Request for comments -- First Quest -- Onboarding New Members Season 2

[angyts]

We have reached MVP which is a rather simple implementation of discord private channels, custom roles and Carl-bot. We have to think very hard and deep right now to build a high quality product.

Original Notion post: https://www.notion.so/bankless/Season-2-implementation-proposal-a2ed19ff4baf48babc05f4b85c9130eb

Problem(s) and Research

Problems and Research in First Quests

Season 2 Focus

1. Move first quest channels to Degen DMs.
2. Establish a framework for members onboarding that is BUIDL to last, and implement.

Season 2 stretch goals

1. Salaried Social Media Presence
2. Reach MVP for first quest landing site
   1. First Quests for the guilds that are ready
3. Crypto mentors to do the heavy lifting for regular DAO mentor sessions
4. Analytics to integrate
5. Think about, spec out and complete the different onboarding experiences: metaverse, browser game, notion page, treasure hunt

Season 2 will not implement these, perhaps season 3

1. Complete game design and story boarding
2. Translation to languages other than English
3. Help desks

Squad required

Avengers Assemble

Details of implementation

I have been mulling over this project for a while. I realised, this project actually is the heartbeat of the DAO. In season 1, we have been very narrow in our thinking. Now is the time we see the big picture.

Whether we say it or not, these are the values of a good DAO member.

Hence, our onboarding process will have to focus around these values. Especially initiative. Instructing people to do work is tiring, and this is not how the DAO works. Talent will find work themselves, create value and get paid, all by themselves.

DIY STYLE

Is anyone old enough to remember the punk rock period? If the thing you want does not exist, DIY!

If the ideal DAO work does not exist for you. DIY!

What the Bankless DAO is actually?

A melting pot? A bridge? A mess of people? A band of pirates? A richman’s club?

As you can see, the DAO is so diverse, as it serves as a crucible for all the cool things happening. Hence, the onboarding process must be as diverse, dynamic and fluid.

Ultimately, every sane and smart person on earth will eventually work for the Bankless DAO. Why not? It is the obvious place to be. Hence based on this assumption, the following master plan is borne based on the personal growth of the DAO member. This is the only most logical way to think of this process.

A couple of key points about this proposed DAO onboarding process is setting up of a triage system. The idea of a “triage” system is to allow us to better focus our resources.

We will use a form to quickly sort and filter people. We can copy this from Gitcoin DAO.

Gitcoin DAO Onboarding

But on top of that, this form or the activities should have a way to quickly filter out people who has initiative and strongly align with the DAO. For example a hidden code somewhere if they have finished reading the notion pages or completed our browser game or completed a full online Bankless DAO MOOC.

People who are deemed to be of high value to the Bankless DAO will receive the red carpet, and be scheduled a one to one talk with one of us DAO mentors within 24 hours (P1). The second tiers will be within 7 days, and of course if they complete these tasks, they can be “uptriaged” and earn a fast track onboarding. And lastly, if they just want to hang out, we will schedule them to a batched monthly call.

Crypto DAO mentors will be core to the implementation of this plan, they should be a daily paid job for senior members of the DAO to “man” the fort, with a focus to welcoming people and coordination work in the DAO.

The 2 most required skills would be understanding of personal developmental stages and a wide overview of all the work streams in the DAO.

There will be a “train the trainer” session with all the crypto DAO mentors to make sure we are all on the same page and we all use the same “intake” form. The intake form is basically a psychological assessment, to see their suitability to work in the DAO.

For new joiners who still require work, they will be sent to the “barracks” where the education guild mentors will take care of their personal development with mentorship, book clubs and other educational programmes.

Lastly, we require another guild to help us manage the “lurkers”, people who we just cannot engage with all these means. (Or perhaps leave them alone?)

Specific Steps

Infographic or one page design to see a big picture of the Bankless DAO onboarding process. To get more eyeballs on this proposal to firm it up.(@angyts angyts)

@Behold Eth, @Eamon Conheady to work with @Nonsense to change the first quest channels to direct DMs via the Degen bot.

Funding required

Total = 445,000 $BANK

Season 2 funding

[frogmonkee]

Digging the vision for this. Only major modification I would have is to move " First Quests for the guilds that are ready" from stretch to focus.

