Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Division of labor (was: Cooking Roster)

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

Pablo made several good points about division of labor and accomodating 
peoples life.  I would only add that the size of the community really 
impacts the amount of labor per person.  A small, 15 person group is 
going to need more energy per individual, than a 40 person group.   At 
Sharingwood I have noticed that there is a "critical mass" required to 
accomplish certain things.  If only one person wants to do something, 
it may languish, if 3-4 people put energy into something, it usually 
happens. Case in point, a couple of us talked about making beer, 
finally 3 of us (now 4) got together and started doing so.  I would not 
have succeeded on my own (not that our beer is any great success, but 
hey...it's beer!)

In a group of 15, the critical mass of energy might not ever get 
reached for many projects due to the higher energy requirements just to 
deal with the basics.

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood