Seasons: Basic coordination structures

"It's impossible to just be partially in this ecosystem, there's so much going on it's all consuming." -Many DAO Members

  • Seasons help us remember that what we're building here is neither a race, nor a marathon.

  • We're not here to keep up with "bull markets" and "bear markets" and try to "outrun the competition". Those are all features of the economic systems we're leaving behind. There's nothing but burnout, anxiety, and depression down that path.

  • Instead, we create a sustainable organizational rhythm that nourishes our whole selves year after year all while we still coordinate to achieve systemic change.

Quick Season Overview

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished" - Lao Tzu

  • Seasons is a protocol for groups to consciously shift where to focus energy throughout the year. To more effectively and joyfully give space to the wide diversity of threads that each group is holding.

Developer Seasons

The Seasons model rhymes with popular development methodologies, such as Agile.

Seasonal (~3 months) flow:

  • Week 1 - Onboarding Onboarding new members into the Organization and Season

  • Weeks 2 - 12 - Doing the work

  • Week 13 - Review and reflect Prepare a quick overview of Seasonal successes and learnings to share with the organisation and present goals for next season.

3x3x3 - 3 goals for 3 months for each Circle (3+ people)

  • A proposal by a circle for seasonal funding doesn't need to be more than 100-200 words (less than what we're seeing already) and shouldn't require more than 0.5-2 hours max to articulate.

  • Do not make governance and meta coordination a heavy burden, a few hours each season to signal what we've done in relationship to what we said we'd do - and what we intend to do going forward.

  • Keep it simple bullet-point format which would greatly help with efficiency both with those writing and those reading.

Seasonal Themes

As we continue to test this model we can share emergent themes below to help focus our seasonal efforts.

Governance Seasons

Focus governance into 2 weeks once every 3 months during the transition point between seasons - then don't look at governance until next season (unless there is an urgent need to do so).

Examples of Seasonal Coordination Patterns

Nambikwara Ethnohistories

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