[stuaxo]

I forget who it was, but there was a car factory that worked like this:

Groups no larger than 6, reporting to higher groups of 6, up to how many levels you need.

Within the groups of 6, they work out themselves who gets paid what, completely transparently.

The amount everyone gets paid is posted publicly. It worked, because people set the rates fairly in the groups.

If your going to do something slightly anarchistic like be by developers for developers you might as well go the whole hog.

Oh, also make sure the whole organisation isn't bigger than 150 at any time - staying within the dunbar number seems like a great idea.