Lesson 1: Steward role map

Anchor Circle + Domain Stewards

NeighborNet is run by an Anchor Circle that holds the integrity of the system, and Domain Stewards who run specific exchange lanes.

The big idea

If you don’t staff stewardship, the system will quietly default to:

• informal power
• social pressure
• burnout heroes
• resentment
• “whoever is loudest gets helped first”

Roles are how we keep kindness from turning into chaos.

A) Anchor Circle (the minimal crew)

These are the roles every NeighborNet instance needs. One person can hold multiple roles at first, but the functions must exist.

1) Circle Steward

Owns overall integrity and decision-making for the NeighborNet instance. Their job:

• ensure roles are staffed or paused
• resolve stuck decisions
• enforce privacy boundaries
• protect the system from drift

2) Exchange Steward

Runs the request-to-match flow across domains (or supervises domain stewards). Their job:

• triage requests
• ensure clarity standards
• create/confirm matches
• close stale requests cleanly

3) Care Steward

Protects capacity and handles overload signals and sensitive routing. Their job:

• review pulse signals (private)
• reduce scope early
• route tensions into the right container

4) Admin Coordinator

Makes sure reality gets recorded. Their job:

• meeting capture
• logging decisions/policies/tensions
• making sure owners and dates exist
• maintaining templates and documentation

5) Tools Steward (recommended)

Prevents “shared stuff drama.” Their job:

• tools inventory hygiene
• booking and return issues
• simple enforcement when agreements are broken

B) Domain Stewards (the lanes)

Domain stewards run one domain each, like:

• SharedMeals
• MobilityAndErrands
• LightMaintenance
• ChildcareSupport
• SkillShares
• CareAndListening

Their job:

• keep scope small
• match within their lane
• pause the domain if unstaffed or overloaded
• adjust weekly capacity limits

Domain Steward authority is real: pausing a domain is a safety feature, not a failure.

C) When to add roles (don’t overbuild)

Add roles only when needed:

• Ledger Steward (if governance logs are slipping)
• Notion Systems Steward (if the system is breaking)
• Onboarding and Culture Steward (if new villages keep failing the basics)
• Regional Exchange Coordinator (when connecting villages)

Your default is lean and runnable, not bureaucratic.