Make A Space

Make a Space - The Platform

Julian Stahl — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 01:46:06 GMT

In the previous post, we discussed the value a makerspace can bring to the community and some new things that are needed to harness the real potential of a collaborative space.

So what is "Make a Space" about?

A platform to easily create and run collaborative organizations.

The wording "collaborative organizations" instead of makerspace, is because ultimately this system can be applied to many different scenarios. The space might even be virtual. This is simply a way to build a sort of "ad-hoc goal accomplishment cohort of people." It may eventually turn into a business, but is starting out small. Regardless, we are going to apply it to a makerspace first, as it has the most elements from all other situations the system might be used in. In other words, if it can work for a makerspace, it should work for everything else.

Task Management System (TMS)

The primary mode of getting things done centers around creating a system for distributed task management. As outlined in the previous post, the most basic explanation is: being able to post and link tasks with (or without) a reward. At the core, this is how all organizations function. Traditional organizations usually pay by the hour, and not by the task. When a manager tells you what to do with your time, they are just giving you a task to do and are authorizing you to get paid based on time spent working on the task, instead of a defined task completion. The task-based system would allow an organization to have a more decentralized form of management, thus allowing it to scale the help needed more linearly instead of a per employee step function. It is a way to manage a large number of contractors or freelancers that are task based instead of hourly. The purpose of linking tasks and being able to create hierarchies is two-fold. First, it allows context of the task and where it fits in. This allows freelancers to be able to slot in and out of projects with less face to face explanation of the problem. Second, if this system can be searchable, it can find other tasks in the system that are similar enough to your own. This only works for open-source projects but is an extremely powerful mechanism. For example, if ten people need 95% of the same task done, wouldn't it be cheaper to get the task completed at 1/10th the cost and spend a little extra on the adjacent task to absorb the last 5%? Would we see some basic building blocks everyone needs emerge, that previously would have been duplicated? It could provide enormous leverage for creating a low-cost open source product.

We have already started to framework what this system might look like and what it would require building. So far we have decided it will end up being a new programming language of sorts. However, it should be more or less perfectly understandable to the average English speaker. It ends up being similar to a micro contracting framework but specially made to accomplish a task (or series of tasks).

Another feature that could be built into this is a form of identity. This would help keep track of who owns what tasks, and who had a good reputation to work with. You can find more information on what that entails at this blog.

Organization Operating System

Every business wants to be able to run on autopilot, but a small margin semi-volunteer adventure has a greater need than others. With this in mind, we hope to be able to integrate with the task system to cut down on the paperwork. Because everyone is considered a contractor, payroll and taxes are simplified to simpler forms. The makerspace in which the tasks are being completed can act as an escrow between parties, and handle the numbers. They can also pay individuals for the tasks they complete for the space, and request payment from members who owe monthly dues. Again, the key is being able to utilize the TMS for any effort expended that requires payment. You expended a little more effort up front on management, but you are also dealing with the accounting indirectly.

Teamstarter (working title)

After we have the backend of this working, the next step is organizing the front end, people. The goal of making an organization run smoother is great, but why not apply that to the creation of an organization? This is the funding platform we talked about in the previous post. You could use it publicly to organize many individuals, but there is no reason why you couldn't also use it between only a few people. It would be a clear way to understand expectations of any number of parties and, facilitate a very quick creation of a contract. Along with creating an instant contract, we could also provide a basic starter kit for ideas to aid in the success of your endeavor. This could include physical sensors and accessories that integrate into the Organization Operating System, further automating workflows and reducing operational overhead. It could also can basic legal documents to ensure you are covered in various situations (all documents should be reviewed by your lawyer, but this can still significantly reduce cost).

An aspect of teamstarter we are currently working on is a simple contract agreement between individuals to allow a clear understanding of percentage ownership of an endeavor. Even though you may be working with you best friend, or even family member it is important to set up the "rules" of the game before there is any value at stake. We are building a contract (that we will share after we have tested it out) that creates a frame work to determine the amount of "effort" an individual has put into a project. It is an agreement on how many dollars of capital input is considered equal to putting in one hour of sweat capital. This helps everyone understand the potential results of their efforts. When you start on your endeavor, just track the time and money spent on it, and when it becomes viable, you can start a formal LLC and have a clear picture of the current percentage of ownership amongst parties. And there is no reason you can't continue tracking effort expended and adjust the ownership shares accordingly as time progresses.

Conclusion

We feel that building this platform could allow entrepreneurship to become much more accessible. One day, entrepreneurship (self-employment, specifically) will be a significant portion of occupations. As technology lowers the cost to run organizations (an information problem) we will only end up with more and more of them. This allows problems to be analyzed on a smaller scale and allow individuals to be part of many different organizations at once.

If you are interested in this project, please sign up for our newsletter. We are looking for help building these open source systems. We will update you with what we are working on, and if you want to help out you can shoot us an e-mail!

Why a Makerspace? Why Now?

Julian Stahl — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 23:43:55 GMT

Makerspaces are beautiful things, but there just aren't enough of them! Where do makerspaces fit in the future society? How do we make more of them?

The problem

As work continues to transition to an information economy we see the rise of entrepreneurship as a career path. Why? Because the search space of the information economy is much larger than that of the physical world. There are countless new ways to provide value to the world we can’t find them all. The internet has fundamentally changed commerce and with it, careers.

