Ok, I'll bite. From the article I can't really figure out what collaborating by contract (CBC) is, how it works in practice or how to introduce it to an organization.

A search in Google for "Collaborate by contract" gives three results, all from the same person, all in the last few weeks. Including this new article it's 1776 words in total on CBC. It doesn't seem to be real or something that has been tried out in an organization. It appears to be Al Newkirk's idea for a system that could work, but has not been tried.

Specifically, I'd like to see an example of a contract and who agrees to it; what the journal of contracts looks like; what happens when after an agreement everyone learns something that they didn't know when the agreements were made; what are the leaders committing to and what happens when they fail to deliver that?

Links found on CBC: https://www.alnewkirk.com/bidirectional-accountability/ https://www.alnewkirk.com/understanding-collaborate-by-contr... https://www.alnewkirk.com/maybe-its-time-to-change-the-way-w... https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/comments/1n04s5z/comme...

Okay, I can work with this.

Many teams have working agreements; and companies have employee handbooks.

I don’t know if you ever read these in detail, but they’re generally in one direction. Other than dating/relationships (manager and direct reports, etc) and some generally applicable guidelines, it’s favorable to management.

One thing I make very clear to my direct reports is that I expect them to hold me to account when I fail to do something or hinder the team; even going above me if needed.

But this is ad-hoc. It’s not consistent across the board, and I see managers who are active hindrances to their team or their mission.

This is also the norm in many companies, and it’s a problem.