Great! In my opinion, it is preferable, in most cases, for practice to proceed formalized structure. So if this organization is mature enough to have some established practices, we can actually start by documenting the practice and make the implicit explicit what @BarbaraSchack just did). Then we can ask ourselves if the organization can benefit from more clarity and strict processes, from formal structures (which is not always the case!). The Membership question is a very important one for this type of organization, because it affects allocation (or self-allocation) of resources, commitment, responsibility. So it definitely needs to be addressed. If we start from the practice it’s easy, because there is already an implicit consensus.
One way to introduce structure (#governance-processes or other) is to
- abstract from practice
- propose a formal structure (new rule, tool or method) and
- allow a period of experimentation / observation / refinement
- have that become the norm, if people are OK with it, don’t oppose or red flag it
- optional: ritualise it by having some type of group procedure, vote or other, in order to officialese,
- explicitly record this new structural element in Register (which is a reference).