Software Craftsman Cooperative Membership

Yesterday, I announced the formation of the the Software Craftsman Cooperative, a group of independent developers who have come together to publicly commit to each other and the professionalism of our craft.

Frankly, the response to this announcement has been overwhelming. For everyone who sent email, tweets, or contacted the founding members of the cooperative, you aren?t alone. Yesterday, the membership fielded a little more than 30 inquiries about membership in the cooperative. This resulted in something of an emergency meeting in which 2 important things happened:

1. We elected organizational officers
2. We set up an initial admissions model

A Bit More About Us

From out charter document created several months ago:

The goal of the Cooperative is for all Members to contribute to each other’s mutual success in the delivery of excellent software, specifically:

1. Provide the ability to secure larger contracts (most of the the members will be individuals or small companies).
2. Provide access to experts in a particular field, either on a paid contractual basis (see #3 below) or simply for advice.
3. Shared marketing, specifically:
   1. Help to alleviate the "feast or famine" problem that is inherent in the consulting business by providing access to a larger pool of opportunities.
   2. Members can refer opportunities (either in totality or specific pieces thereof) to each other.
   3. Potentially a brand for the Cooperative could be created and marketed.
   4. An online community used to share knowledge of business opportunities between the Cooperative members.

Further, the SCC is open to established, independent, software professionals of the highest integrity and ability in their field. SCC members will have an existing body of work demonstrating their commitment to SCC values and the ideals of software craftsmanship.

About SCC Direction

We recognize that to make this organization thrive and be a useful service to our collective clients, we need to proceed deliberately. As many of us learned early in our careers, explosive growth in an organization not prepared to deal with it can be deadly. Therefore, we have come up with a plan for growing in a deliberate and manageable way that we believe will be good for members, candidate members, and clients.

Therefore, here is our new membership policy, which can be read in full here.

A maximum of 5 new members may be added to the SCC each month.

Membership is granted by a 2/3 majority vote of existing members

Voting will occur in conjunction with the pre-scheduled SCC members meeting

A candidate must be submitted for voting consideration by an existing SCC member

Candidates elected to membership in the cooperative will pay an annual due to the cooperative of $100

About SCC Membership

We are honored and excited that so many people we respect and admire in the community are interested in this opportunity. Unfortunately, to maintain the standard of excellence we are looking to embrace, not everyone will be eligible for membership. Here are the requirements for SCC membership that the cooperative members solidified yesterday. While this may change over time, we feel it is a good model for getting this endeavor off the ground. The full process for admission may be found here.

1. Substantial experience in the software development industry (10 years of experience is a guideline)
2. At least 6 months operating as a contractor or consultant
3. An existing body of work defined as:
   • The software they have written
   • Any contribution to the software development craft or profession
4. Demonstrate behavior and professionalism consistent with:
   • Manifesto for Agile Software Development
   • Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship
   • The Software Craftsmanship Cooperative values
5. Payment of annual dues