Comments on: Hacker havens are ad-hocracies http://futurismic.com/2009/03/31/hacker-havens-are-ad-hocracies/ Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001 Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:40:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: tycho garen http://futurismic.com/2009/03/31/hacker-havens-are-ad-hocracies/comment-page-1/#comment-23187 tycho garen Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:22:37 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=6795#comment-23187 I think the rough-consensus of the hacker community works because for most day to day activities the stakes are pretty low, and it's ok (and possibly productive) if decisions take a long time. That's probably not widely translateable outside of the hacker world. The other thing that makes the ad-hocracy work, is that hackers are totally fine appointing/defering executive authority when timeliness or strategic oversight is needed. "benevolent dictatorships" and all. Again, not a bad thing, but hard to formalize, and I guess I"m trying to say that the existance of ad-hoc-top-down elements doesn't negate the general bottom-up nature of the cultural structure. as it were... I think the rough-consensus of the hacker community works because for most day to day activities the stakes are pretty low, and it’s ok (and possibly productive) if decisions take a long time. That’s probably not widely translateable outside of the hacker world.

The other thing that makes the ad-hocracy work, is that hackers are totally fine appointing/defering executive authority when timeliness or strategic oversight is needed. “benevolent dictatorships” and all. Again, not a bad thing, but hard to formalize, and I guess I”m trying to say that the existance of ad-hoc-top-down elements doesn’t negate the general bottom-up nature of the cultural structure.

as it were…

]]> By: Rindan http://futurismic.com/2009/03/31/hacker-havens-are-ad-hocracies/comment-page-1/#comment-22551 Rindan Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:41:20 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=6795#comment-22551 I think that people are over analyzing things when they talk about it being a counter to individualistic culture. A belief in individualism doesn't mean that you can't work with other humans. I have been to a hacker spacer in Somerville, MA, and it isn't some anti-individualist Marxist utopia. It is a bunch of folks with a common interest sharing resources and hanging out while they work on their on individual projects. If anything, I would say that these places are hubs of individualism. The members tend to be unique characters with a unique interest who do their own thing. The point of the club is to pool capital to buy and share expensive resources that would otherwise be out of reach. I think that people are over analyzing things when they talk about it being a counter to individualistic culture. A belief in individualism doesn’t mean that you can’t work with other humans. I have been to a hacker spacer in Somerville, MA, and it isn’t some anti-individualist Marxist utopia. It is a bunch of folks with a common interest sharing resources and hanging out while they work on their on individual projects. If anything, I would say that these places are hubs of individualism. The members tend to be unique characters with a unique interest who do their own thing. The point of the club is to pool capital to buy and share expensive resources that would otherwise be out of reach.

]]> By: Ian Sales http://futurismic.com/2009/03/31/hacker-havens-are-ad-hocracies/comment-page-1/#comment-22502 Ian Sales Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:42:36 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=6795#comment-22502 You know what they say, managing developers is like herding cats. I suspect these only work because of the hacker's innate dislike of being "managed", because the personality type attracted to them is the type that's also too lazy to "manage". But all it will take is one person who thinks things need to be "organised" and "structured"... and it'll all fall apart. You see it happening in other groups, such as writing workshops. They happily operate by consensus, and then someone starts running things.... You know what they say, managing developers is like herding cats. I suspect these only work because of the hacker’s innate dislike of being “managed”, because the personality type attracted to them is the type that’s also too lazy to “manage”. But all it will take is one person who thinks things need to be “organised” and “structured”… and it’ll all fall apart. You see it happening in other groups, such as writing workshops. They happily operate by consensus, and then someone starts running things….

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