P19: S1 Specification & Budget

Authors: @Erik_Knobl @kempsterrrr @luan @vorcigernix View Forum Vote

Summary

This is the Developer DAO Season 1 specification. If this proposal passes, the following will apply:

• Season 1 will start on the 22nd of August 2022.
• CODE token will be launched and the Developer DAO Foundation and its bylaws will be adopted on the same day. (see the associated proposal for Foundation)
• Season 1 will end on the 22nd of December starting an intentional break that ends on the 31st of December.
• The Season 1 OKRs will apply, focusing most of the DAO’s efforts on Education, long-term sustainability and improving diverse representation in leadership.
• Season 1 Budget Applications will be allocated to Guilds, Projects and Operators on a monthly basis.

What are Seasons?

As defined in our Season 0 Proposal, Seasons are;

“A discrete period of time for DAO members to come together to align on projects and initiatives that help us deliver on our mission, values, and goals.”

DAO-level Objectives for each future Season must be defined upfront by the Stewards, and, prior to starting the next Season, retrospectives must be carried out by all teams to ensure we can learn and improve. These should be reported on the forum.

Cycle of Seasons

Season 1 will be 4 months long followed by a 1-month long Off-Season.

Season length and cycle will be evaluated during the Season 1 Off-Season retrospectives to determine the next timeframe.

Off-Seasons

Off-seasons are designated times for reflection, retrospectives, and if needed, elections of any type. Guilds, Projects, committees or roles that require extra funding for the Off-Season can apply for an extension to the Stewards. A specific budget for incentivising participation in Off-Season activities will be created by the Coordination Operator and Stewards.

Off-Seasons must include:

• Retrospectives: performed on the level of the DAO, each Guild, and/or individual projects
• Elections: may include positions within the Guilds, Operations Team, multi-sig signers
• Leadership transitions: ensure smooth ownership transition of tooling, procedures, etc.
• Prep for next season: e.g. voting on or preparing for the next season’s theme or priorities.
• Reevaluate reward systems: gauge sentiment on whether rewards were appropriate for the effort last season and make tweaks if necessary
• Rest: deliberately accomplish nothing, e.g. for a week

Giving these types of organizational health items a separate, dedicated time permits full attention to continue on season objectives while in that season, but also crucially builds healthy habits into the DAO, e.g., giving members a regular break from Discord, properly engaging in the process for regularly rotating leadership.

Scope of work

Season 1

Season 1 will start the day the following conditions are met:

• $CODE token is deployed
• Foundation Bylaws are adopted by the DAO

The season will last 4 months from 22nd August to 22nd of December followed by a short break and a 1-month Off-Season between the 1st and 31 of January.

During Season 0, our focus was on laying the foundations for the DAO to function. These objectives were defined in our Season 0 proposal as:

• Ratify our mission, values, and goals
• Implement and refine the DAO Structure and improve external and internal onboarding processes for joining the DAO and contributing
• Implement and refine the Governance process and guidelines for community decision making
• Research and propose options for DBUCKS (now $CODE) token issue & DAO legal structure (if required)
• Create space for bigger picture conversations about the DAO and identify Core Projects we want to back as a community through into Season 1
• Plan Season 1 launch event with partners

Whilst it has taken longer than expected, every member should be proud of us collectively delivering on these goals and laying the foundations for great future impact. It is now time to re-focus on our stated mission: “to accelerate the Education and Impact of a new wave of web3 builders.”

During Season 1, our primary focus will be on the first element of that mission: Education. Our secondary focus will be on long-term sustainability so it can have the biggest impact over time.

OKRs (Objectives & Key Results)

1. Attract a more diverse active membership

   • Increase the representation of women, non-binary and other underrepresented groups in leadership positions (Stewards, Guild Leads/Operators, Champions)
   • Engage 100 more members in South America, Africa, and across the APAC regions.
   • Create and foster an environment that makes it easier for women, non-binary people, and people from underrepresented groups to participate in the DAO

2. Position the DAO Structurally and Financially for long-term success

   • Form Stewards team with diverse representation and empower them with DAO-level leadership responsibilities.
   • Secure at least 1 paid project via D_D Agency
   • Agree on at least 8 revenue generating partnerships

3. Provide members with high-quality learning opportunities

   • Launch School of Code with 1 Project Track and 1 Fundamentals Track
   • At least 200 people have completed lessons on School of Code
   • Add at least 5 more lessons to the School of Code
   • Run at least 16 Educational Workshops
   • Post at least 16 original educational articles/tutorials to the Developer DAO Blog

The Stewards may refine or introduce further Key Result trackers during the Season as initiatives evolve quickly and become better understood.

