The only way to agree is to collect our conversations

If nobody records a conversation, the decisions get forgotten and the same discussion happens again next month. The debate gets rerun again and again without reaching a decision, or the same decision gets made twice, so nothing accumulates from one meeting to the next.

Most of the real agreement happens in the talk between the formal meetings and motions, and never gets recorded. To get co-operation on decisions we need to capture where we agree.

A recorded conversation can be gone back over later. Pulling out the lines people agreed to, one at a time, turns an hour of conversation into sharp points of agreement.

When you lay the agreed points out together, the agreements can be noticed. Agreement that turns up independently in different conversations and documents counts for more than any one person's view. A committee can act on it without delaying the whole project to 'consult' first. It can be done and decided because the decision is proven to have already been agreed.

Once the agreement is written down and published, people can stop sitting on their hands waiting for permission. The permission to act comes from agreeance. We need an agreeance factory.

A written record also helps us know what the people of the organisation want. It is a shared list of how they see the game and what good things should be prioritised. We can't share a game without better co-operation, and formalising agreement is required.

Writing down the settled things helps with disagreement too, because it shows which questions still need a direction. Croquet can then discuss those issues and not relentlessly re-interrogate the ones there is already agreement on.

Since December 2025, Wade has recorded 32 meetings, and 14 things are now visibly agreed across three or more separate sets of meetings and people. The more conversations that can be included, the better croquet can form agreements and know what areas of disagreement need discussion.

These notes are a working record to build on, not a transcript. The transcripts are used, but they do not need to be quoted. It is agreements between people, areas of co-operation we are looking for.

This is the Co-operate for Croquet ideal at work: one of CAQ's four ideals, all of croquet helping each other work toward common things. Queensland has about 40 clubs plus CAQ, and when everyone's conversations go unshared, nearly secret, each divided section ends up holding its own private version of 'what is good for croquet'.

Writing things down and pooling the records brings out where we are similar and gives everyone the same list of agreements and fosters better co-operation.

So record your discussions, because until they're brought together we will continue to work against each other like enemies instead of cooperatively for croquet.