Makers: Are You the Future of Work?

This article is an extract of my submission to Medium.com's writers competition. You can read the entire Essay on Medium.com

The whole essay pulls together observations I've made as a technical founder and maker myself in the realms of productivity, business and technology. I put forward a new model of work where Makers' businesses are integrated on the blockchain for optimal efficiency in a coronavirus impacted world. In my opinion, it's an opportunity for a significant reset - to put the Maker back front and center and curb our footprint on the environment.

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Show me a person who loves their work and I’ll show you someone who works in flow. It’s no surprise, yet not often said. The creator of ‘Flow’ and author of the book by the same name, states the reason perfectly:

“During flow, we experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life.”

-- Mihály Csíkszentmihályi.

‘Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience’

As Makers, we know that when we work in flow time stands still and we produce double the output for the same time. Yet, tell me honestly, do we really fight for it? What if we did?

Can you imagine if companies and organisations of today could be re-invented with flow at the core? Imagine the productivity of ‘flow-centred’ harmonious organisations.

The ‘Flow-org’: A New Model for Flow Centric Work

Before I paint my futurist view of flow centric work, let’s take a brief glance back at history. It’s a fact that the world works in cycles:

• Centralised -> Distributed
• Nationalism -> Globalisation
• Liberal -> Conservative.

One extreme leads to revolt and a reset. But also civilisation, technology and cultural advancement lead to innovation, and once again old models can be dusted off to serve anew.

Not that long ago we had the “Masters and Apprentices” model. The master was practised in their craft. The apprentice, obedient and intent on learning from their esteemed master.

This model served well in villages since the Middle Ages more than 500 years ago, until the Industrial Revolution. For perspective, we’ve only worked from offices for a fleeting period of our history, en masse since the ’80s. Yet we assume commuting to an office daily to be the norm. The corporate office model is already crumbling and waning, thanks to coronaviruses, and I say, good riddance!

With its ‘ASAP!’, ‘Got a minute?’, tap on the shoulder meetings, ping notifications, urgent email, cannot wait phone call, open plan culture -?offices killed flow!

I say the future for knowledge work is distributed, independent, remote… whatever model is needed for Makers to create effectively.

I see the future is in team sized, flow-centric, micro organisations (orgs) which I’ll refer to herein as ‘flow-orgs’.

Allow me to make my case for flow-orgs:

• Knowledge work is best done in flow.
• The peak time for flow is unique to the individual.
• The time for flow does not conform to regular office hours.
• Not all hours are made equal. Flow produces double the output.
• Flow requires mastery. An apprentice needs practice and mentorship.
• Teams don’t need to be in the same location. They can be remote now.
• Flow is not about a salary. Flow is about value creation and valuing time.

“Time has more value than money.

You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”

- Jim Rohn

Why isn’t everyone working on their own passion?

Perhaps not everyone’s role is creative. Perhaps not everyone can work in flow. But that is what comprises a perfect ‘flow-org’ — a mix of masters, apprentices and those that support their processes.

The apprentice ultimately will become a master. It’s only natural for them to break away and create their own flow-org when the time is right. In this way the flow-org is like a living organism. It grows, evolves, re-produces. Just like a cell divides, a flow-org will divide into new value centres.

Who would not want to be part of a flow-org? Be at the heart of a value creation, working with a master, the best in what they do. Apprentices striving to learn; to someday be a master of their own flow-org.

Work at flow-orgs is fully flexible. Contributors can work from anywhere, anytime, for any amount of time. They are rewarded not just for commitment but the activity of their mind — their focus and flow. The more they can create in flow, the more their value, growth and earnings; a pure productivity model.

Dystopian or utopian? How you answer the question may say something about how you see your contribution of value right now. I’ll say from a technology point of view, it’s not far from what is possible today. However, that is a topic for another essay.

The Decentralised View

Corporations may centralise resources and claim economies of scale. However, at every layer there are costs, management and wastage. A significant amount of effort is spent managing, organising and artificially incentivising employees just to to show up and be productive.

• By breaking down mega corporations into team sized flow-orgs at each departmental unit, we remove the management layers and expose productivity in its pure and atomic form.
• Flow-orgs work with other flow-orgs collaboratively or in a chain using interfaces similar to how micro-services are combined to make today’s modern apps.
• Contracts and payments are automatic and seamless on the blockchain.

Technology interconnects flow-orgs of each core competency to deliver big results and big value.

The Era of Makers

The Maker economy is exploding. Makers are creative, innovative and gifted with unique talents. For Makers’ gifts to manifest in the world and become the products we love, the apps we use, the books we read, the content we consume – Makers need to work in flow.

Independent workers, freelancers, contractors are Makers. Many operate like flow-orgs themselves already. They are hired to deliver. As masters of their craft, they delegate aspects of the work to apprentices and see it over for quality. They package up a known and measurable outcome in a standardised process from commencement to completion.

The 9–5, 5 day a week model is dying. Everyone is breaking free — working from home. Many resist returning to the office, the ‘old model’, because true creators work to their own rhythm which they have rediscovered.

Startups and scale-ups as we know them today will be born from flow-orgs that can successfully productise the Masters’ know-how, processes and systems. They’ll be like any other flow-org in the chain, yet automate processes and scale rapidly to accept more work and deliver even greater value.

Each flow-org may have its own digital currency. A token that encapsulates its utility but also the value it contributes to the eco system. Through natural market forces, the value of a flow-orgs’ token will rise and fall based on perceived value in the production chain, its output and efficiencies.

The Makers and their flow-orgs will yield the next major leap in productivity and growth.

It’s Time for a Revolt and a Reset

It’s not well known or at least not commonly mentioned, but a significant event happened for most developed nations since 2010. That is, for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, productivity stalled with less than 1% growth. The root cause? There is very little left to optimise. Computerisation, factory automation and knowledge have all peaked and there are now little returns on new advancements.

Although you may not be aware of this fact specifically, you would have sensed the unrest. Massive movements like Occupy Wall St, the push toward Universal Basic Income, Nationalism… need I continue?

Further, the last era has not served our planet well. We have lived in excess. Gathered in ground-scorched populous cities. Traveled hours each day in smoggy traffic… to what end when research indicates only 3 hours of productive work a day! This is a disgraceful waste.?Damaging?because it defies what is natural and conducive to the creative process.

And yes! I know there is fear and anxiety from talk about automation, robots and artificial intelligence taking our jobs. Perhaps there is a place for universal basic income for those from generations that are unable to adjust. But blanket implementation would be a sad, sad day for humanity in the realm of ‘work’ when there is an answer.

It is time we go back to basics. I sense that this is already happening — nature is already running its course. I am simply connecting the dots from the pattern emerging, and laying it out for you to see.

Through the last years of turmoil, and with Covid-19 to secure its fate, work as we know it has died. We are all working differently. Work from home for many has meant the Maker inside us has been reborn. We are making new businesses, creating products, sharing our knowledge as Masters in a new Global Village.

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