YIP-115 Updating Compensation Procedures

Overview

The new compensation model developed in the Re-Org has 2 main parts. The application part and the payment part. In the application part, a contributor will apply for funding with specific deliverables and milestones that they aim to meet. These could be further broken down into monthly progress updates where a portion of the compensation is paid out after work has been open sourced, documented, and reviewed by token holders.

At the most basic, a contributor says what they plan to do and then at the end of the month they describe and show what they did in a compensation request post. If the work is finished, great! If not, they can describe what caused the slow-down and how they will move forward given the issues.

Once the post is up, token holders (or some delegated party) should determine if payment is warranted. As described here, this model is “optimistic” so it requires someone to dispute the payment request within a certain time period, otherwise it will be paid by default. If the request is not disputed then it will be added to the next on-chain proposal.

Creating a flexible system that is clear, legible, and fair is key to attracting and retaining contributors. Contributors are responsible for submitting reports on time and should have clear expectations for when that needs to be. The Gov-Ops council (specifically those who write the on-chain code) are responsible for keeping the schedule and including or removing contributors.

For additional information on this vote, see the discussion thread listed below.

Specifications

Here, I will propose 2 options for the timing of the flow listed above: condensed and extended. Refer to the "Payment Flow" section in the forum post for more information about the general flow.

Option 1 - Condensed Timeline

• Contributor Compensation Reports are submitted between the 1st of the month and the 5th of the month, documenting work done in the last month(s).
• (optional) Gov-Ops posts a reminder for contributors to submit on the 4th.
• Gov-Ops posts the on-chain contract for review on the 6th of the month.
• Token holders have 3 days (longer if reports are posted before the 5th) to review the reports and dispute those they disagree with. Any disputed report is excluded from the current on-chain transaction and will need to be re-submitted in the following month's review.
• Gov-Ops has 1 day to make adjustments to the on-chain contract based on disputes and/or adjustments made in the review period.
• The on-chain transaction is proposed on the 10th and takes 7 days to complete (2 days voting and 5 days time-lock).
• Upon approval, Gov-Ops executes the contract and transactions.

Reviews of the compensation reports and on-chain contract are both done in 3 days. Contributors are paid ~ 2 weeks after submitting their reports.

Option 2 - Extended Timeline

Although the condensed timeline seems to be preferred, I will document an extended timeline below which has some different trade-offs.

• Contributor Compensation Reports are submitted between the 1st of the month and the 7th of the month, documenting work done in the last month(s).
• (optional) Gov-Ops posts a reminder for contributors to submit on the 6th.
• Gov-Ops posts the on-chain contract for review on the 8th of the month
• Token holders have 14 days (8th to the 21st) to review the reports and dispute those they disagree with. During this time, contributors can provide additional information to prevent disputes going to a vote. Any late compensation reports should be disputed by default.
• Reports that are still disputed after the review period are voted on, starting on the 22nd, until the 28th.
• After dispute vote are complete Gov-Ops will adjust the on-chain contract to reflect the outcomes.
• The on chain transaction is proposed on the 1st of the next month and takes 7 days to complete.
• Upon approval, Gov-Ops executes the contract and transactions.

Review of the compensation reports is done over 14+ days and review of the on-chain contract is done over 28+ days. Contributors are paid a month after submitting their reports.