Recap of Call #17 12.10.24
On December 10, we reviewed the current state of the proposals and clarified expectations for this month to ensure preparedness for the upcoming community voting cycles. You can access the recording here: Co-Design Call #17 Recording
The following is a summary of insights from the call. Please let me know if you believe anything has been misunderstood or misrepresented and I’ll ensure it’s updated in the summary.
Readiness of the Proposals
We started by looking at the current state of proposals and acknowledged that they’re at different levels of readiness. This makes sense, as prioritizing strategic deliberation, if the proposal is approved, will play a key role in shaping the objectives of certain proposals. For example, its outcomes are directly relevant to the direction of things like grant programs, incubators, and local nodes.
Implications for the Voting Cycle
To meet this emerging need, the voting cycle for this month will be ad hoc, with plans to introduce a more predictable schedule in January.
It appears that the primary focus for December will be on the Strategic Deliberation Proposal, with the potential to continue development on those that are not contingent on it, such as delegate training, treasury diversification, user research, and education to be submitted for vote in January. The focus remains on quality and alignment over rushing proposals to a vote.
Proposals Discussed
Strategic Deliberation Proposal
Proposal Co-Design: Strategic Deliberation Proposal Co-Design
Objective:
To establish a clear strategy that aligns Labs’ and DAO’s priorities, ensuring that DAO efforts complement Lab initiatives or fill gaps where Labs do not directly contribute.
Discussed Roles:
- Eugene Leventhal: Coordinating input between Labs and the DAO, driving the refinement and alignment process.
- Labs: Contributing to the strategic direction and providing input for finalizing the proposal.
Current Status:
- The Labs team is finalizing internal discussions and will release a draft of its strategic priorities by the end of the week.
- A draft proposal has been shared with DAO delegates for feedback, with the goal of voting early next week.
Key Points:
- Lab-DAO Synergy: Aligning the DAO’s initiatives with Lab’s long-term strategy will enable seamless integration and avoid redundant efforts.
- Iterative Strategy Updates: The proposal includes an initial alignment but leaves room for continuous refinement as new insights emerge.
Challenges Addressed:
- Coordination Across Entities: A clear framework is needed to ensure Labs and DAO efforts are complementary and not duplicative.
- Balancing Public Goods and DAO-Specific Benefits: Strategic alignment must prioritize initiatives that benefit both the DAO and the broader Web3 ecosystem.
User Research Proposal
Proposal Co-Design: User Research Proposal Co-Design
Objective:
To gain insights into builder motivations, ecosystem preferences, and support gaps, enabling the DAO to craft more effective grant and builder support strategies.
Discussed Roles:
- Daniel Ospina: Main author and strategist, spearheading the research framework and interview process.
- R&D Team (RnDAO for this first attempt): Supporting research execution and strategic insights.
Current Ideas:
- Problem Space: A lot of money is being spent to attract builders but there is a lot of wastage and a lack of results in terms of real-world use cases.
- Solution: Be very strategic about how we support builders.
- Research Plan: One of the first steps will be to determine the proper questions to ask and whom to ask. For example, gauging the perception of Scroll, talking with those who have transferred from another ecosystem, etc.
- Research into Existing Options: Once these are determined, we can inquire into unaddressed areas in existing builder support systems from other ecosystems, such as non-financial incentives, marketing assistance, and investor connections.
- Gap Analysis Interviews: Conduct interviews across ecosystems to identify builder needs, challenges, and motivations.
- Persona Mapping: Understand different types of builders, their decision-making processes, and their unique requirements.
Additional Considerations:
- Data Privacy and Scalability: Ensuring compliance with GDPR while creating a replicable framework for ongoing research that can expand to include more regions and use cases.
- Cross-DAO Collaboration: Exploring opportunities to collaborate with and share insights and resources with other DAOs to avoid duplication of effort.
- Balancing Public Goods and DAO-Specific Benefits: Striking a balance between efforts that benefit specifically the DAO with those that also benefit the larger ecosystem.
Potential Timeline:
- Initial research findings expected by early 2025.
- Subsequent iterations will refine insights and expand the scope based on new strategic priorities.
- This initial iteration is intended as a first-mover to demonstrate the value and enable additional proposals and parties to enter into the space.
Preference Signaling Proposal
Proposal Co-Design: Preference Signaling Proposal Co-Design
Overview:
This proposal introduces two complementary governance tools—the Voice App and the Negation Game—to capture both community support and rejection preferences in a structured and scalable way.
Discussed Roles:
- Matt Haynes: Leading the development and refinement of the Voice App component.
- Nick Almond and Connor McCormack: Driving the development of the Negation Game.
Key Features:
- Voice App:
- Employs semantic ballot voting, a variant of quadratic voting, to map community preferences across complex topics.
- Encourages dialogue and collaborative sense-making.
- Negation Game:
- Focuses on challenging and refining community positions through falsification and bargaining.
- Introduces financial staking to incentivize intellectual honesty.
Launch Plan:
- Pilot the tools at ETH Denver through a combination of in-person and online events.
- Use the pilot to train participants and gather feedback for future iterations.
Challenges Addressed:
- Timeline Sensitivity: Ensuring readiness for the ETH Denver launch requires accelerated development while maintaining functionality and quality.
- Scalability of Initiatives: Establishing a sustainable framework for ongoing use and adaptation across the DAO and broader ecosystem.
Long-Term Vision:
- Establish the tools as public goods within the DAO, enabling local and global governance initiatives.
- Provide training and resources for community members to run their own instances.
Data and Metrics Tools
Proposal Co-Design: Data, Metrics, & Infrastructure Proposal Co-Design
Objective:
To evaluate and implement tools for tracking grant program impact and improving operational efficiency, ensuring the DAO’s efforts are measurable and transparent.
Discussed Roles:
- Eugene Leventhal: Facilitating tool evaluation and ensuring compliance with DAO metadata standards.
- Chris (Foundation): Responsible for making decisions on tools like Karma Gap due to Eugene’s advisory conflict.
Current Status:
The status of the Data and Metrics Tools Proposal was also discussed. It’s expected that these decisions will likely be guided by the foundation and may not require a vote, as it would primarily serve as a signaling measure. That said, if you think a signaling vote should happen, please feel free to provide that feedback.
Key Points:
- Impact Evaluation: Learning toward using the following for a 12-month agreement to experiment with them and inform how the tools improve.
- Karma Gap: Focuses on self-reported grantee accountability.
- Impact Garden: Offers a framework for impact evaluation.
- Grant Stack/CRM: Still considering the best approach in terms of pursuing something like Allo or Charmverse, or pursue a survey feeding into an airtable or hubspot.
- Metadata Standards: Ensure compatibility with DAO IP5 grant metadata standards to ensure it can seamlessly integrate into analysis platforms.
Every proposal is part of an ongoing process, with a “yes” vote reflecting a commitment to experimentation, learning, and refinement, rather than a long-term obligation.
The proposal library is available here. While certain key proposals are being prioritized, contributions to any area of interest are welcome, keeping in mind that the strategic direction will influence outcomes.
