+* Phony deadlines
+* Clique control (preventing the team for working together in further projects)
+
+### 21. A spaghetti dinner
+
+* Small successes lead to bigger successes
+* Perform small projects, demos, etc.
+
+### 22. Open kimono
+
+* Trust the team
+* Get them out of the office
+* Let skunkworks projects happen
+* Let people choose their peers and project
+* Natural authority by being competent
+
+### 23. Chemistry for team formation
+
+Some organizations have environments that favor team formation
+
+Managers do not seem busy nor manage a lot, they maintain the chemistry
+
+Chemistry building:
+
+* Cult of quality
+* I told her I loved her when I married her. Provide closure to each task. Small tasks for frequent closure
+* The Elite Team. Allow and grant uniqueness.
+* On not breaking up the yankees.
+* A network model of team behavior. Managers are not part of the team. Occasional leaders inside the team
+* Selections from a Chinese menu. Do not have a uniform team
+
+## V. It's supposed to be fun to work here
+
+### 24. Chaos and order
+
+Constructive reintroduction of small amounts of disorder:
+
+* Pilot projects. All projects as pilots, but limit experimentation
+* War games
+* Brainstorming
+* Provocative training experiences
+* Training, trips, conferences, celebrations, and retreats.
+
+### 25. Free electrons
+
+Some people should be left to work at what they want
+
+### 26. Holgar Dansk
+
+A "sleeping giant" can oppose any bad change
+
+## VI. Son of Peopleware
+
+### 27. Teamicide revisited
+
+* Those damn posters. Motivational posters tell obvious things people already know. It is demeaning
+* Overtime: An unanticipated side effect. If someone is exent of overtime, it is even more damaging
+
+### 28. Competition
+
+Internal competition inhibits jell, Prevents internal coaching. Can come from:
+
+* Annual salary or merit reviews
+* Management by objectives
+* Praise of certain workers for extraordinary accomplishment
+* Awards, prizes, bonuses tied to performance
+* Performance measurement in almost any form
+
+Musical ensembles are better metaphors of good development teams than sport teams. Individual sport teams members can have differing valoration from the rest of the team
+
+### 29. Process improvement programs
+
+* Standardized interfaces are good, standardized processes are not
+* Goal is a good product, not building it efficiently
+* Good products are risky projects, process improvement avoids risky projects
+* Better teams do more complex projects, more risk
+
+### 30. Making change possible
+
+People fear change
+
+Degrees of fear to change:
+
+* Blindly loyal (ask no questions)
+* Believers but questioners: skeptics (show me), passive observers (what's in it for me?), opposed (fear of change), opposed (fear of loss of power), militantly opposed (will undermine and destroy)
+
+Blindly loyal can abandon a change for a newer one. Only Believers but questioners can be allies to a change. Work with them to make change successful
+
+
+elebrate the old system
+
+Phases of change
+
+* Introduce foreign element/catalyst
+* Chaos
+* Transforming idea (finding the "correct training"/correct way to adopt change)
+* Practice & Integration
+* New status quo
+
+People need to feel safe for change, there should be room for some failure
+
+### 31. Human capital
+
+* Money spent of people is only lost if they leave
+* Replacing someone is expensive
+
+### 32. Organizational learning
+
+* Organizations can only learn if people stay for a long time
+* Organizations learn when middle management works together without competition and without reporting to upper management
+
+### 33. The ultimate management sin is...
+
+Wasting people's time:
+
+* Being late for meetings, blocking meetings, inviting people who don't need to be there
+* Status reporting meetings
+* Early overstaffing (and leads to fragmenting time of people)
+
+### 34. The making of community
+
+* Aristotelian politics is building communities, extending ethics to a group
+* Creatin
diff --git a/blog/content/notes/index.gmi b/blog/content/notes/index.gmi
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+# Notes
+
+## Cliff's notes
+
+Notes about some books I like:
+
+=> cliffs/mythical-man-month The Mythical Man-Month
+=> cliffs/governable-spaces Governable Spaces
+=> cliffs/peopleware Peopleware