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Office Constitution
In early 2002, when discussing sharing office space with Praveen Sundaram of Pixel Computers, I drafted this framework for how the space should be managed between us and any future partners. We eventually did not co-locate as our independent careers pulled us in different directions and I put together a home office.
The purpose of the house is to reduce the cost of maintaining an office by distributing the cost among several members.
Costs are classified into three categories: tangible assets (eg: furniture), intangible assets (eg: carpeting) and intangible expenses (eg: electricity, water).
This constitution will not attempt to govern tangible assets: they are the property of the investor and bound by his rules.
The costs of intangible assets expenses shall be distributed among the members of the house, where the percentage assigned to each member is decided by mutual consent.
The costs of intangible assets shall similarly be distributed among members by mutual consent. However, assets unlike expenses, have value, but which deteriorates over time (measured on the scale of initial cost at the time of acquisition, to zero cost at the estimated time of replacement). Therefore in the event of a member leaving the house or a new member joining, the member shall be credited or charged the estimated value of the asset at the time of the departure or arrival, where estimated value is calculated by mutual consent at the time of the event. This expense or income shall be distributed among other members by mutual agreement.
The cost distribution by mutual agreement scheme is meant to divide the charge among members on the basis of actual usage. This is not totally possible but can be achieved to some extent. For example, in a phone bill, STD calls can be divided among members easily using the detailed billing sheet, rental can be split equally among members, but local billing can only be divided by perceived usage.
Maintenance of intangible assets, including those not explicitly paid for such as air quality, shall be the responsibility of all members equally. Actual maintenance terms shall be discussed by members on a case by case basis and defined by mutual consent.
All references to mutual consent in this constitution refer to the consent of the majority.
Any dealings between members that are not among the types defined here are the dealings of the members alone and not bound by house rules.
