Piddly Winks
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Piddly Winks is a consensus-based conflict management tool based on simple agreements made between individuals.
Each agreement, or “piddly,” is a one-sentence declaration regarding a single, objectively observable mode of behavior. All piddlies are reciprocal; before you ask someone to do something, you'd better be prepared to do it yourself.
Each piddly is paired with a “wink,” essentially a humorous title that refers to the agreement. The wink serves as an immediate and non-confrontational way for one signatory to point out the non-compliance of another.
Piddly Winks is transparent; the process for proposing, joining, declining or withdrawing from agreements takes place in public view.
It is entirely separate from the organization, Free Geek. It is starting out by squatting on Free Geek's Wiki as a place for Geeks to communicate, but it has no official sanction. Once you are signatory to the general agreement, Squiggles, you can propose a Piddly Wink by using the following template.
Purpose
The purpose of Piddly Winks is to address conflict at its nascent stages. The idea is that most large-scale, interpersonal conflicts, no matter how entrenched, have their origins at the fussiest of levels. Allowing small frictions and annoyances to go un-addressed only leads to larger problems later.
Piddly Winks should help participants focus on their own behaviors and how these behaviors impact those around them. It should also help participants focus on identifying and addressing issues they have with the behavior of other participants. Most important, it should provide a way for people to talk about this stuff.
The public nature of the agreements should also provide a group of participants a robust, diagnostic tool for improving overall group function.
The whole thing is voluntary and consensual. Nobody has to do a damn thing if they don't want to.
And it should be fun.
How it works
Squiggles
This is the wink assigned to the meta agreement that lays out the basic rule-set for playing Piddly Winks. It is currently under construction. Once it is in a prototype-ready state, Tony will invite a few Geeks to join. Once we have a relatively stable version, the plan is to invite every member of the collective/staff.
Squiggles is named after the series of tildes used to sign and timestamp a wiki page: ("~~~~"). The first, prototype version of Piddly Winks takes place entirely on Free Geek's “Freeki Wiki,” and the timestamp code is the manner by which participants take official actions. A person who has invited another to a Piddly Wink and is still waiting for buy-in might say, "Hey, dude. I'm still looking for your squiggle."
Actions
- Squiggle: To sign, by logging into the Wiki and adding four tildes, ("~~~~"), in the appropriate place on the page.
- Propose: To release a draft version of a piddly, usually paired with at least one invitation. This involves creating a wiki page based on a template (under construction). Technically, there could be an agreement comprising only one person, but remember, this is publicly viewable; nobody wants to watch you piddle yourself.
- Invite: To invite another participant (someone already signatory to Squiggles) to join an agreement. Invitations can happen in any manner, such as by email, in-person or carrier pigeon. But the invitation must also be issued on the Piddly's page in the appropriate place, and squiggled by all current signatories of that Piddly. If a piddly has many signatories, they all must agree to invite another person to join.
- Agree: You like it? Type the word “AGREE” and squiggle it.
- Amend: Don't like it? Type “AMEND” and squiggle it. Find an appropriate forum to work toward an agreement that will work for everyone. If this process drags on (say....a week past the date of the squiggle), report the state of affairs on the Piddly's page. If the process keeps dragging on, you will need to either continue reporting on the progress, or take it behind the shed and “Decline” it.
- Decline: Hate it? Type “DECLINE,” squiggle it, and provide a statement as to why you are taking this action.
- Withdraw: Sick of an existing Piddly? Type “WITHDRAW,” squiggle it, and provide a statement as to why you are taking this action.
- Fess: Did you get winked at today? Now you gotta go all the way to a computer, log into the damn wiki, find the Piddly, type “FESS” and squiggle it. What a pain in the ass. But you did it to yer damn self. Comments as the the circumstances may be added if you want.
Piddlies
Detail construction of a top-shelf Piddly.
Winks
Detail construction of a top-shelf Wink.
Housekeeping
In addition to creating and servicing Piddlies, Squigglers agree to take on a few support tasks.
- Keeping the PW pages clean and free of inappropriate use
- Facilitating the process of other Squigglers attempts to form agreements
- Actively engaging in further development of the meta agreement