Swarmwise: The Tactical Manual To Changing The World

2013·1.6 MB·English

by  Rick Falkvinge

SWARMWISE
The TAcTicAl MAnuAl To ChangIng thE World
Rick FalkvIngE
SWARMWISE
The Tactical Manual to Changing the World
RICK FALKVINGE
This is version 1.1 (first edition, second revision) of Swarmwise. The differences from
the first print revision are mostly cosmetic.
You are free to make as many copies of this book as you like and share with friends
and strangers, as long as you credit the author and you don’t sell them. Actually,
you’re not just free to share copies with your friends, but downright encouraged to. If
you like this book, why shouldn’t you share it with your friends?
Formally, this book is under copyright monopoly until January 1, 2034 — twenty
years from publication. During that time, it is licensed under a Creative Commons
Noncommercial-Attribution 3.0 license, meaning what is said above about free shar-
ing. These are the same terms as suggested in the author’s previous book, The Case
for Copyright Reform. Commercial exclusive rights rest with the author for the twenty
years.
ISBN-10: 1463533152
ISBN-13: 9781463533151
Library of Congress Control Number : 2013909028
CreateSpace Publishing Platform, North Charleston, SC
“Your most valuable asset isn’t your employees,”
I told the executive.
“Your most valuable asset is the thousands of
people who want to work for you for free, and
you don’t let them.”

SMARMWISE CONTENTS
PART I: BUILDING THE SWARM
1. Understanding The Swarm..............................................13
The Swarm Is Open.................................................................19
…And Transparent..................................................................20
So You Have A Provocative Idea?..........................................23
2. Launching Your Swarm...................................................31
Surviving The Initial Impact...................................................38
The Swarm’s First Task...........................................................44
Dealing With Attention Junkies.............................................46
3. Getting Your Swarm Organized: Herding Cats...............51
The Three Magic Group Sizes................................................52
Self-organization......................................................................61
Org Charts And Organic Growth..........................................64
Meetings As Heartbeats...........................................................72
Meetings Gone Overboard......................................................74
A Culture Of Leadership And Trust.......................................76
4. Control The Vision, But Never The Message...................85
You Do The Vision, The Swarm Does The Talking............89
5
S W AR M W I S E
Help The Swarm Remix The Message...................................96
Take To The Streets................................................................97
Scale Out, Out, Out...............................................................108
PART II: LEADING THE SWARM
5. Keep Everybody’s Eyes On
Target, And Paint It Red Daily.......................................119
Project Management And Self-organization........................124
Draw The Timeline For All To See......................................128
Setting Visible, Activating, And Inclusive Goals..................132
Different Leadership Styles....................................................139
6. Screw Democracy, We’re On A Mission From God.......151
Meritocracy And The Law Of Two Feet.............................157
Empowering Like Crazy For Fun And Profit......................159
Mistakes Allowed Here..........................................................163
The Magic Of The Consensus Circle...................................165
Organizational Astronauts.....................................................169
Dividing Scarce Resources....................................................172
Rewarding People..................................................................173
Tampering With The Goal Of The Swarm.........................175
Meetings Revisited.................................................................177
Dealing With Mavericks.......................................................180
6
R I C K F A L K V I N G E
7. Surviving Growth Unlike
Anything The MBAs Have Seen.....................................187
Broadcasting And Maintaining Values.................................189
Decentralized Leadership, Empty Boxes...............................203
Grow With Having Fun........................................................204
Grinding, Grinding, Grinding..............................................205
Maintain One Value Set, One Value Base............................207
Seriously, One Power Base....................................................214
PART III: DELIVERING WITH THE SWARM
8. Using Social Dynamics To Their Full Potential..............223
Social Links.............................................................................224
Growing On The Edges........................................................225
Heartbeat Messages................................................................226
Understanding The Activation Ladder.................................228
Mobilizing Activists...............................................................231
Calls To Arms: Perception Is Reality....................................233
More Ways To Trick Perception..........................................236
Respecting Anonymity..........................................................237
Rewarding The Long Tail....................................................239
Using Attention To Build A Community............................242
9. Managing Oldmedia.......................................................253
Owning Your Issue In Oldmedia.........................................265
7
S W AR M W I S E
Media Breakthroughs.............................................................266
The Gandhi Scale Is Accurate...............................................267
Who Writes The Press Release?............................................268
Avatar Faces Of The Swarm..................................................269
Getting Face Time: Be Where Cameras Are.......................271
Scoring Those Op-eds...........................................................273
Set Up A Press Center............................................................277
10. Beyond Success...............................................................283
The Day After Success...........................................................285
Going International...............................................................288
Don’t Shoot For The Moon..................................................292
Final Words............................................................................295
APPENDICES ETC.
Workshops And Keynotes.....................................................299
Acknowledgments.................................................................301
Index.......................................................................................303
8
December 29, 2005, in the afternoon, about tea time.
I call my old friend Rickard “Richie” Olsson, who has known my entre-
preneurial spirit for a long time. We even shared an apartment once, a
long time ago, where he was subjected to my wild ideas on a daily basis. I
have this new idea and want him to be the first person to know about it
and give me his reaction to it.
“Hey, Richie, you know that project that went wild a while back? I’ve
been thinking of something. I may have a new project in the works here
that can potentially take on quite a high profile — higher than, say, the
Pirate Bay.”
A heavy sigh is heard on the other end.
“What has gotten into your mind this time?”