The Original Open Source Company talks about using the model of open source software ( I presume the author actually means Free Software) in different areas, specifically in establishing and running a company. Will be definitely interesting to see how far this idea goes and what the company achieves. I believe the biggest hurdle will be in decision making, since it wil get tougher as the company grows and the description by the author says 'decisions about the day to day operations of the company are voted on by one ‘n all'.
Open source seems to be the buzzword of today. With people 'Open source'-ing everything, we will have soon have an open source spectrum of products.. spanning from open source software to 'Open Source Underwear'!
Coming back, as the (above) company grows won't a hieracrchy (however rudimentary) tend to establish itself? (Err... is there a name for this phenomenon?). I am unable to think of examples. Even in case of demorcracy, there is the government and the governed. And once a hierarchy is established, there is going to be reduction in the information that flows from level to level (quality/amount/importance).
Consider any existing company. There are enough and more barriers that cut the flow of information from the `higher` to the `lower` levels. If there is a question asked on corporate decision making some kind of half hearted information is given. Why? Because the information requested was 'need to know'. But then everything in such an establishment will probably be 'need to know'. Worse still, information doesn't seem to flow smoothly inside a team in the company, irrespective of the team's size.
If the proposed company does not fall prey to hierarchy-dom, it will be a one-of-its-kind. And I might invest in it. :-)
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