Doing things differently: Equal pay, flat structure, and a four day week

​This session is part of the Introduction to Political Technology programme at Newspeak House, open to faculty, fellows, and fellowship candidates only.

​Session by Faculty member Peyman Owladi

​Attendance: In person

​Poteris is a not-for-profit tech collective: flat structure, equal pay, around a dozen people, no external funding. It's one answer to a set of questions every tech-for-good founder faces – nonprofit or for-profit? Agency work or products? Hierarchy or flatness? After five years I can share our experiences of our attempt at a flat structure, equal pay, a 4 day week, and trying to do things differently.

​Things I'm happy to go deep on: legal form (we're a CIC – what that constrains and enables); why "equal pay" is simpler to run than any alternative we considered, and who it selects for and against; the cross-subsidy between client work and products; the problem with co-ops; and why it's OK to miss out on some work, some clients, and some growth.

​Key question/s: What does a healthy team culture look like? Which parts of a conventional company are load-bearing, and which are habit?

​Reading/links

​Reinventing Organizations – Frédéric Laloux; the standard tour of self-managing organisations

​Seven Transformations of Leadership (HBR) - an interesting view on multiplying up impact

​Community Interest Companies – the UK legal form we use

​Recording: the whole session will be recorded.