Anne's Blog of Order: Order is Magic
by anne-decusatis
Part two of my liveblog of Robert’s Rules of Order
Introduction
The introduction covers the history of parliamentary procedure. I found it extremely dull. Thomas Jefferson wrote the rules for the US House of Representatives in 1801, etc. I did learn that I was wrong in my last post - the Sarah who is credited with carrying out the second generation of Robert’s Rules of Order was not his daughter, but his daughter-in-law, the surviving widow of his son, presumably named Henry M Robert Jr.?
Chapter 1: not quite at the rules yet
Covers the types of organizations which might want these rules, the meetings when they might want them, and the order of precedence between an organization’s written documents in its governance.
Chapter 2: RULES! Finally!
First covers quorums, customs around how people are addressed. In general, people are never addressed by “you” or by name, primarily by the position they hold. I think this is to avoid the assumption of personal attacks. I have never seen this done in practice at a makerspace. I wonder if we should try it.
3:16 lists the standard ordering of agenda items - the “order of business”. I found this interesting as I assumed this was kind of set at random by the organization as it pleases. It’s not, the organizations I’ve worked with have just been following the format with less than 100% fidelity.
Section 4 covers the process of handling a motion. I am partially through reading Section 4 at this time.
A digression about Magic: The Gathering
Robert’s Rules of Order prescribe a set of steps that one enacts (as I do when running a meeting), which can be adjusted by higher-precedence documents (such as the bylaws or articles of incorporation) and which adjust themselves by specific defined means (agendas, etc).
Magic: The Gathering prescribes a set of steps that one enacts (as I do when playing a game of Commander), which can be adjusted by higher-precedence documents (such as Wizards of the Coast’s rulings on legal play) and which adjust themselves by specific defined means (card text, etc).
It is worth noting that Magic: The Gathering, when played with the correct cards, is Turing-complete.
I believe after a very cursory internet search that I can be the first one to ask the question: is Robert’s Rules of Order Turing-complete?
It is kind of like asking, is it possible for a conversation to be Turing-complete? It’s too open-ended of a format for the answer to the question to be meaningful for anything practical, but it is still extremely funny to me to ask it. Also I think it probably is.
Back to the rules
I also learned the following:
- The chair should not interject when someone else has the floor even if the chair is right and the other person is wrong
- The chair should state the question under debate clearly before debate begins. The secretary should write it down in the minutes exactly as stated and it should be actionable exactly in that way.
- Each member can speak in the debate twice per motion per day, and for no longer than 10 minutes by default
- Meetings should not be run in such a way that the floor is open without a clear motion under discussion
#Clout, #winning, and other hashtags of that general sort
I read much of the material in this post while volunteering at Kwartzlab for the Ontario Culture Days open house and at least 3 strangers and 2 people I know remarked upon my choice of “light reading material” (sarcastic on their part). So I hope I get lots of credibility from this and lots of internet points (which, unfortunately albeit critically, cannot be redeemed for anything of value).