🔖 Permissionless
An ebook length screed from Joan Westenberg (not a blog post, SBF would be so disappointed but fuck him) basically calling for radically rethinking of what it means to be responsible for something. Not a full blown "Take the means of production" call to action, but definitely pushing for the devolution of ownership and responsibility to workers and away from middle managers.
As a middle manager I cannot help but fist pump and mutter "fuck yeah!"
I'd propose a framework: * The stakes must be high (in this case, literal life and death) * The intervention must be low-cost and low-risk * The evidence must be clear and immediately observable * The delay caused by seeking permission would result in significant harm
I appreciate how often Joan lays out where she thinks the guardrails on something like this should be. Also:
But - and this is crucial - they did this within carefully designed constraints. Workers can't make changes that would affect other processes without coordination. They can't violate safety protocols. They have to document their changes. But within these constraints, they don't need permission to optimize (sic) their own work.