Team

About the Library


History of the Library

The Library started when NFE was a company of just 3 people to make sharing information efficient and easy. We knew that future NFE team-members wouldn’t be able to see emails about process changes that were being sent before they joined and that most of the people who would eventually join NFE likely hadn’t even heard of us yet. This Library was our way of ensuring that all of our company information was accessible to everyone regardless of when they became part of the team.

Advantages

At NFE our Library is extensive and keeping it relevant is an important part of everyone’s job. It is a vital part of who we are and how we communicate. We established these processes because we saw these benefits:

  1. Reading is much faster than listening.
  2. Reading is async, you don’t have to interrupt someone or wait for them to become available.
  3. Talent Acquisition is easier if people can see what we stand for and how we operate.
  4. Retention is better if people know what they are getting into before they join.
  5. On-boarding is easier if you can find all relevant information spelled out.
  6. Teamwork is easier if you can read how other parts of the company work.
  7. Discussing changes is easier if you can read what the current process is.
  8. Communicating change is easier if you can just point to the page history.
  9. Everyone can contribute to it by directly editing a page.

One common concern newcomers to the Library express is that the strict documentation makes the company more rigid. In fact, writing down our current process in the handbook has the effect of empowering contributors to propose change. As a result, this Library is far from rigid. You only need to look at the Library home page to see the evidence. Every attempt is made to document guidelines and processes in the Library. However, it is not possible to document every possible situation or scenario that could potentially occur. Just because something is not yet in the Library does not mean that it is allowed. Aaron Tushabe is the primary custodian of the Library, please talk to him in the #general channel on Matrix if you're unsure about something concerning this Library. 

Library Interpretation

The Library is subject to interpretation. We do our best to be as clear as possible to minimize confusion and/or misinterpretation. We also recognize that we have a global audience and that may bring different interpretations. If you have any questions or need further clarification please check with the content owner of any given page. When in doubt please reach out and ask.

Remember that everything is in draft at NFE and subject to change, this includes our Library. 

We rarely mark any content or proposals as drafts. Everything is always in draft and subject to change. When everything is in draft, contributions from team members as well as the wider community are welcomed. By having everything in draft and assuming others have low context, confusion can be reduced as people have shared access to information.


Community Checkins

Agendas, Meeting notes and recordings for all our meetings

Community Checkins

Previous Meetings Recorded

 


 

 

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin - 16/05/2025

Agenda 

Action items 

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin - 23/05/2025

Action items 

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin - 30/05/2025

Agenda 

Action items 

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin - 06/06/2025

Agenda 

Action items 

6/13/2025

Updates and Action items

- Dansturn

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin - 20/06/2025

Agenda 

Operation Updates 

Fundraising updates 

Other collaboration tools 

MicroPower Manager - 

Action Items 

 

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin - June 24th 2025

Action items 

Community Checkins

NFE <> EnAccess Checkin

Attendees 

Meeting link:  https://meet.google.com/rpg-vpmw-zzh

Agenda 

Notes 

Quick summary

During this meeting, Aaron, Vivien, and Daniel discussed the Nearly Free Energy mini-grid project, the history and current status of the Microgrid Power Manager (MPM) software, challenges related to community adoption and technical implementation, and potential collaboration on pilot deployment and funding sustainability.

Action items for Aaron

Action items for Vivien

Action items for Daniel

 

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin - July 4th 2025

Agenda 

Action items 

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin - July 9th 2025

Agenda 

- 

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin 11/7/2025

Agenda 

Review of Last week's Action items 

Action items for this week

Community Checkins

NFE Checkin 18/7/2025

Agenda 

Action items 

Community Checkins

NFE checkin 26/07/2025

Agenda 

Previous action items 

New items to discuss

Action items 

Culture, Vision and Values

What you can expect from our culture and distributed work environment.

Culture, Vision and Values

Vision, Strategy, Key Results

Vision

Thriving Communities 

ChatGPT Image May 20, 2025, 04_49_44 PM.png

Strategy 

Advancing Sustainable, Reliable, Affordable Energy through resilient Community Owned Microgrids. We build and operate these microgrids and teach others how to do the same. 

Future.jpeg

Key Results 

Completed

Now

Next

Later

Culture, Vision and Values

Collaboration Tools

Overview

This page contains useful tips for working at NFE and for various tools we use. These tools can be found at dashboard.NearlyFreeEnergy.com

Email and Celandar with NextCloud 

Email and Calendar 

Documentation with Bookstack 

Wiki / Documentation  

Kimai for Time tracking 

Time tracking 

Company Website with Wordpress 

Website 

Group Chat with Matrix and Element 

Group chat 

Code Repository with Gitea 

Version Source Control 

Customer Help desk with Freescout 

Customer Help desk 

CRM with Espo 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 

Project Management with Plane

You can access plane here and their documentation. 

Video Calls with Jitsi

Jitsi is an important part of GitLab’s strategy for communication between team members. As such, extra care needs to be given to ensure the safety and integrity of data. For how to use Jitsi, refer to their official documentation

Scheduling Meetings with Calcom

Most of our work is asynchronous but we'll occassionally need to meet with each other and with external stakeholders. This is what Calcom is for. It's Free Software like most of our tools so you can search online for more information on how to use it. Here's how you can set up your NFE account. 

