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Revise the Big Picture #1132

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62 changes: 55 additions & 7 deletions www/big-picture/customers.spt
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -2,14 +2,62 @@ nav_title = 'Customers'
[---]
[---] text/html via markdown

Our [strategy](../strategy) is to flood the market with open organizations.
Therefore, we understand our customers as follows:
Our [strategy](./strategy) for fulfilling our [mission](./mission) is to
evolve open organizations by persuading companies to pay open source software
projects.

<a href="http://interactive.blockdiag.com/?compression=deflate&src=eJxLyslPzk7JTExXqOZSUEjMyUxOVYjOSUxKzbFVqgNzlWKBEq5wwZCMVAXXvJLUooKizGKIZHJRaXFGahFCH1QALAkxUtcOaASQgMpYcwFl0ovySwsUSlITc8F2A83Jz8kvslVSNja2tDQzU7IGC7qCyYLM5MSiFIQNED7YglquWgAxeDvp"><img src="customers.png"></a>
<a href="http://interactive.blockdiag.com/?compression=deflate&src=eJx1jrEKwjAYhPc-xU9c1aVQKKVCKBkc3NzEIUlDG41N-NsOIvXZjWloQTDDwX2X5E4YK--15g28EgAKF8OFMiWh1Ylt4djJPbn6gBst1RK-gw2BsGLF3gTIFnRuFbBuUOhQ9_MLCruDv-FF4ti3CovE0wbt6EDah-PdM2wB74zFkmzSNM-zjBQB0qB_9_xZNK0dDu1NyeGnowondrCgTkuO9frX7GNL3L6mEXzjKZk-xnBktA"><img src="customers.png"></a>

Our primary customer is `~picard`: the manager of an open organization.

Our secondary customer is The Enterprise's customer: `~alice`.
## Demand-Side

Our tertiary customer is The Enterprise's employee (contractor, agent, etc.):
`~crusher`.
`~alice` and `~bob` are employees of a company representing the demand side of
the marketplace for open source software. Their company consumes open source
software and we want to help them pay for it.

`~alice` is an open source program director (or manager, or advocate, or chief
open source officer, etc.) at a company. She has budget authority and is
explicitly responsible for the relationship between the company and the open
source community, both as producer and consumer. This is the primary role we
sell to.

`~bob` is a developer who wants his company to pay for open source, but does
not have budget authority. He takes it upon himself to advocate for open source
within his company, but does not have it as an explicit responsibility. This is
a secondary role that we sell through and with by helping him make the case
within his company.

`~alice` and `~bob` are convinced that supporting open source is the Right
Thing&trade; &hellip; but we're not selling altruism. Paying for open source is
actually in each company's enlightened self-interest. How can we help `~alice`
and `~bob` make the case?

- **Risk management**. Open source is an upstream supplier, and insolvent
vendors are risky (see:
[Heartbleed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbleed#Root_causes.2C_possible_lessons.2C_and_reactions)).

- **Marketing**. Companies with a good reputation in open source communities
find it easier to sell to and hire from those communities.

- **Metrics**. Understanding open source consumption patterns can be difficult
in large organizations.

- **Social validation**. Companies need to feel that they're not the only one
paying, but rather that they're part of an industry trend.


## Supply-Side

`~picard` is the manager (owner?) of an open organization, and `~crusher` is a
contributor to the organization (co-owner, employee, contractor, agent). These
are the supply-side customers in our markeplace.

We saw this side of the market grow at 3% month-over-month even while we were
growing 0% on the demand side, so we're not as focused on selling to this side.
The open source community is so desperate for money that if we can unlock the
demand side, the supply side should basically take care of itself, at least at
first.

Eventually we will get back to our second market, [between projects and
contributors](https://opensource.com/open-organization/16/7/compensating-employees-letting-them-take-what-they-want).
Some day!
64 changes: 31 additions & 33 deletions www/big-picture/mission.spt
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Expand Up @@ -3,39 +3,40 @@ nav_children = []
[---]
[---] text/html

Our mission is to cultivate an economy of gratitude, generosity, and love.
Gratipay's mission is to cultivate an economy of gratitude, generosity, and love.


## Chalk
## Love Chalk

*by Chad Whitacre*

I just passed Cameron for the third time: six feet tall, Asian-American, baggy
jeans, filthy blue sweatshirt unzipped with the hood up. He was crouching under
a city map in front of the Burger King next to the streetcars at Powell and
Market. Scattered in front of him were coins and bits of chalk.
I just passed Cameron for the third time: six feet, baggy jeans, filthy blue
sweatshirt unzipped with the hood up. Crouching under a city map in front of
the Burger King next to the cable cars, coins and bits of chalk strewed the
sidewalk in front of him.

