DAO Tooling Timeline Update

🌱 About 🔮 Transition to the DAO
1

Overview

My tooling research has heavily focused on two primary categories of available DAO tooling: governance tooling and operational tooling & services. You can find a record of my tooling research, including demo note, relavant links and brief commentary on how different tools could be used within Radicle, please visit the DAO Tooling & Services Archive.

Below is an update on progress in each of these categories and an updated timeline for next steps.

Governance Tooling

Existing projects:

  • Creating version-controlled gov docs to be accessible from main Radicle website (radicle.xyz)
  • Experiment using platforms like Boardroom & Tally with contributors to streamline proposal creation, proposal tracking and voting participation.
  • Explore non-tokenized governance possibilities via Otterspace and other tools
  • Drafting of a Governance Tooling Building Blocks page that offers some ideas of various non-tokenized governance tooling combinations that we could possible consider adopting

Current blockers:

Before we can move forward with assessing the available governance tools and piecing together a mechanism that fits our evolving needs, we have to accomplish the following:

  • Define what roles/responsibilities lie where & what decisions are involved with them (via Core Development Org Working Group & discussions with other Orgs)
  • Determine if these decisions can be on- or off-chain decisions
  • If off-chain, determine if they need to be decided through informal or formal process

Timeline

  • DECEMBER
    • Finalize Governance & Community Docs
    • Continue exploring different governance tools & mechanisms (distribution, non-tokenized, off-chain) and continue updating Governance Building Blocks page
    • Observe development of the Core Dev Org, Grants Org and EGF as they define their org structure, roles and decision-making processes to help guide tooling research
    • As changing coordination and governance needs become clearer, narrow down possible tooling list to best fit out needs
  • JANUARY
    • Start setting up necessary tools and creating onboarding material to start testing new mechanisms
  • FEBRUARY
    • Solidify how non-tokenized governance mechanism(s) will be used within and between based on Org proposals
    • Start drafting v2 of our governance process to include non-tokenized mechanisms and processes
  • MARCH
    • Finalize v2 governance process draft and share with community
    • Creating new governance resources and update Governance Docs page

Operational Tooling

Existing Projects:

  • Work with Core Development Org Working Group to tease out what the exact operational needs from contributors will be and where the core teams think they should be handled. Some of most important include employment, contracts, payroll, etc.
  • Reaching out to service providers that focus on supplier contracts, employment contracts and payroll solution. These providers would require either a formal agreement with individuals, a team or the Core Dev Org.*
  • Vetting these service providers - including legal vetting and clarification of agreements and contract drafts
  • Drafting a comparison matrix with key information from each provider to make it easier for contributors to assess what service provider might fit their individual or team’s needs the best

**The providers listed in the matrix are not the only options, but we felt they might be the best options considering the needs that our contributors communicated to us thus far. If there are other services providers or tooling from the DAO Tooling Archive or elsewhere your team would like more information on, I would be happy to set up demos or help facilitate discussions with those services.

Timeline

  • DECEMBER
    • Finalize Core Team Tooling Matrix and share with contributors
    • Set up town hall-style meetings with each of these providers to answer questions for contributors
      • Collect feedback on which providers different contributors are interested in using
      • Answer questions, set up additional demos with other tooling upon request
  • JANUARY
    • January 6th: Contributors indicate which service providers they want to onboard with.
    • January 11th: Tooling Workstream and Operations Team send onboarding plan to Core Teams that includes next steps for negotiating & signing agreements.
    • January 21st: Agreements are finalized and ready for signing.
  • FEBRUARY/MARCH
    • February 16th: Core Dev Org proposal is published to governance forum for approval. If approved, first governance action would be to approve the umbrella agreements with providers via vote (which are needed with most service providers except AccountAble).
    • March 16th: Umbrella agreements are signed by CDO
    • March 31st: Contributors can sign their agreement with the service provider