This proposal introduces a new process for onboarding and offboarding working group stewards for more transparency and accountability.

Summary

The role of a working group steward is crucial to the success of a working group and VitaDAO as a whole. To introduce more transparency and accountability, I am proposing a process for onboarding and offboarding stewards. A new steward should be nominated by another steward and voted in by working group members. Token holders can vote to offboard an existing steward.

Motivation

Working groups are the backbone of VitaDAO. They are coordinating expert contributions and refining proposals on behalf of VITA holders. Each working group is led by one or two stewards who usually grow into that position by contributing work of great quality to their working group for a longer period of time. This process, however, has not yet been defined and formalised. We need a formalised process of onboarding as well as offboarding working group stewards that is easy to understand and transparent.

Specification

I propose the following processes.

Onboarding as a new Steward

A new steward is onboarded through the following process:

Option A

1. Any steward can nominate anyone as a new steward.
2. Once a new steward is nominated, any Vitacore member can challenge the nomination within a week.
3. If the nomination isn’t challenged, members of all working groups vote on the nomination in the Discord channel #cross-wg-chat.
4. If a majority of votes is in agreement, the nominated steward is offered the position.
5. If the nominated steward accepts, they are officially onboarded as a steward.

Offboarding as an existing Steward

An existing steward is offboarded through one of the following processes:

Option A

1. In a vote necessarily recurring every six months, members of all working groups vote on whether the steward should remain in place in an anonymous poll on Discord or Discourse.
2. If a majority of members of all working groups do not confirm the steward, the steward is offboarded.

OR

Option B

1. In a vote optionally occurring at any time, members of all working groups vote on whether the steward should remain in place in an anonymous poll on Discord or Discourse.
2. If a majority of members of all working groups do not confirm the steward, the steward is offboarded.

OR

Option C

1. VITA token holders vote to offboard the steward in a phase 3 vote (Discourse + Snapshot).
2. If the Snapshot vote passes, the steward is offboarded.

OR

Option D

1. Another steward nominates the steward for offboarding.
2. If a member of Vitacore does not challenge the nomination within a week, the steward is offboarded.

OR

Option E

1. The steward chooses to offboard themselves and gives notice at least two weeks in advance.
2. After the end of the notice period, the steward is offboarded.

Notes and soft requirements

• A prospective steward should be mission aligned, have proven their domain expertise in the corresponding working group and bring leadership qualities.
• A prospective steward should have the support from their working group as well as a good working relationship with the other stewards.
• A new steward should see the first month as a trial period.
• A steward is accountable to the VitaDAO community and should act accordingly.
• A steward must adhere to the code of conduct.
• A steward must not be absent for a longer period of time without giving a reasonable explanation.
• An offboarded steward should remain available as a point of contact for at least two months, except if personal circumstances do not permit this.

This process is adapted from the Token Engineering Commons (TEC)’s Community Stewards WG Manifesto.

Implementation

This proposal will be updated in response to comments and discussions in this thread. Once the finalised proposal has passed on Snapshot, the ‘Specification’ section above will serve as a template for onboarding and offboarding stewards with immediate effect.

For more information, please see the phase 2 proposal and discussion on Discourse.