Cameron sleeps in Union Square. He showed me where the first time we met.
&ldquo;Under that tree. My buddy sleeps there. We watch each other's stuff.
Some people are bad, but I try to help people. Like, if I have five dollars,
and you need money, I'll just give it to you. I'm all about love.&rdquo;
The first time I meet Cameron is in Union Square. &ldquo;I sleep under that
tree. My buddy sleeps there. We watch each other's stuff. Some people are bad,
but I try to help people. Like, if I have five dollars, and you need money,
I'll just give it to you. I'm all about love.&rdquo; He pronounces it,
&ldquo;luuuuuv.&rdquo;

He was acting skittish, though, and a passing janitor confirmed my suspicion.
&ldquo;Hey, you can't do that!&rdquo;
But not everyone appreciates his work. &ldquo;Hey, you can't do that!&rdquo;
calls a tired janitor, wheeling a trash can past.

After he'd wheeled his trash can past, Cameron looked at the sidewalk in front
of him and said, &ldquo;I'm writing 'love'. They keep telling me not to, but
I'm going to do it anyway.&rdquo; I offered him a heart coin and moved on, as
he swooped back in for a few more surreptitious strokes. I only found traces a
day or two later. Sorry, janitor.
Cameron looks at the sidewalk in front of him. &ldquo;I'm writing
&lsquo;love&rsquo;. They keep telling me not to, but I'm going to do it
anyway.&rdquo; I offer him a heart coin and move on. He swoops back in for a
few more surreptitious strokes, of which only traces remain the next day.
Sorry, janitor.

The second time, I found him crouching on Market. He didn't seem to remember me
at all&mdash;no biggie, the city is busy. &ldquo;I'm writing
&lsquo;love&rsquo;, but I don't have any chalk.&rdquo; Just stubs in front of
him. &ldquo;I'm all about love.&rdquo; Not so skittish. No janitors down here.
The second time, Cameron is crouching on Market. He doesn't recognize me.
&ldquo;I'm writing &lsquo;love&rsquo;, but I don't have any chalk.&rdquo; Just
stubs in front of him. &ldquo;I'm all about love.&rdquo; Not so skittish. No
janitors down here.

He didn't recognize me just now either. &ldquo;Hey Cameron.&rdquo; He looked up
slowly, blankly. &ldquo;You want a burger or something?&rdquo;
He didn't recognize me just now either. &ldquo;Hey, Cameron.&rdquo; He looked
up slowly, blankly. &ldquo;You want a burger or something?&rdquo;

&ldquo;Huh?&rdquo;

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ again, but he noticed me.

Slowly taking it in, &ldquo;Is that for me?&rdquo;

Now I'm wondering if this dude is Dory. &ldquo;Yeah.&rdquo;
I'm talking to Dory. &ldquo;Yeah.&rdquo;

&ldquo;You bought those for me?&rdquo;

Expand All @@ -79,13 +80,10 @@ packs of plain white chalk sitting next to the stubs.

&ldquo;You didn't have to do that for me &hellip; but you did.&rdquo;

Turning around and pointing to the sidewalk, I said, &ldquo;Well, you didn't
have to do that for us, but you did.&rdquo;
Turning around and pointing to the sidewalk, &ldquo;Well, you didn't have to do
that for us, but you did.&rdquo;

After another pause, Cameron's face broke into a smile as he went for the dap.
Our fists connected and we smiled at each other, then I silently turned to go.
Ten feet away, he called out, &ldquo;That's love, man.&rdquo; I looked back,
gave him a thumbs up. Crouching again, staring me in the eye and smiling
broadly, he said, &ldquo;I like you.&rdquo;

[[source](https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/867#issuecomment-261455881)]
Another pause, then Cameron's face broke into a smile as he went for the pound.
Our fists connected and we smiled at each other, then I silently turned.
&ldquo;That's love, man.&rdquo; I looked back, gave him a thumbs up. Crouching
again, staring me in the eye and smiling broadly, &ldquo;I like you.&rdquo;
17 changes: 9 additions & 8 deletions www/big-picture/operating-agreement.spt
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Expand Up @@ -79,8 +79,9 @@ importance of the decision. If no-one objects then the matter is decided. If
another member objects then the members involved work out a consensus. If they
can't work it out then Gratipay votes.

