Getting Started
To Infinity, and Beyond
🚀
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Getting started with Chore Wheel is easy, and takes about 20 minutes.
Step 1: Set Up Slack
If your community is already on Slack, you can skip this step.
While household communication can happen through simple group-chats, we believe that full-featured platforms like Slack are better foundations for group interactions. Slack lets you:
- Organize conversations in different channels (#projects, #social, etc)
- Communicate seamlessly on multiple devices, including desktop and mobile
- Integrate apps (like ours!) to super-charge your capabilities
Slack offers free plans with no limit on the number of participants.
Step 2: Install Chore Wheel
Chore Wheel's tools are available as separate Slack apps, and can be used together or separately:
- Chores, to organize individual contributions through a super-charged chores system
- Hearts, to support positive interactions through gaining and losing "hearts"
- Things, to manage shared resources by letting groups easily approve purchases
You can install the apps by clicking the buttons below (must be a workspace admin). You can read the getting started guide for more details about the apps and how to use them.
Step 3: Start Thriving!
Chore Wheel's apps are dynamic and flexible, and it can take a few days to fall into a rhythm.
Once you do, you'll be amazed at how well everything starts to work. If you need any help, the project docs have details of how the apps work and examples for how to use them. Or, just send us an email.
We'd love to hear about your experience! Share your stories (tag @zaratan.world), or contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Isn't using Slack a lot of extra work?
Definitely not! The apps are designed to be simple and easy to use, with basic tasks taking no more than a few clicks. Compare that to a whiteboard chore chart, which you need to physically go to mark off your task. Plus, Slack gives you a lot more flexibility for how you communicate with your group, compared to a group-chat.
Won't tracking things add extra stress?
Just the opposite! Right now, someone in your group is spending a lot of mental energy remembering who's been doing what. Chore Wheel takes that burden off of the most generous individuals, while making sure people get recognized for their contributions.
Is Chore Wheel only for physical housing?
No! While Chore Wheel was initially designed for coliving communities, the tools can be used by any group looking to collaborate more effectively. Chore Wheel has been used by organizations large and small to help support their operations.
Is Chore Wheel open-source?
Yes! Chore Wheel is open-source under the AGPL-3 license. You can see the source code on GitHub, and contributions are welcome!
Why are you so confident?
Chore Wheel is the result of years of research and development, mixing established economic theory with contemporary thinking on design and interaction. Chore Wheel has been the subject of a peer-reviewed research paper, which you can find here.
What were the influences for Chore Wheel?
Chore Wheel was heavily influenced by the work of Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom (Governing the Commons), Stafford Beer (Designing Freedom), and Frederic Laloux (Reinventing Organizations). While Chore Wheel might seem like a "tech" solution to a human problem, it's actually the result of a lot of deep thinking about how people work together.
Need More Help?
We're here to support your journey to a thriving community.
- For app details, see the full documentation
- For peer support, join our Slack community
- For source code, see the GitHub repository
- For general questions, please contact us