establishing action cycles

Invitations to Action Cycles are conducted in person at the non-directed gatherings, and generally through the electronic medium which connects players (news letters, or twitter, or bespoke platform). These are conducted on a weekly basis. So there will always be an opening to join an action cycle.

An Action Cycle is an intense piece of open, social architecture. It is not managed, nor even facilitated. Its objective is to assist a unique gathering of individuals to achieve an idealistic objective by reaching consensus and commitment within an initial one hour engagement.

This is one of the primary mechanisms by which players can engagement organisations. If conducted well, idealistic objects are achieved, beyond the capacity of any hierarchical and legal structure. And there are many problems we are facing, personally and socially as well as environmentally and globally, that are beyond the reach of political organisations, whether this is the most powerful superpowers or trans-national companies, or the smallest charities who are helping the poorest and disaffected of us. In addition to achieving these objectives, the organisation will feel indebted to repay the work done to achieve objectives itself has ownership of. That is, the moneyflow within the organisation will be tapped.

The principle behind the action cycle is that they are conducted freely. The people who go to the action cycle are going out of their free will, they are not being paid. Hence, to pay for what is done, is incorrect. It was given freely. In this way, the solutions that open up are light enough to be reached without the weight of thinking of money. If money is offered, it is split equally to all the participants, with preference to freelancers (or is split equally to all members of the entity if the subjective enumeration system is up and running).

Further details on the Action Cycle can be found in this google doc (consider it an appendix:). Action cycles are just one way in which the entity converts value into money, but it the purest way because it is simply solving the “silo” problem that bounded groups suffer from. It is a purely structural relationship between the interaction of non-bounded, horizontal and networked collective and bounded, vertical and hierarchical organisations.

convergent aligned targeting

Think of the unemployed workers during depression who crowded against the gates to the docks and at factories, and being chosen for the day. It’s a bit like that, but more proactive. What if the hub was a space where clients came, engaged over a period of time, and left with the team assembled to achieve a specific objective, traditionally understood as a project? That is, the client leaves with the contract for a first iteration from people who assemble uniquely at that time. That is, there was no company to start with and participants self-organise to converge and align towards a specific target.

Which means we are breaking down the notion of a company. The way to enable this space is to have certain enabling “mechanics” or “articulations” which facilitate the quick alignment of individuals to put forward a proposal, or indeed create a prototype. An action cycle does this (action cycle transform), which is conducted at the boundary of a traditional company. A purely networked version of this is what we are talking about here, with only self-selecting diagonal players crystalising around a single player’s intention. What are the “ligaments”, or “weak attractive forces”, that enable this kind of social manifestation, specifically a client being happy with the team assembled to create the prototype?

  • high degree of opportunistic mindset of participants: open-mindedness
  • contracted to be “open” for 30% of their time, devoting 70% of their time to their own projects
  • open meetings where clients are invited, and they co-create with the available hub members to scope a gem


The objective of the hub is that it is primarily a social space where business is conducted at a deeper level than we are accustomed to in a market. Markets are loud as participants compete to attract attention to themselves, creating a pulling-apart or taking energy. The articulations provided by the members of the hub (financial protocols, social ligaments, physical mechanisms, mindful practices) enable a high-trust framework, where  people pull together, the energy being informed by generosity and giving, evolving a truly collaborative space.