Gratipay calls votes by general consent. By default, votes are open for 72
hours and require a majority to pass. The quorum is:
Gratipay calls votes by general consent following a period of discussion. By
default, votes are open for 72 hours and require a majority to pass. The quorum
is:

- a majority if there are fewer than seven members,
- seven if there are at least 14 but fewer than 35 members, and
Expand All @@ -90,21 +91,21 @@ Members cast votes using comments and/or reactions on GitHub issues. Any member
may count the vote and publish their count. Those members who publish a count
within 24 hours after voting closes decide together on the final count.

The following decisions require a vote with a seven day voting period and a
majority in favor to pass:
The following decisions require a minimum four-day discussion period prior to
voting:

- removing a member against their will,
- changing [the big picture](./), which includes this document, and
- accepting outside financing, which includes loans from members.

The following decisions require a vote with a 14-day voting period and at least
75% in favor to pass:
The following decisions require a minimum 11-day discussion period, and at
least 75% voting in favor to pass:

- adding a member, and
- selling or dissolving Gratipay.

In the case of a vote to decide whether to call a vote, the period is 24 hours
and a majority decides it.
In the case of a vote to decide whether to call a vote, the voting period is 24
hours and a majority decides it.

Gratipay software is open source. In the case of irreconcilable conflict,
members in the minority have the option to fork.
Expand Down
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions www/big-picture/roadmap.spt
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Expand Up @@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ source](https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/987).&rdquo;

## Accounting

- [Clean up exchanges](https://github.com/orgs/gratipay/projects/20)
- [Finish setting up books](https://github.com/gratipay/finances/issues/43)
- [Account for one month once ever](https://github.com/gratipay/finances/pulls)
- [Catch up on books](https://github.com/gratipay/finances/issues/3)
Expand Down
117 changes: 68 additions & 49 deletions www/big-picture/strategy.spt
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Expand Up @@ -3,14 +3,22 @@ nav_title = 'Strategy'
[---] text/html

Our strategy for [cultivating](mission) an economy of gratitude, generosity,
and love is to fill the market with **open organizations**. In adopting this
term, we are participating in a
[conversation](https://opensource.com/open-organization) hosted by Red Hat on
their website, OpenSource.com, based on the book [*The Open
Organization*](https://www.amazon.com/-/dp/1625275277) by their CEO, Jim
Whitehurst.
and love is to take advantage of the **open source tragedy of the commons** to
fill the market with **open organizations**.

Open organizations as we define them have four characteristics:

## Open Organizations

[*The Open Organization*](https://www.amazon.com/-/dp/1625275277) is a book by
Jim Whitehurst documenting Red Hat's company culture. Red Hat hosts an [ongoing
conversation](https://opensource.com/open-organization) about the book and its
themes via their website, OpenSource.com. Prior to Jim's book, Gratipay talked
about [open
companies](https://gratipay.news/the-second-open-company-4cbab7ca1a47), but
with Red Hat stepping forward with so much more momentum, we've folded our
efforts into theirs.

Open organizations as Gratipay defines them have four characteristics:

1. **transparent decisions**&mdash;the default is for information to be shared
publicly and decisions to be vetted publicly before being finalized;
Expand All @@ -28,18 +36,17 @@ But when there is personal agency, gratitude and generosity are able to
flourish.


## The Open Source Value Vacuum
## The Open Source Tragedy of the Commons

Open source software projects are the most well-established institutions that
are closest to our vision of the open organization. Transparent decision-making
and open &ldquo;hiring&rdquo; are the norm. Insofar as they have any revenue,
it is voluntary. There's historically not been much revenue, however, so
practices around compensation are not well-developed (hence the scare quotes
around &ldquo;hiring&rdquo;).
We aim to evolve open organizations from open source software projects, because
open source software projects are the best-established existing institutions
that are closest to our vision of the open organization. Transparent
decision-making and open &ldquo;hiring&rdquo; are the norm. Insofar as they
have any revenue, it is voluntary. There's historically not been much revenue,
however, so practices around compensation are not well-developed (hence the
scare quotes around &ldquo;hiring&rdquo;).

