Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
Prediction: In the decentralized future the concept of leader will become irrelevant and even the BDFx (x != L) concept will weaken, but the concept of frontman will remain. Too many patterns require a frontman to exist, even if purely ceremonial.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
Reminds of how in algebraic topology a loop is a primary analytical device but you still need to specify a nominal start/end point to work with a loop.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
The BDF!L (benevolent dictator but not for life) pattern is the single best idea in sociology of distributed systems but is *really* hard to pull off. When people are wary of BDFLing, they end up all waiting around for someone *else* to start. You must bind !L to a fixed epoch. I like M= month. BDFM is a good pattern.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
BDF!L is what used to be called mission-command. In trad orgs it maps to project or program manager but that’s dangerous because projects/programs can be dragged on forever. That’s not bad. What’s bad is a manager-for-life.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
A lot of BDF!L failure happens not because people develop dictator-for-life greed but because they have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. So the trick is to take yourself offline chais monkey style, when the alternative is to overburden yourself. If something will fail as a result you have to let it.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
In fact when people are generally nice and responsible, the only way for the system to grow stronger is for people to simulate irresponsibility. We often ask “what if they’re hit by a bus?” about critical people. The correct answer is to periodically let the bus hit you, so to speak.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
At the yak collective @yak we’ve managed to institutionalize BDF!Ling to a large degree. A bunch of people periodically BDFM, and also let themselves be hit by a bus. We only trust systems that can survive this process.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
Many sincere contributors passed through and started stuff that didn’t endure because they didn’t survive the BDF!L being chaos-monkeyed offline for a while. Their efforts were still one-time valuable and appreciated though! But the most valuable contribution is the small and steady thing that endures.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
The trick is to run routine ops in a sort of holographic way such that everybody knows how to backstop any activity they’re in at minimum-viable level. This means very simple, highly symmetric protocols with very little privileging of admin roles.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
For example, our weekly discussion groups tend to run on a round-robin protocol. If the regular host is out anyone who has participated a couple of times can run the discussion. Host just picks a reading and kicks off the round of comments at an arbitrary person.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️ pfp
Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
But re: frontman, for path dependence reasons (including silly structural ones like discord requiring a single human owner) I’m still “frontman” for YC and haven’t figured out a way to distribute that role. Only possibility I see is a shared pseudonym with real-personhood. Like Publius for federalist papers
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