Authors: Rowan; 0xZFi; links
Editors: 0xZFi; links
Date: 9 November, 2023
Wallet surplus (estimated): 800,000 BANK
Funds requested: 1,507,250 BANK + 209.96 USDC
Multisig: eth:0x47F238eF7F6B9e4f8452d77228B101f7c0419733
Multisig signers: Rowan, Above Average Joe, brianl. iSpeakNerd, links, raybankless
Department Purpose & Mission/Value Alignment
The Operations Department encourages contribution towards BanklessDAO’s mission by providing tools and processes for DAO members. These tools include:
- The weekly bDAO Community Call
- Notion - shared wiki
- Discord - real-time communication
- Seasonal Planning
- Sobol - DAO cartography
- VaultWarden - shared password manager
- Tally - surveys and forms
The Department has been and will continue to be a pillar of strength and reliability for bDAO. We study what has worked, what hasn’t, and make changes to our processes accordingly. We are constantly improving and defining our scope of work as well as making our current processes and frameworks as efficient as possible.
Seasonal Summary
Seasonal KPIs
| Factor | KPI | Success Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Cost efficiency across Ops tools and services to ensure service costs are scaled at regular intervals to adjust to usage | Service costs (e.g. subscriptions) are reviewed seasonally and adjusted to scale with active user count | All service costs are adjusted based on usage metrics (e.g. number of active users) |
| Health status of services and tools administered by the Department | # of active users across tools and services hosted by the Department | Stability or Increases in the active number of users, normalized to market fluctuations (i.e. all numbers are lower in a bear market, and higher in a bull market) |
Previous Season Activities
The Department went through considerable changes in Season 9, including termination of multiple prominent work streams (Mad Hatter and Bankless Rewards). Historically the Department saw expansion both in terms of budget and the number of work streams it supports, but Season 9 brought meaningful and timely exercises in contraction.
In Season 6, the MadHatter (MH) project was transformed into a work stream within the Department as MH was a bDAO native endeavor, with a dedicated team to support the continued development specific to the evolving needs of bDAO. Similarly, as the MH project team had only recently assumed responsibility for the First Quest (FQ) bot, the Department assumed responsibility for the continued funding support and development of both the MH and FQ bots.
Unfortunately, largely due to reduced capacity and incentive of developers on the MH project team and Discord features that rendered some bot functions redundant, both bots received little in terms of maintenance and updates over the course of Seasons 7 and 9. As a result, the Department made the decision to cease funding for the work stream early in Season 9.
The Department will retain the responsibility of storing the code and documentation for both the MH and FQ bots, should there be renewed interest in their development within bDAO in the future. Recognizing the important functions provided by both bots, the Department has also identified 3rd party alternatives, should the need for these functions arise.
In an effort to diversify compensation and build contribution incentive among bDAO membership, bDAO and the Department had previously partnered with ThriveCoin. While this partnership saw some success initially, it became clear in Season 9 that the current structure was no longer tenable and the Bankless Rewards work stream within the Department ceased operations. Compensation and incentive remain outstanding topics of discussion across bDAO and the Department is prepared to support any ratified direction in this respect.
Finally, with a reduction in the number of new members in previous seasons, the Department temporarily ceased the activities of the Apprentice Program. This program serves to provide newcomers with experience as apprentices to various roles within the Department, as well as a form of redundancy in skilled contributors in the event an existing role holder is no longer able to fulfill their responsibilities. The Department will consider reopening this work stream in the future, subject to increases in new, active, and interested contributors.
The Department continues to explore and take part in pilots of new DAO tooling options that might provide increased efficiency and user experience for bDAO contributors.
Previous Season DAO Updates
The Ops Department did not report to the DAO during Community Calls thus far, but plans to start doing so now.
Next Season Plan
The Department aims to ensure bDAO has high quality and reliable tools and services through acquisition and retention of mission-aligned contributors.
The Department will continue to develop governance and policy improvements to ensure optimal departmental operation and security. Some examples include progressive compensation increases for long-tenured roles, minimum requirements that any contributor must possess in order to seek election for a role, and a weighted election system where, for example, the votes of role holders and core Ops contributors may have greater weight than newer, or less experienced Ops members. These are policy developments that have been discussed over the course of Seasons 8 and 9, with careful consideration for their implementation.