Right now, we have a ton of people introducing themselves in #get-involved, but only a few community managers are directing their attention. There’s a MAJOR slippage point here where guilds can get involved and capture/retain talent coming into the DAO with a dedicated personal touch, instead of CM’s just directing “Hey, go to #design and introduce yourself!” Right now, Samanthaj is doing that for Writers Guild (see here)

I think for S2, we need to focus on getting “Talent scouts” from guilds to take on the responsibility of monitoring #get-involved (or some equivalent place where new members introduce themselves) and onboarding members that fit their guild needs.

It doesn’t need to be fully fleshed out. Just a basic MVP for guild onboarding.

[angyts]

I totally agree, there are 2 ways to handover:

1. warm handover: crypto DAO mentor talks to guild/project talent coordinator.
2. cold handover: send some form.

I think the best is a warm handover, immediately.

But… guild are at different developmental phases right now. Some are still trying to get organised.

Can we have a DAO wide talent coordinator stand in for projects/guilds that don’t have this key personnel?

[AboveAverageJoe]

@angyts

• Translation to languages other than English

I think this should actually raise the budgetary ask and be paid to the translator’s guild. in practicality it may have a roadblock I’m not seeing, but if not, I think more funds to cover this is reasonable.
Loving the direction this is headed, and those graphics are fire. They probably deserve a brain dump of their own honestly.

[frogmonkee]

We can start with guilds that do have talent coordinators – This idea may also act as an impetus for guilds to elect such a position.

[TheMarvel]

I have been through 1st quest about 5 times and seem to learn more each trip. Loveit and the concept for on boarding. Like the warm and friendly approach vs cold form. Like the concept of talent scouts assisting new folks finding a place to contribute.

[bradwmorris]

Hey @angyts , love the way you’re thinking about this.

I’m currently managing the onboarding revamp over at the IndexCOOP - we’d love to discuss some ways we can pool resources and work together to share ideas, help each other build the best onramps in the space.

We have a call booked next week to discuss with yourself and @Behold .

Looking forward to it!

[angyts]

Wow.

Thanks so much for reading my proposal. Totally would be happy to pool resources and learn from the best in the industry. Wonderful!

[Ap0ll0517]

@angyts

Crypto DAO mentors will be core to the implementation of this plan, they should be a daily paid job for senior members of the DAO to “man” the fort, with a focus to welcoming people and coordination work in the DAO.

Is this scoped out in the potential budget of 445,000 BANK? If so, what type of compensation structure are you proposing?

@angyts

There will be a “train the trainer” session with all the crypto DAO mentors to make sure we are all on the same page and we all use the same “intake” form. The intake form is basically a psychological assessment, to see their suitability to work in the DAO.

I love this idea. It will build continuity and give us an opportunity to strengthen areas in which are lacking.

[angyts]

I am thinking of a 12 hours shift.

This DAO mentor will have to submit a report before and after shift to claim his/her “salary”.

This report will go to analytics. it will mainly be a report on all the joiners to the DAO during that 12 hours period and the triage done. And those P1 that has not been met will be handed over to the next “shift”.

And there will be regular weekly and monthly sessions.

[mp610]

+1 to the warm handover. I got into the dao discord a couple months ago and have been lurking, but initial feeling was being overwhelmed. The activity in this discord is awesome, but for someone who was new to discord. I did have someone connect me with the education guild because of my background in education, but quick onboarding and orientation is key. Strike when the iron is hot. Hoping to be able to get on a call soon.

[Fishbiscuit]

I like that the proposal is cognisant of a few characteristics of DAOs

1. It is chaotic and structure helps newbies contribute at a shorter time (lowering time to first contribution)
2. Thinking about how there are many ways to enter/ take part/ observe in a DAO and these form the real ‘on-ramp’ to a DAO (# conversion to DAO)
3. Utilising existing DAO resources to help match new contributors to existing projects (# of positions filled in workstreams)

I’m helping out with GitcoinDAO’s onboarding processes and I’m glad you’ve factored in the suggestion from the workstream’s onboarding form already!

