This is an email that I sent to a group of friends after I had a brainstorm. The existence of freelancing job sites somewhat discouraged me about its uniqueness, however, and it quickly went into the category of "things I'd like someone else to do".
Motivation: I have lots of ideas for projects, but most of them are things i cannot do on my own. I bet other people have lots of ideas too. Networking & organization are a major barrier to these things happening, and we have the technology to overcome that.
I want to change the way people get things done in groups. Right now we have clubs, organizations, and companies that last for a long time. I think we should have Projects. Projects can be for money or non-profit, they can be anything in any field, for fun or work or to change the world. Developing a new piece of software, making something cool for Burning Man, defeating a CA proposition, throwing a good rave, building a community center, performing some new research, making an independent movie - everything is a Project, and Project is a much more natural division than "company" or "job". There is still a place for clubs, hobbies, and companies in my world, but there should be Projects too. Instead of working for a company, you work on a series of Projects, taking on as many as you can handle at time, taking breaks when you want. Wouldn't it be more fun to live like that? Not for everyone, but for some of us - people who are independent, motivated, and eclectic. This idea has somewhat in common with the Open Source movement. It is a change from a rigid, structured, linear, static mode to a dynamic, flexible, more organic mode, made possible by technology. Which brings us to:
The website, which naturally is the catalyst here that lets people organize/create these Projects. The initiators put up the Project specs, motivations, vision, how serious it is, where the money comes from, what the positions available are (each position has well-defined time committments, rewards, and responsibilities - this is not an anarchic collective). Discussion forums, if appropriate. Take interest sign ups. When interest becomes enough, start taking serious applications for positions. Depending on the Project, could mean resumes and interviews, or just an email or two. Then the Project happens, and it may use the page for coordination. People can search by parameters ("I want a Project in northern california that does social good, involves physical labor, starts in June or July, and lasts for 2 months"). Large Projects can have heirarchies of sub-Projects.
"Financial Backer" will be a common position available, so this is also a method for both distribution of venture capital & philanthropy (depending on the profitability of the Project). Instead of having to rely on word of mouth, or forming a big VC firm, in order to be a VC, just find a Project you dig. Or suppose there is something you want to get done, and you are willing to pay for - just put up a Project. It will make it much easier for money and people to find each other, thus making society more efficient. The darwinian process of which Projects people are interested in working on/funding will provide a useful filter. This is a lot like a job site, in that we match up people and positions, but it has some key differences. "Positions" are much more flexible - instead of meaning fulltime work for money, it might mean anywhere from 1-70 hours a week, for pay or for benefits or for free. The time scale is much more flexible, instead of "I am becoming your employee, which means I might work for years, but I'll probably just work until I get a better offer", the position is for a well-defined amount of time.
Naturally, the First Project would be the meta-Project - the Project to create the framework for Project management. A bare-bones prototype could be used to boostrap the process.
Like any good idea, this suggests a teeming horde of sub-ideas. Encryption and security to keep Projects in legal gray areas like political protests safe - and maybe we let blatantly illegal Projects happen too, just allow a projects page to be served from any computer and the main server owner can say "Hey man, we just link to it, its not our property, its not our fault". Private Projects (by invitation only). Semi-private Projects thanks to the power of sixdegrees - only people within 2 or 3 degrees of the initiator may join. Peer review of Project members performance, the results of which can (?must?) be added to resumes (reputation establishment, like eBay). If Projects begin replacing jobs, the website can coordinate health insurance and other pooled resources. Some people could be Project creation experts - you have an idea for a Project, and you get one of them to help you design the framework. That would be the first position filled, usually. The second might be Project organizer. Other early positions might be HR people, who pick everyone else in the Project, or fundraisers. New job titles/descriptions could emerge - Facilitator, Brainstormer, things we can't even think of now. People's webpages would link to descriptions of their past, current, and future projects. Project Incubators (like the new Silicon Valley hi-tech incubators) could provide equipment & infrastructure for projects. Forget the Harvey Mudd Clinic program - make students find a project that the department approves of, Mudd gets most of the money, and the student gets class credit. E-4 can ease them into it as a mini-projects course, with simplified projects open only to students.
Picture the flexibility this could add to peoples lives. Vacation time is no longer a treasure that must be hoarded and accumulated. Work actually has a finite timespan! As long as you've saved enough money, you can take breaks whenever and however long you want. Feel like doing volunteer work in South America or walking the Pacific Crest Trail? No problem. Want to work on something different every year? No problem. Don't want to work 40-hour weeks - work less, or more, or alternate. Blur the lines between work and play, hobby and career. Some projects will be famous for their success, others infamous for their failure. Not everyone will want this lifestyle, and thats OK.
Is anyone doing anything like this (other people must have had this vision, its pretty obvious)? Is our society ready to make this transition to some people working like this? some already do - like consultants. And professions like law, architecture, building things, all take on 'clients' for a fixed period of time, which is similar in some ways.