RE: FN-FORUM: This collective/cooperative/consortium thing

date posted 18th September 2007 14:01

Yay - good to have the forum back. Now to pick up at Ian's last posting ..
any comments?

Ian Piper wrote:
>>> - Who organises/handles/pays for overheads?
>>> - Online/offline advertising/marketing, development/
>>> maintenance/ hosting
>>> of the co-op website, co-op accounts/financial management.
>>
>> This could mean setting up a company with share holders and
>> directors. Would independant freelance people want to do this?

> This is why I was interested in understanding whether a collective
> or cooperative model might work better than a more traditional
> approach. I'm sure many of you have been round the track on this
> before, and have probably seen initiatives founder on the rocks of
> organisational structures, formal roles and management
> responsibilities. I don't think I would want to form a new company,
> or to have employment contracts and all that paraphernalia.

> I just want a way for people with complementary skills to be able
> to identify each other, build a portfolio team that covers the
> requirements and club together to bid for work. Is there a way for
> professionals to work under the umbrella, as it were, of a
> collective body without it having to be a limited company?

> On the question of who identifies work and who manages it, could
> that be a shared responsibility? I have usually found that the
> most effective teams work as collaborators and partners rather
> than in formal management relationships.

> Regarding how you reward the participants, I have no idea. When I
> have worked with other small companies in the past we have tended
> to divide the overall contract value according to some sort of
> estimate of the proportion of the deliverables that each would be
> providing.

Tam wrote:
> Chris is a good buddy of mine. Talk to him almost daily on msn,
> and i've been getting a bit of a commentary on his experience
> with grow. Also, im not entirely sure if hes still on this list
> or not.

Tam - did Chris have any comments on his experience with Grow?

Cheers, Ben

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Ben Johnson, Neogic Web Solutions
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