+1 on @frogmonkee 's idea of talent capture and retention. I would suggest helping to improve the discovery of a good fit for new talents. One way is to conduct AMAs with L2 participants in the #courtyard channel so people can have a low commitment way to discover what it’s like to work at a DAO and what each guild does and engage directly with them, similar to conferences.

+1 on @bradwmorris 's offer to sync with IndexCOOP, I would love to be a part of the conversations and cross-pollinate ideas! I am a BIG fan of IndexCOOP’s internship program (and have been tweeting at some of you some random ideas like having interns do a journal of their experiences… did they? haha)

for @Ap0ll0517 's suggestion on claiming mentorship hours, I would suggest that a mentoring roster followed by open calendly tags could help with the operationalisation of the mentoring program and to structure a mentoring session. For example, a good coaching session actually has a few phases. (observation, analysis, goal-setting, planning, evaluation, action). We could set up templates where the mentee has to complete in order to get their first BANK to be a part of the DAO and also to track the mentors. Mentors with a track record for placing talent in guilds can then move on to become Talent Coordinators.

[cyclist]

+1 for warm welcome, it is very hard to explore DAO and Discord channel on your own, great proposal

12 hours shifts are seeming to long for me, not suited best to different time-zones
maybe 8 hours shifts?

what “salary” per hour did you foreseen in your proposal?

[Robyn]

Regarding the ‘lurkers’

Sometimes the lurker has joined the group at the wrong time, for example they are too busy to participate, however they may be knowledgeable and have skills that can be useful.

My suggestion is perhaps the lurkers need to be involved in some way. Some ideas below

• An audience
• Service review
• Editor or provide comments

Cheers

[bradwmorris]

Love all of these additional thoughts + insights. Can I send you a call invite through Discord or email so we can join you in on the conversation? Would love to see GitCoin, Bankless and Index share some ideas around this.

[angyts]

Guys. I’m totally overwhelmed by the warm response.

Would be totally great to work together. Deliver something really Low lying fruits together.

Such as writing up a “DAO onboarding whitepaper” signed by the three DAOs. That would invite further conversations. And form a framework for working together for greater things in time to come.

I think there is a meeting setup next week with index coop. Would be nice to have gitcoin join in too!

[angyts]

You are absolutely right about lurkers.

I’m not sure which guild would be happy to pick up this work for now. (Or if anyone would ever get to this)

I tend to think of our process as planting seeds. And leaving some titbits on the floor.

Some day, these seeds will flourish and the lurkers will graduate and join in the DAO.

The barriers could be as what you have said.

1. lifecycle issues: too young, too old, busy with kids, dealing with health issues, other things.
   ———> continue to engage and show them empathy. Help in spiritual development.
2. money issues: too poor, too rich, working too many jobs
   ———> keep emphasising and repeating that this can be work. (And also make sure we build a strong framework for remuneration and revenue)
3. relationship issues: no close friends or buddy or emotional bond in the DAO
   ———> more fun, more irl events, metaverse events, smaller group activities for higher engagements.

[mp610]

These barriers resonate. I think that warm handover where there is a person to person connection gives the lurker a point of contact when they’re ready to engage. Even in the 2 months I’ve been lurking big strides with the first quests welcome and Academy, I think that helps stage the lurker. From there, getting someone who can connect and understand what passions, interests, and skills the lurker has is key. Get them somewhere where they can be successful.

[TheMarvel]

I like what mo610 has to say. Might even have to start a lurker squad. I lurk a lot And have a broad understanding of the bDAO. Tons of time to play/work but do not feel qualified to enter most contributing roles. Cheerleading and granddad jokes are my strength but could easily provide a listening/lurking role to help sort other lurkers and connect them where/when we agree they might be ready. Community and global cultural understanding becomes essential for productive fits to contribution.

[angyts]

Absolutely!!

Haha, I wouldn’t consider you a lurker! You are actually actively contributing via your voice and your chats and comments.

I would define a “lurker” as just passive, mainly just reading or listening. And no active enagagement: no active verbs such as:

1. Writing
2. Speaking
3. Clicking to share something
4. telling someone else about bDAO