In Nextcloud Calendar, hover over the link icon to the right of the calendar in question, e.g. Personal, and you see an edit icon. Click the edit icon:

image.png


You'll see a pop-up like the following. You will want to click the + for "Share link" and then clck the resulting clipboard icon that copies the link to the clipboard:

image.png


Then, you'll want to go to your Cal.com pop-up for configuring CalDav and paste the link:

image.png


Then continue the process of connecting to your Nextcloud calendar via CalDav, confirming event creation:

image.png


Complete the remaining steps. You can leave video settings for later. Confirm your availability times. Add a profile photo / avatar.
Culture, Vision and Values

Values


Collaboration

We are better Together: If you want to go quickly, go alone but if you want to go far, go together

Curiosity

Always learning, frequently questioning and listening. 

Community 

Default to Openness. We want to learn and build in public so that others who care about what we are working on can also learn and consider contributing to our mission. They'll be a few things that need to be private like our customers contact information but we aim to be open about how and what we are working on. So when in doubt, just share it.

People first

Relationships count most, invest in them. We want to give reach other room to center our lives around family and friends, not our jobs. 

Managers of One

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed. What it means to be a manager of one. 


Culture, Vision and Values

Culture - how we work

Most of our work is asynchronous, this is the best way for people in different timezones, schedules and places to effectively collaborate. The people at Gitlab wrote a good guide on asynchronous work, please go read it. 

Here's some tips from Aaron

Culture, Vision and Values

NFE is a Social Venture!

Our Identity

We, Nearly Free Energy (NFE), operate as a social enterprise — a mission-driven business committed to providing affordable, sustainable energy solutions while generating profit in a responsible and inclusive manner.

Our Purpose

Nearly Free Energy exists to:

Our Core Principles

We are guided by the following values:

People-Centered Impact

We prioritize the needs, dignity, and aspirations of the communities we serve. Our solutions are co-designed with our users, and we strive to create long-term value and inclusion.

Environmental Stewardship

We commit to environmental sustainability in our products, services, and operations — advancing renewable energy efficiency solutions to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Financial Sustainability

We operate for profit to ensure our longer-term viability. We reinvest earnings in innovation, infrastructure, and impact — balancing financial returns with social outcomes.

Transparency and Accountability

We share our goals, progress, and challenges openly with our stakeholders. We maintain integrity in our dealings with customers, employees, partners, and investors.

Community Partnership

We build local capacity and respect local knowledge. We collaborate with community organizations, public agencies, and other enterprises to maximize shared value.

Governance and Decision-Making

Reporting and Learning

Our Long-Term Vision

We envision a world where energy is:

Till every community can sustain their energy needs.  

Glossary

PDU - Power Distribution Unit 

DCU - Data Concentrator Unit 

LV - Low Voltage 

IPC - Insulation Piercing Connector 

CT - Current Transformer 

ByLaws


ByLaws

Welcome

This work, "NFE Bylaws", works as the operating agreement for Watt Works Foundation Limited and is a derivative of "Ampled ByLaws and East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative Bylaws" by theselc.org, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Our Bylaws

This is the guidebook for NFE. This document explains how shared ownership model works, how decisions are made, and how profit is shared.

These Bylaws provide guidance for Watt Works Foundation Limited (dba NFE), our desire is to empower each other to steward NFE's vision well and go beyond simply following the letter of the bylaws. 

We think having the ByLaws in place can be a helpful safety net when conflict inevitably arises but we expect and encourage 1:1 conversational deliberations rooted in our values to be the first tool we reach for to resolve conflicts peacefully. 

ByLaws

Mission and Values

Mission

We are here to advance energy resilience using community owned sustainable energy microgrids. 

Values 

Collaboration

We are better Together: If you want to go quickly, go alone but if you want to go far, go together

Curiosity

Always learning, frequently questioning and listening. 

Community 

Default to Openness. We want to learn and build in public so that others who care about what we are working on can also learn and consider contributing to our mission. They'll be a few things that need to be private like our customers contact information but we aim to be open about how and what we are working on. So when in doubt, just share it.

People first

Relationships count most, invest in them. We want to give each other room to center our lives around family and friends, not our jobs. 

Managers of One

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed. What it means to be a manager of one. 

Five dysfunctions

Our values also help us to prevent the five dysfunctions:

  1. Fear of conflict Seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate => prevented by transparency, specifically Managers of One and Collaboration. 
  2. Absence of trust Unwilling to be vulnerable within the group => prevented by Collaboration, specifically People first. 
  3. Avoidance of accountability Ducking the responsibility to call peers on counterproductive behavior which sets low standards => prevented by Community. 
  4. Inattention to results Focusing on personal success, status, and ego before team success => prevented by Managers of One
  5. Lack of commitment Feigning buy-in for group decisions creates ambiguity throughout the organization => prevented by Community and Managers of One

Some dysfunctions are not addressed directly by our values; for example, trust is not one of our values. Similar to happiness, trust is something that is an outcome, not something you can strive for directly. We hope that the way we work and our values will instill trust, instead of mandating it from people; trust is earned, not given

ByLaws

Ownership

NFE is owned by the community of people contributing to NFE's mission. 

