Super Practica Governance

The governance of Super Practica is based on Sociocracy and Holacracy. The effect is to organize into semi-autonomous circles that are each responsible for their own governance and that are arranged in a tree of subcircles sprouting from a root supercircle.

This structure is the dictatorial decree of Svetogam who runs every circle, so it's only a formality for now. But even as a formality it's a useful way to document policy and delegate work. The intention is for circles to eventually run themselves without dictatorial decrees.

Circles

The main circle is Root. Look for organization-wide policies there as well as here.

See the circle list for all current circles.

Membership

The organization has 3 types of membership: Workers, Worker-Managers, and Funders. Workers are partial members of at least one operational circle. Worker-Managers are full members of at least one operational circle. Funders are those who give some minimum amount of money to the organization.

See the member list for all current members.

Circle Governance

Every circle is responsible for governing itself, but must follow these rules to be part of the organization.

Decision-Making

Circles make policy decisions by consent of all their full members, which includes decisions about its own membership. This means that no decision can be made that any full member objects to. (Though there are some exceptions.)

What counts as consent in the circle is consented to by the circle. See here for the default policy.

Decisions that are not policy decisions are called operational decisions and do not require consent of the circle. These are decisions that are authorized by past policy decisions.

A circle member may act outside of their authority without waiting for consent if they decide that it's valuable for the organization. In that case, their action should be reviewed and their continued membership in the circle should be explicitly consented to or objected to by the circle.

Roles

Circles have any number of roles that members of the circle fill. The same person can fill any number of roles and across any number of circles. The same role may be filled by multiple people if the circle allows it, but every role must be filled by at least one full member.

By filling a role, one is given authority by the circle to make operational decisions as defined by the role, without requiring consent of the circle.

Every circle has Operational Leader (Op Leader) and Secretary roles. Every circle with two or more full members also has Facilitator and Circle Representative (Circle Rep) roles. Besides these, circles can define more roles by consent of the circle.

The decision of who fills what role is made by consent of the circle. (Though see the Op Leader and Circle Rep roles for exceptions.)

Circle Domains

A circle can be given domains (that is, authority to control the organization's property) by consent of its supercircle, if the supercircle has that domain. A circle can further give domains to its roles and subcircles by consent of the circle.

Besides other domains, all circles have a dedicated git repository and two or more dedicated Zulip chat channels.

Circle Membership

Circles have one or more full members and any number of partial members.

Circles add or promote members (from partial to full) by consent of the circle (that is, by consent of its full members). The Op Leader can also add partial members without waiting for consent from the circle.

Circles remove or demote members (from full to partial) by consent of the circle excluding the member being removed or demoted. A member of a circle can also remove or demote themselves.

A circle with only one full member is a dictatorial circle. This will be the case when a new circle is formed and an Op Leader is selected for it by consent of the supercircle. The Op Leader will then be expected to define its roles and add new members.

It is expected that all members of a circle will fill some role in the circle, but circles can grant membership without this requirement.

Partial Membership

The default policy for granting partial membership in a circle is thus:

1. The circle defines a role or requests volunteer work for performing some task.
2. A volunteer does the work of that role or specific task.
3. If the volunteer does the work effectively, the Op Leader grants the volunteer partial membership in the circle. (This can also be granted by consent of the circle, which would be relevant if the Op Leader is absent for some reason.)
4. The volunteer accepts partial membership.

At minimum, partial membership comes with these benefits:

1. Permission to view and participate in private (member-only) communities of the circle.
2. An invitation to participate in the circle's policy decision-making, voicing their consent and objections. However, these do not count as to the consent of the circle and should rather be treated as feedback. It is not obligatory for the partial member to participate.

By consent of the circle, partial members can be given any other permissions and privileges. Though counting for consent of the circle can only be granted by making them a full member.

Full Membership

The default policy for granting full membership in a circle is thus:

1. The partial member effectively engages in the work of their role for a long-enough time, demonstrating reliability.
2. The partial member participates in policy decisions for a long-enough time, demonstrating an understanding of the governance process.
3. The partial member demonstrates enough understanding of and enough agreement with the principles of the organization.
4. A full member filling the same role or the Op Leader proposes to grant full membership to the partial member. (These roles should take the initiative, but the proposal can come from any full or partial member of the circle, including the same partial member.)
5. The circle consents to the proposal.
6. The partial member accepts full membership.

Full membership comes with these benefits and responsibilities:

1. Obligation to participate in policy decision-making.
2. Commit rights in the circle's dedicated git repository.
3. Moderator rights in the circle's Zulip chat channels.
4. Permission to view and participate in private communities of every circle of the organization.
5. Full members are considered with greater priority than others to obtain funding or employment through the organization.