Saturday, September 29, 2012

Don't ask, but do tell

One of the more striking features of the Pirate movement - may I never tire of that name - is the often invoked rule of the three-pirate initiative. It is a very simple rule, and can be summarized like this:

If and when three members think something is a good idea, they automatically have the movement's approval to make it happen.

Convince two people that something is worth doing, then go do it. Simple as that. No formal requests, no negotiating, no trying to get a point across the narrow mind of some bureaucrat - none of that. Just go ahead and do stuff.

And stuff gets done.

The main point of this is not that it is a giving out of permissions. No. The thing to notice here is that people have this possibility whether they are in a movement or not, and that you really don't need that much in order to get started in your project of changing the world. If you can get get two other persons to think that something is a good idea, then you already have a good start to the project of making this good idea happen.

You don't need to get permission to do good things or to be awesome. What you may need from time to time, though, is a reminder of this. A reminder that you have it in your power to make things happen, without having to ask for it.

Consider yourself reminded.

2 comments:

  1. this reminds me of the phenomena of stigmergy, http://c4ss.org/content/8914 it's "any form of human socialization in which coordination is achieved not by social negotiation or administration or consensus, but entirely by independent individual action against the background of a common social medium." this form of organization also avoids that annoying old "Iron Law Of Oligarchy": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_oligarchy which is neat.

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    Replies
    1. I'll take two of those, if you don't mind!

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