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Who Needs a Boss?

nytimes.com

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Re: Who Needs a Boss?

#61

Post by beat »

jeffbr13 wrote: post #53
beat wrote: post #33

My children attended a charter high school run as a teacher's co-op - no principal or formal administration. It works very well, although I'm not sure it would scale as a model. Certainly, I've never seen such high levels of teacher satisfaction anywhere else, and I'm sure the cost of a principal and assistant principal easily funds three more teachers - a big deal at a small school.

Interesting, was this a primary or a secondary school? I ask because teachers in secondary schools seem to be under much more pressure to ensure their students pass standardised exams to enter higher education, whereas there's much more wiggle-room for alternative methodologies at younger ages. It'd be good to see some innovation at the secondary level, rather than just attempting to keep up with what examiners requi…

Secondary. Grades 7-12 (the school has since added 6th grade).

Minnesota's charter system is (or should be) a model for other states. There's lots of interesting education innovation going on here. Lots of failures too, but that's what happens when you open the doors to innovation.

Besides being a co-op, Avalon is a project-based learning environment. This requires a great deal more personal responsibility on the part of students for their own educations. It wouldn't work for most students, but for those who do well there, it shines gloriously. That's what I love about charters, really - the opportunity for educational diversity, and finding models that work well for different kinds of students and different kinds of teachers.

Re: Who Needs a Boss?

#62

Post by enraged_camel »

RHSeeger wrote: post #50
pekk wrote: post #46

Without someone to have all the ideas, how could I build anything? It's a question for the ages Answer: the boss isn't for the employee, the boss is for the people who are spending the money on employees they don't trust. Putting in a boss is the first of many measures to protect capital. Most of these measures are very flawed. But even in a cooperative scenario, protecting capital is still a concern because an emplo…

My "boss" (Tech Manager, really) is there to take care of the things that would be a waste of my time... * Sitting in on meetings of things that might be, and calling me in when he feels my input would be useful * Being a first point of contact for the "customer" when they want to find something out but don't want to poke dev directly (they do poke me directly on occasion when they know it's appropriate) * Being a fi…

This is the exact opposite of my boss.

* Sending random IMs to the entire team throughout the day about funny stuff he finds on the Internet "to maintain team cohesion."

* Regularly interrupting individual team members and asking them about their projects "to make sure things are getting done and nothing is falling through the cracks."

* Nitpicking on small, often inconsequential details as a way of giving "constructive feedback" while insisting that everyone should be able to think "big picture."

* Occasionally saying racist/sexist stuff in weekly meetings "as a joke"

* Claiming that there is nothing wrong with asking an interviewee about their personal life because "culture fit is an extremely important part of the hiring process."

* Dismissing complicated front-end customizations as "just scripting" and insisting that "real programming" is done by our software developers (most of whom are fresh out of college).

Ah, sorry. That quickly turned into a rant...

Re: Who Needs a Boss?

#64

Post by jerf »

jahaja wrote: post #56
jerf wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the strengths of capitalism is that it does not philosophically insist that the macroeconomic system must match all microeconomic systems, enabling local adaptations to changing conditions without global-level upheavals. It is not part of the capitalistic ethos that all organizations must be run on the same principles. Contrast this with philosophies like Communism that claims to have The One Answer To All Pro…

On the other hand; I think that a solid foundation of co-ops and similarly worker-owned workplaces would be required for the abolishment of capitalism altogether.

Part of my point is that it is not at all clear that a structure which works at a relatively small scale (hundreds, thousands tops) necessarily works at a national scale. There is no a priori reason to assume the two sets would be the same. There is no practical evidence to suggest they are the same. There is a lot of evidence they aren't the same.

Re: Who Needs a Boss?

#65

Post by hacknat »

enraged_camel wrote: post #62
RHSeeger wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My "boss" (Tech Manager, really) is there to take care of the things that would be a waste of my time... * Sitting in on meetings of things that might be, and calling me in when he feels my input would be useful * Being a first point of contact for the "customer" when they want to find something out but don't want to poke dev directly (they do poke me directly on occasion when they know it's appropriate) * Being a fi…

This is the exact opposite of my boss. * Sending random IMs to the entire team throughout the day about funny stuff he finds on the Internet "to maintain team cohesion." * Regularly interrupting individual team members and asking them about their projects "to make sure things are getting done and nothing is falling through the cracks." * Nitpicking on small, often inconsequential details as a way of giving "construct…

Do I work with you?

Re: Who Needs a Boss?

#66

Post by paulhauggis »

I work for myself and am my own boss. I have tried starting businesses over the years with many friends and co-workers. None of them worked out.

Most people just don't have the discipline to work on something for 8 hours/day without being told what to do.

I have also joined many meetup groups for various activities /meeting new people. When a group doesn't have a leader, it pretty much doesn't go anywhere until someone takes up the lead and keeps everyone on track.

If you ran a company this way, you would either vote on all decisions (which would be painful and slow) or you have a group of people make these decisions on your behalf (IE: leadership).

It's a small example of human nature and why we still need bosses.

Re: Who Needs a Boss?

#68

Post by markvdb »

lsh wrote: post #25
bryanlarsen wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://techworker.coop/

very cool - does anyone know if there is something similar for the UK? I would love to know more.

http://www.software.coop

MJ Ray of Debian fame is part of this. He's also very much involved in promoting the cooperative as a concept.

Re: Who Needs a Boss?

#69

Post by pekk »

pessimizer wrote: post #49
pekk wrote: post #46

Without someone to have all the ideas, how could I build anything? It's a question for the ages Answer: the boss isn't for the employee, the boss is for the people who are spending the money on employees they don't trust. Putting in a boss is the first of many measures to protect capital. Most of these measures are very flawed. But even in a cooperative scenario, protecting capital is still a concern because an emplo…

> where the worker puts their own capital on the line, is it going to stop being a need So another symptom of the alienation of labor and capital? Stupid capitalism.

I certainly wasn't trying to suggest anything Marxist, certainly not that capitalism is stupid. It's just a state of nature.

To make each worker personally absorb 100% of the risk involved in their production has a certain upside... but also a pretty obvious downside.

Say I'm a weaver, I buy supplies and I rent coworking space and I take whatever hours I want, I have full creative control and I get 100% of my own profit to work with. Yay no boss. But if my supplies or product get stolen, or eaten by moths, or are just bad, or become unfashionable, or cashflow kinks prevent me from selling... pay-to-work sounds less attractive when put that way, to lots of people.

Re: Who Needs a Boss?

#70

Post by smaddali »

enraged_camel wrote: post #62
RHSeeger wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My "boss" (Tech Manager, really) is there to take care of the things that would be a waste of my time... * Sitting in on meetings of things that might be, and calling me in when he feels my input would be useful * Being a first point of contact for the "customer" when they want to find something out but don't want to poke dev directly (they do poke me directly on occasion when they know it's appropriate) * Being a fi…

This is the exact opposite of my boss. * Sending random IMs to the entire team throughout the day about funny stuff he finds on the Internet "to maintain team cohesion." * Regularly interrupting individual team members and asking them about their projects "to make sure things are getting done and nothing is falling through the cracks." * Nitpicking on small, often inconsequential details as a way of giving "construct…

Do you work at Dunder-Mifflin ?
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