The Department will continue to ensure its long-tenured role holders are accountable via a seasonal self-directed narrative debrief for collective review. These seasonal debriefs will be reviewed and voted on/approved by the Operations Department active membership. If the vote does not pass, the role will be posted for election.
Beyond the above detailed endeavors, we will continue to work to keep the DAO running as efficiently as possible and improve upon current processes.
- Continuing to map the DAO’s activities via Sobol
- Continuing to fund Notion Administration
- Improve and iterate on Seasonal Planning
- Focus on bDAO tooling solutions and public goods
Financial Implications
Previous Season Accounting & Current Holdings
Season 9 anticipated spend:
1,606,847 BANK (anticipated costs) + 200,000 BANK buffer - 288,510 BANK S8 rollover = 1,518,337 BANK
Season 9 actual* expenditures: 718,337 BANK
*Note: This is an estimate as of 9 November, 2023, prior to the end of Season 9.
Expenses were significantly lower than anticipated in Season 9 due to the closure or dormancy of work streams, as described above in “Previous Season Activities”. These realized cost savings will be carried forward into Season 10 to offset the Department’s funding request from the Treasury.
Third-Party Funding and External Revenue
The Department did not receive third-party or external revenue in Season 9.
Next Season Budget Breakdown
Note: Season 10 is to run 16 weeks plus a 7 day break. Season totals are the weekly rate multiplied by 17 as most roles and functions within the Operations Department continue through breaks.
| Line Item | Weekly (BANK) | Season Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notion Work Stream | 159,750 BANK | ||
| Notion Administrator Role | 5,000 | 85,000 BANK | |
| Notion Backup Costs | 750 | 12,750 BANK | |
| Notion WS Coordinape / Discretional Bounty | 62,000 BANK | ||
| Community Calls Work Stream | 142,000 BANK | ||
| CC MC | 1,000 | 17,000 BANK | |
| Coordination | 3,000 | 51,000 BANK | |
| CC Recording / Streaming | 2,500 | 40,000 BANK | |
| CC Notes | 1,000 | 17,000 BANK | |
| Weekly Sync notes | 1,000 | 17,000 BANK | |
| DAO Cartography Work Stream | 298,000 BANK | ||
| Coordinator | 3,000 | 51,000 BANK | |
| Education/Initiative Lead | 2,000 | 34,000 BANK | |
| Bounty Admin | 3,000 | 51,000 BANK | |
| Bounties | 62,000 BANK | ||
| Cartography Coordinape | 100,000 BANK | ||
| Seasonal Planning Work Stream | 82,500 BANK | ||
| Transition Coordinator | 4,000 | 25,000 BANK | |
| Marketing Coordinator | 25,000 BANK | ||
| Event Coordinator | 25,000 BANK | ||
| Twitter Operator | 7,500 BANK | ||
| Tally/VaultWarden Work Stream | 85,000 BANK | ||
| VW Hosting (4 months) | 37.96 USDC | $9.49 USD/month | |
| Tally Pro License (4 months) | 116 USDC | $29 USD/month | |
| Administration | 5,000 | 85,000 BANK | |
| Heroku Billing (bots) | 56.00 USDC | ||
| Buffer | 200,000 BANK | ||
| Ops Coordinator | 8,000 | 136,000 BANK | |
| Ops Treasurer | 5,000 | 85,000 BANK | |
| Discord Admin | 7,000 | 119,000 BANK |
Department Members
Though there are many important contributors in the Department, the individuals below hold roles per the seasonal budget. Note that each of the work streams have roles within, and though those names are not captured here, their work is just as important and meaningful to the Department.
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Rowan | Ops Coordinator / Season Transition |
| raybankless | Ops Treasurer / Cartography Coordinator |
| brianl | Discord Work Stream Coordinator |
| 0xZFi | Notion Work Stream Coordinator / Season Transition |
| anointingthompson | Community Call Work Stream Coordinator |
| links | Tally / Vaultwarden Coordinator |
| trewkat | Dash Admin |
Additional Information
Poll
- Approve
- Abstain
- Reject
