Decide how you decide

Anything is workable if it is known in advance; nothing works if it is contested during a crisis. A rule that holds up in small groups:

1. Role-holders decide inside their own area — water, fire, food, health, security, record — without a meeting.
2. Anything that crosses areas or binds everyone is decided by the group, after discussion, by simple majority of the adults present, with two-thirds of the adults present as a quorum.
3. Changing the rules themselves, exclusion from the group, and rationing need a two-thirds majority.

State who breaks a tie. Then recite the rule aloud until everyone can repeat it.

Some decisions cannot wait for a meeting — fire, flood, an injury, an intruder. Name one person, and a deputy, who may give orders during a stated emergency.

Write the limits down: what counts as an emergency, how long the authority lasts — until the next group meeting, and never more than 72 hours — and that every order given under it is reviewed at that meeting. Emergency authority without an automatic end is how temporary leadership becomes permanent.

Water, fire, food, health, security, record — and anything else the group depends on. Every role has a named deputy, because the holder will eventually be sick, injured, away or dead.

The deputy does the job with the holder at least one day a week, so the handover is practised, not theoretical. Review the roles monthly; change holders by the decision rule, not by drift.

Perceived unfairness in labour is the most reliable predictor of a group splitting. Make the distribution visible: a roster — marks on a board or a recited list — showing who does what, each day.

Rotate the worst jobs weekly: latrine, carrying water, night watch, butchery clean-up. Everyone takes a turn, including whoever leads. Adjust for capacity — injury, pregnancy, age — openly, and record the reason. Count hours roughly; a person working visibly more than others for weeks is a warning.

Fifteen minutes, same time every day, everyone present. Three questions, in order:

1. What went wrong today?
2. What changes tomorrow?
3. Who needs help?

No speeches. Small problems surface while they are still small, and grievances get said aloud rather than accumulating. Record the decisions made — see the record — so nobody has to remember what was agreed.

A written or recited sequence, followed every time:

1. The two people talk privately first, within a day.
2. If that fails, a mediator — chosen by both, or a rotating role — hears both, separately and together.
3. If that fails, the group decides by the decision rule.

Two rules that prevent most escalation: no decision is made in anger — any party can require a 24-hour pause — and disputants are separated onto different work until it is resolved.

These arrive with no warning and no time to deliberate. Decide them now, by the two-thirds rule:

• Outsiders: who may join, on what terms, and a period apart from the group — say two weeks — to watch for illness before joining.
• Rationing: shares when food is short. Equal shares by default, with larger shares for heavy labour, pregnancy and breastfeeding, and children fed first. Write the ratios.
• A dangerous member: the steps in order — warning, restriction of duties or access, separation, and exclusion as the last step — and who decides each.

They are the only two forms of long-term capital you have. Make it a rule, not a sentiment:

• Two holders of the same critical skill never go on the same dangerous task or journey.
• Children are kept away from fire, water, livestock and tools unless supervised, and never left without a named adult.
• Knowledge-holders teach — see the record — for part of every week.