Hi I’m Rich

Richard D. Bartlett portrait

My name is Richard D. Bartlett, like Rich dB, like Rich Decibels.

During the Occupy movement in 2011, I caught a glimpse of a different way of being together: more compassionate, more intelligent, more creative, inclusive, and animating than what I’d experienced as a student, worker, or citizen up until that point. Since then I’ve been on a mission.

In 2012 I co-founded Loomio, a digital tool for deliberation and decision-making in groups of 3-300 people. Then in 2016 I co-founded The Hum, a consulting company that offers practical guidance for decentralised organisations.

Writing is my best work. I write about how we work together, at any scale, from relationships, to organisations, to social change. I publish on Medium.com so you can follow me there to be notified of new articles.

My first book is available here, though it is not finished yet. It’s called Patterns for Decentralised Organising, sharing solutions to the most common failure points of collaborative groups.

I'm a contributing author for Better Work Together, a book written by Enspiral people.

I curate this comprehensive list of resources for decentralised organisations.

My most recent project is called Microsolidarity. It’s a plan for weaving purposeful networks where people support each other with deep mutual aid.

People interview me sometimes

Here I am in conversation with: Daniel Thorson, Emerge; Marco Deseriis, Open Democracy; Douglas Rushkoff, Team Human; Seoul Mayor Won Soon Park; Ronan Harrington, Alter Ego; Stephen Reid; Jessica Feldman; Andrey Salomatin, Code; Peter Limberg, Intellectual Explorers Club; Media For Us; Jamie King, Make World and Steal This Show; Adam McKenty, Collective Intelligence; Jon Barnes, How Might We.

Contact me

I’m frequently overwhelmed with email. To help me manage, please send your request to the right place :)

  • If you’re interested in Loomio, contact the team. I’m not involved in the day-to-day work there.
  • If you need to hire a coach or consultant for your decentralised organisation, contact us on The Hum website.
  • If you want to invite me to an event, contact us on The Hum website.
  • If you want to interview me for an article or podcast, you can book in my calendar.
  • If you want advice about your project, you can book a first call for €50 so we can get to know each other. After that my standard advisory rate is €180/hr, with discounts available for social good projects.
  • If none of those options suit you, try pinging me on Twitter or Secure Scuttlebutt.

I used to make noise machines. They’re all open source; you can find the blueprints on my old blog.