Our strategy is to evolve open source software projects into open
organizations: open institutions with a peer economic relationship to closed
organizations. In economic terms, open source software is a [*public
In economic terms, open source software is a [*public
good*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#Definition_matrix):

![goods matrix](matrix.png)
Expand All @@ -52,36 +59,48 @@ There are three ways to fit public goods into the economy:
1. **Taxation**. This is akin to enclosure, in that both involve *forcing* people
to pay for the thing.

1. **Social norms**. At its worst, this looks like guilt-tripping and shaming.
At its best, it looks like inviting people to be grateful and generous and
Do the Right Thing&trade;. This is us! &#x1f483;

If we have a chance at (3), it's because open source has created a
&ldquo;value vacuum&rdquo; in the economy. Closed organizations have been
unable to ignore the value open source software offers; they've embraced it.
This creates some pressure to compensate open source projects *after* the fact
rather than beforehand. Is it enough?

A second pressure point is developer relations. Companies with a good
reputation in open source communities find it easier to hire from and sell to
those communities.

Another relevant pressure in the industry is the pressure to address the
diversity problem in tech
([e.g.](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/17/356944145/episode-576-when-women-stopped-coding)).
This is a problem worth addressing in its own right, and it dovetails with the
idea of proactively giving individuals agency to be involved in the engines of
our economy.

A fourth entrypoint is consumer-facing public goods, such as the services
provided by Wikipedia, Mozilla, and the Internet Archive, and digital content
more broadly.

The goal is to tap these pressure points to get some funding moving into open
organizations. If we get enough money moving in this direction then we might
even [see](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWH3Waigi5Y#t=5h59m17s) a new
1. **Persuasion**. The pitch is mostly enlightened self-interest with a
sprinkling of altruism. This is us! &#x1f483;

Persuading customers to pay for value they may also access for free is an
&ldquo;extreme&rdquo; solution to the [value capture
problem](https://hbr.org/2014/10/capture-more-value):

> Taking this idea to an extreme, some companies have *pay what you want*
> arrangements, whereby the seller must take whatever the customer offers.
> Given the potential for free-rider abuse, few businesses contemplate this
> innovation.

Free-rider abuse is the [classic
challenge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-rider_problem) in providing
public goods, and it is a challenge intrinsic to open source. &ldquo;The
license shall not require a royalty or other fee,&rdquo; is the [very first
article](https://opensource.org/definition) of the open source definition, and
freedom-as-in-beer was the primary driver for corporate open source adoption
[until 2011](https://www.blackducksoftware.com/2016-future-of-open-source)
(slide 10). In other words, one of the great strengths of open source is also
perhaps its greatest weaknesses.

Open source clearly suffers from free-rider abuse. It creates between [$100B
and
$1T/yr](https://gratipay.news/open-source-captures-0-02-of-the-value-it-creates-leaving-852b-y-on-the-table-9015eb7e293e)
in value, and captures at most 0.2% of that value. Gratipay's strategic plan is
to solve the free-rider problem in open source by [persuading
companies](./customers) to pay for open source software. There are
[20M](https://www.google.com/search?q=number+of+programmers+in+the+world)
programmers in the world. If 10% of them had an annual budget of $1,000 to pay
for open source, the distributed open source community would have revenues
[equivalent to Red
Hat](https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/red-hat-reports-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-year-2017-results).

That's our initial target: $2B/yr revenue for the open source community, an
order of magnitude change from the status quo. Along the way we will create a second market,
[between projects and
contributors](https://opensource.com/open-organization/16/7/compensating-employees-letting-them-take-what-they-want).

At further orders of magnitude, we may even
[see](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWH3Waigi5Y#t=5h59m17s) a new
[sector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_sector#By_ownership) of the
economy: public, private, voluntary, &hellip; and open! And if we do that,
hopefully we'll have increased the gratitude and generosity in the world by a
fraction of a degree&mdash;maybe enough to get an interesting feedback loop
going!
economy emerge: public, private, voluntary, &hellip; and open. This new segment
of the economy may better harmonize personal agency with collective action,
perhaps making room for gratitude, generosity, and love to flourish.
2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion www/big-picture/values.spt
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Expand Up @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ nav_title = 'Values'
Gratipay is an
[open](https://opensource.com/open-organization/resources/open-org-definition)
[cooperative](http://ica.coop/en/what-co-operative) rooted in the
[open-source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source) cultural tradition.
[open source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source) cultural tradition.
We subscribe to the values of both cooperatives and open organizations, and
extend these with our own unique value system called the Ladder of Love.
Together, these three sets of values articulate our collective self-identity,
Expand Down