Owners or Members

Owner-member is the term we use to refer to people NFE recognizes as owners or members of the NFE co-operative.

Workers

Funders 

Customers

Please note that NFE membership voluntary. Individuals or organizations can be funders, workers or customers and chose not to apply for member/ownership. 

Responsibilities of Owner-Members

Benefits of Owner-Members 

Suspending Membership 

Non Owner Community Members 

Not all our stakeholders are currently eligible for becoming members but are still part of the community so theoretically could be owners in the future. 


ByLaws

Board of Directors

This group are the guardians of the NFE mission. They help steer and make all major decisions. 

Board Members 

Responsibilities 

Board Elections

Board member removal 

Binding NFE

The Secretary or Chairperson or CEO may sign a document or make a binding commitment on behalf of NFE. The Board may designate other people through a board resolution, to do the same.

ByLaws

Directly Responsible Individuals

NFE is a community owned organization but we rely very little on consensus to make most decisions. Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs) at NFE own particular projects, initiatives, or activity and make most decisions concerning those areas. 

What is a directly responsible individual?

Apple coined the term “directly responsible individual” (DRI). The idea is that every project is assigned a DRI who is ultimately held accountable for the success (or failure) of that project.

They likely won’t be the only person working on their assigned project, but it’s “up to that person to get it done or find the resources needed.”

DRIs may be a lead or senior or associate worker. The selection of a DRI and their specific role will vary based on their own skillset and the requirements of their assigned task. What’s most important is that they’re empowered.

While the DRI is the individual who is ultimately held accountable for the success or failure of any given project, they are not necessarily the individual that does the tactical project work. The DRI should consult and collaborate with all teams and stakeholders involved to ensure they have all relevant context, to gather input/feedback from others, and to divide action items and tasks amongst those involved.

Empowering DRIs

It is important to understand that DRIs do not owe anyone an explanation for their decisions. If you force a DRI to explain too much, you’ll create incentives to ship projects under the radar. The fear of falling into a perpetual loop of explaining can derail a DRI, and cause people to defer rather than working with a bias for action.

We would much rather foster a culture where DRIs are willing to put their ideas in the open. This enables feedback from a broad range of diverse perspectives, which the DRI can take into account and choose how (if at all) it shapes their thinking.

Communication and feedback

A DRI should be able to articulate the objectives, check progress and give and receive feedback. This will ensure the DRI can change direction or plan ahead to avoid any setbacks.

At NFE we communicate and work asynchronously, you can read more about it on this page.

One thing to consider when a DRI needs to give or receive feedback is that they may not be the actual manager of the other members of the team.

DRI, Consulted, Informed (DCI)

Different organizations use different methods of assigning responsibility; one of the most popular is the RACI Matrix, which outlines who the Responsible-Accountable-Consulted-Informed people should be on a decision or project.

GitLab’s implementation of a DRI for decision-making means that we have evolved the RACI matrix to DCI (DRI, Consulted, Informed).

The Responsible and Accountable person is the DRI, the Consulted people are those whose opinions are sought, typically subject-matter experts; and with whom there is two-way communication. and Informed people are those who are kept up-to-date on progress, often only on completion of the task or deliverable; and with whom there is just one-way communication. 

Circumstances Requiring the Rare Need for Approvals

ByLaws

Surplus Sharing

What and why

If, instead of surpluses, there are losses, the losses will be allocated in any manner that the Board determines to be fair and equitable, in consideration of the circumstances leading to the loss.

How Surplus is Distributed

ByLaws

Will & Testament

How NFE will close 

Any proposal to sell, dissolve, or liquidate NFE or it's projects must be approved by 2/3 of the board. In such an event, after paying or adequately providing for all debts, liabilities, and repayment to contributors, NFE shall make payments in following the procedures described under “Surplus Sharing”

Defending and Compensating members

NFE shall have the power to indemnify its Workers, Customers, Funders and their agents to the fullest extent permitted by law. NFE shall compensate a Worker, Customer or Funder for any expenses incurred from lawsuits, penalties, fines, and costs of defense if the person incurred these expenses in connection with fulfilling their duties as a Worker, Customer or Funder. This is also called “indemnification.”

However, NFE is not obligated to “indemnify” a person if such expenses arose from a situation where the person stole funds, knowingly received funds they were not entitled to, intentionally committed a crime, or recklessly or intentionally harmed NFE or its members.

ByLaws

Changing Bylaws

Prior to the first Board election, these Bylaws may be changed by approval of a majority of Initial Worker-Owners.

Once a Board has been elected, with exceptions listed below or on a specific Bylaws page, these Bylaws may be changed by approval of 2/3 of Board at a duly called Owner meeting, or by 2/3 of those voting by electronic ballot duly submitted to Owners, so long as a quorum participates. All elections should provide at least 15 days prior notice. 

Exceptions include:

Ownership (Membership)

This project is community owned as per the model described here. 

This the membership for NFE co-operative. 

Funders 

Workers 

Customers