Coεmeta Public Work Log 2023.0.VEU — A New Cycle
Vernal Equinox Update (3/20/2023): Reboot, renewal & continuities
This is the fifth Public Work Log entry for Coεmeta, a Public Benefit company providing data & sensemaking services with positive externalities. It’s intended as a window into our journey & playbook as it develops, in the spirit of working in public, contributing to knowledge commons, “finding the others” & leaving a trail + some resources for those that follow. I hope it inspires more folks to follow a similarly rewarding path & find similar (if modest & provisional) success. Feel free to reach out at any time, I’m happy to help however I can!
- Daniel McNichol, founder & Chief Scientist
This post is an excerpt of the full versions available at: Github (primary source & version control) & Roam (navigable outline format)
- comments, forks & pull requests are welcome!
It complements our Open Source Strategy repo, which offers more discrete, version-controlled resources related to the strategies & frameworks discussed here in more narrative form.
📜 Prologue: backstory & antecedents
Backstory
Coεmeta is an attempt at an infinite game. The goal of infinite games is not to win, but to keep playing.
I consider this the metagame (as opposed to endgame):
a more balanced, integrated, enriching & impactful life in greater community
To pursue this metagame indefinitely (aka “infinitely”), I needed to reclaim some agency & autonomy in my work. So Coεmeta is also currently a Pennsylvania Public Benefit LLC, serving as a vehicle for more traditional freelance & consulting work, as well as broader public-benefit oriented activities.
(My longer-term vision for Coεmeta as a formal entity is something more like a worker-owned cooperative or DAO with shared collective ownership, or at least part of a federated network of mutual aid & partnerships with other “self-sovereign” ᵋ groups or entities. This is part of the “in greater community” aspect of the metagame.)
So Coεmeta is not exactly a traditional ‘venture’ or typical small business or startup etc, but assumes some of those trappings for now. The previous log entry recaps more of the motivations & considerations underlying all of this, & our Open Source Strategy repo describes some of the strategic planning & wayfinding models used so far.
As elaborated throughout these artifacts, public work & contributing to knowledge commons are core parts of the overall metagame strategy & ethos. So these posts are part of that: figuring it out as I go, learning while doing, in public. This entry picks up where the previous left off. (The timing & titles of these entries should make the intended heliocentric publishing cadence clear.)
ᵋ NB: I’m generally skeptical of this terminology & its associations with neoliberal / libertarian fantasies of fully atomized “sovereign individuals”, but “independent” isn’t quite adequate either.
Antecedents & adumbration
This entry marks the 2nd Vernal Equinox Update, & the first Public Work Log of this new cycle. The first VEU was also the first overall Public Work Log, & looking back now, it was remarkably substantive & eventful. This is largely due to the 6+ months of antecedents it included, but also the richness of those first few months on this path. I’ve now come full circle in multiple senses & am beginning to feel that richness germinate again, as described below.
In contrast, I wrote the previous entry entirely in TL;DR format, due to bandwidth & capacity constraints resulting from an overload of client work (which became a recurring theme throughout last cycle). I reflected on predictable unpredictability, untested theories & neglected pillars of the original mission over as my 1st year an independent worker.
I also conveyed gratitude & some validation of my initial motivations & conceptions, & yet lingering dissatisfaction over the aforementioned untested theories & neglected pillars. So in the new year I made the difficult decision to rebalance my workloads, which meant ending an engagement with a major client in order to refocus my energy & efforts where they felt most vital.
The past three months were largely consumed by that transition, turnover & recovery from the untenable imbalance. But by the end of it (at the time of writing), I’m feeling back on track, rejuvenated & redoubled in my conviction of this path.
⏳ Timeline
꩜ Coda: eval & checkout
Eval
The numbers don’t add much to the story here, but for completeness & continuity with past entries:
client glut & burnout epochs, so everything but freelance is likely a bit understated
Vibe Check
But how are the vibes?
Refreshed & renewed. Ready for more.
…play started to become finite again, so had to reboot
I do feel a bit behind the curve of this new cycle, as the prior year spilled over & needed a cleanup. I’m only just rebooting now, 1/4 the way through. But I feel good about weaving those threads of continuity into the knotwork of this next cycle, yet more strange loops in the infinite game.
Thanks for reading, follow me & the Coεmeta publication for past & future posts. And comment with your thoughts, questions or suggestions!
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Coεmeta is about finding truth together
We create data & sensemaking tools & services with positive externalities: supporting commons, solidarity economies & prosocial change.
Learn more at coemeta.xyz