Season 1 Funding Allocations

The DAO funds Guilds and Projects that members have collectively decided to support via our Budget Application Process (to be reviewed during Season 1 given low participation in voting).

The final Season 1 Budget Calculations can be found here.

CODE Budgeted = 442,680.00

USD Budgeted = $112,000.00 (see adjustments below)

The following adjustments have been made to the requested Budgets:

• Community Guild Operator - paused
• Design Guild Operator - paused
• Soil CODE allocation increased due to miss-calculation

For the paused Operator Roles the current plan is for these to accrue to be paid out at a later date when the Stewards deem the treasury able to afford these rates.

To receive funding, Guilds and Projects must have completed the Budget Application Process and submit this form once this proposal has passed.

Throughout the Season, Champions and Guild Core Contributors must provide at least a bi-weekly update on the weekly Coordination Call (currently Initiative Leads call) covering:

• Progress against defined Success Metrics & KPIs
• Any blockers restricting progress
• CTAs

They must also provide a monthly update to the forum to support better asynchronous context sharing for folks unable to attend Coordination Calls.

As defined in the Stewards draft proposal, Stewards reserve the right to hold back Guild, Project and Operator funding if the above conditions are not met, ultimately deciding via a majority vote of the Stewards.

Stewards

The role of the Stewards was initially defined here and is being revised here.

This new proposal will delegate power to the Stewards to make certain decisions regarding the treasury and mid-season funding on behalf of members and define mid-term objectives.

Given these implications, members are urged to take the opportunity to help define these roles.

Stewards will be elected members of the DAO.

Mid-Season Funding

It is important Guilds and Projects that require funding do not have to wait for the next Season to apply for it.

To improve the efficiency of the mid-season application process, the Budget Stewards will be delegated the authority to allocate an amount of CODE and USD expenses to be determined in the Stewards proposal to Projects, Guilds and Operators that request funding.

The Stewards and Coordination Operator will define the process for mid-season budget and expenses applications.

Treasury/Finance Infrastructure

As defined in this proposal, each Guild and Project must have a gnosis multi-sig with at least a ⅔ signer threshold, plus the treasury as a backup signer.

For Guilds and internal projects, the Treasury will be granted the power to withdraw funds from the treasuries in which it is a signer. For external projects, this will only apply to the $CODE in the treasury. The intention here is a fail-safe to protect against compromised treasuries and bad actors meaning lost $CODE or DAO Funds. See Stewards Vote in discord poll here.

Finance Stack and Tracking

As mentioned above, all multi-sigs must be Gnosis safes.

For Season 1, the Coordination Operator in partnership with Anubhav and our friends at Parcel will deploy safes on behalf of Guilds and projects across Ethereum Mainnet, Polygon, Optimisims and Aribitrum, with the correct configuration.

The Parcel team has been helping us set up the infrastructure required to make the challenge of managing treasuries at the individual at DAO level far easier and will be the tool we use for this for Season 1. Guides on how to use them will be ready for the start of the Season.

Using Parcel provides us multiple benefits:

• Automated transparent tracking of finances across the DAO including categorisation of transactions for better transparency, auditing and compliance.
• Built-in Budget and Expense request flow, including milestones. This Functionality can be delegated to non-signers (i.e. Stewards)
• Gas-free transactions are sponsored by our Friends at Parcel

Drawbacks

• CODE leaving the treasury
• USD affecting the sustainability of the treasury

Next Steps

Upon passing of this proposal & the $CODE deployment, Governance will switch from the NFT to the new ERC20 token, budgets will be issued to Guilds and Projects, and Season 1 will officially start.

Vote

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