So how come you can’t get a degree in entrepreneurship? Because it is something that can’t be taught like a traditional skill. You can’t sit in a classroom for 7 hours a day and become a great entrepreneur. You need to be actively trying to solve a problem, either for yourself or someone else. You need to be trying new things and always be running experiments. Which new things and what experiments? No one knows but the person working on it. That is the dilemma of the information economy. You need the information to act, and that information is unique to the situation. That is the only way to provide new value. If someone could tell you what experiments to try, they must already know the answer. If they know the answer, it has been done before. If it was valuable, then there is already a business providing that value to the economy. The design space for an information product is seemingly infinite. Whereas, you can only arrange the physical world in a finite number of ways. If you are solving a new information problem with a physical component, chances are you also found a new configuration of the physical world that hasn’t existed before.

So why a makerspace?

Makerspaces are a fascinating arrangement of atoms. At the highest potential, they can be a full stack factory for creating ANY new configuration of both information and physical components. They can have equipment for manufacturing, inventory of components, high-end software, area to work, and most importantly, a network of people to connect with.

Makerspaces are the environment entrepreneurs are born in. Even if you are not yet an entrepreneur, this is still a great place to learn about things that exist in the world (machines, processes, technologies, skills, etc.).

Makerspaces are hard

A shared space with tools galore is ideal for individuals. But for anyone who has run a business, it probably sounds like an absolute nightmare to manage. We are combining manufacturing (capital intensive, small margin), with retail (component inventory, a decent margin for convenience), with renting space (the building isn’t going to pay itself). You now have several different types of inventory to track (and stock). Equipment has hours that need to be utilized; the material has sizes and types to organize, components have to be labeled and organized. All of these things need to be tracked, updated, and restocked. Unlike a specific business, you provide the most value when you have the most amount (types) of inventory on hand. Since a makerspace doesn’t make a single product it cannot be efficient. If it were efficient in a traditional sense, it would be a terrible makerspace.

Making things easy(er)

Sometimes you can’t solve hard problems, but you can make them fit into a system that makes them much simpler to handle. Breaking a large problem down into its smallest pieces is always the best way to problem solve. In the end, you still do the hard thing, but in bite-sized chunks.

Since a makerspace can be so many things, the organizational costs are so high it limits their potential. As any system gets larger, the true costs start to emerge. When things are small, getting a couple of volunteer helpers fixes almost all the problems. The trick is doing that when you go 10x. Find 20 free helpers? No way. How about one full time paid position? Still too broad of a range for one person to easily manage ('jack of all trades' are always in high demand).

If many hands make light work, then we only need to find a way to lower the organizational costs of having to orchestrate that. We envision a tasking system to help define and accomplish goals. It would be like an advanced To-Do list, but have much more depth. You could use the system to not only run the space but create many other great things. You could link tasks in a hierarchy to create a project, projects to create products, and products to create a business. For a member looking to help out, they can search by skills required and pick a task that fits into a project or product they believe in. Context can help give design hints without needing to be as explicit and thus improve the quality of the finished product with less input effort.

By opening up the task system to all members, it is much easier for someone to ask for help. It may require more initial effort to build out your idea in a series of tasks, but the payback for reducing the friction of collaboration can quickly outweigh the starting costs. Add a little reward to the completion of tasks (or series of tasks), and you have built a marketplace of ideas and a way to create something while paying others for their effort.

The key is having access to all the tools to accomplish any task that might be posted. A task requiring a machine that the makerspace does not posses will never be done. Your system becomes an equilibrium between the capital available to build out the makerspace (tools, inventory) and the amount of commerce that will take place in the system. Trade grows when more individuals are involved, and so community involvement is the primary driver of the size of this sort of makerspace.

Having a significant amount of problems needing to be solved is ideal for a freelancer. It gives them so much insight to what the market demands. On the flip side, if you are still learning (a high schooler, or just new to the maker movement) these tasks help you see what skills are in demand in your area and can help narrow focus on what to learn. It can also give you a framework on what is involved in building a product. It might give some real signal to all the noise.

How to start a makerspace?

Like running a makerspace, starting one can also be difficult. We feel a special funding site can aid in making the creation process easier.

How this would differ from something like Kickstarter, is that we would require more than just money to be donated. Local manufacturers would donate equipment and tools. Another form of “funding” would be donating so many hours to the space (i.e., volunteer help). Local experts or teachers could donate a chance to teach a hands-on class for so many hours a month. There would also be a section for funding the building. The funding goal for the physical location would most likely be where a local government or economic development fund could find a building or individually sponsor so much of the lease.

Because you need some of all of these (and all of some) the requirements would be set before the campaign started. By fundraising by kind of funds, you ensure you wouldn’t end up with all volunteer help and no money or vice versa (or neither if the community isn't all that interested in a makerspace). Because of the local nature of this, it should be easy to setup a meeting for the community to discuss what the requirements everyone would need for the space to be valued (used). Due to the grassroots style, this avoids waste and promotes a much higher long-term success rate.

Conclusion

By lowering the friction (and cost) to both starting and operating a makerspace, we hope to one day be able to sustain a makerspace in even small rural towns with a limited population. We feel that as time goes on, makerspaces can eventually replace hardware stores and small manufacturing shops in an area. They will be a new breed of ‘stores.' You can buy raw materials, build your products, purchase a completed product made by someone else in your area, or commission someone to build whatever it is you may need. Instead of a local farmer market, you would have a local maker market.