S1 Budget Proposal: OKRs Initiative

[Final] S1 Budget Proposal: OKRs Initiative

Author(s): @luan (lu.an#9388)

Link to archived version.

You can find previous discussions on this topic, in the #okr-initiative discord channel, under the DAO Projects category.

Summary

This is the Season 1 budget proposal for the OKRs Initiative. It outlines the high-level goals for the initiative, how we plan to get there, the team working to make this happen and the proposed budget we’re applying for.

Motivation

OKR stands for ‘objectives and key results’ – and it is a goal-setting methodology that can help teams and organizations (such as DAO’s) set measurable goals. Thus at a high-level, the OKRs Initiative is a community effort to realign members of Developer DAO around our Mission and our goals.

This is an ongoing, ever-evolving process that involves us looking at what is working, what is not working, and what we want to continue to do and start to experiment with in upcoming seasons.

Mission, Values & Goals Alignment

The proposition here is that the OKRs Initiative should remain Guild-agnostic, and seek to serve its purpose across the entire DAO ecosystem – assisting both Guilds and projects, alike.

The rationale behind this approach is rooted in ethics and accountability. And thus the question being posed is:

If the OKRs Initiative were to fall under a particular Guild (i.e. Ops Guild), then how can it seek to adequately hold that Guild accountable?

And it’s not that it is impossible for the initiative to function in that way; but in terms of running procedures that are as unimpeachable as possible — the Q here is: should it function that way?

We believe that the answer to this question is NO.

Thus in addition to its overarching mission, the OKRs Initiative will serve the following functions:

1. Clarity

Helping to bring clarity and focus to projects and initiatives.

2. Frameworks

Helping to facilitate best practices and frameworks that keep efforts aligned with the DAO’s mission and goals (e.g. does a prospective partner run contrary to our ethics? Do certain arrangements present a conflict of interest? etc).

3. Auditing

Unofficial internal auditor.

With accountability being a core pillar of this initiative, it’s important that we establish processes that can adequately vet the various parts of this ecosystem. This will be comprised of the following:

  1. Pre-mortems
  2. Post-mortems

Without proper standards, it breeds a lack of cohesion in how Developer DAO operates (not to be conflated with homogeneity); and in turn, leads to a lack of clarity on how we are to approach both projects and partnerships.

Brand usage

N/A

Scope of work

This particular effort is as multi-layered as it is expansive, so I’m strongly encouraging us to be pedantic about focusing on only a few core goals for Season 1 - in addition to starting small and scaling up gradually. Therefore the focus for Season 1 is as follows:

  1. Establish a framework for gathering data from Guilds

  2. Re-evaluate all of the touch points where the DAO’s mission and goals can be communicated

  3. Define Season 1 DAO-level OKRs

  4. Define Season 1 Guild-specific OKRs

At a granular level, this looks like (but is not limited to):

  • Restructuring the existing OKR interview template
  • Crafting new ways of communicating the Developer DAO mission and goals
  • Conducting interviews with Guild leads and contributors
  • Sitting in on onboarding sessions
  • Sitting in on partnership meetings

Everybody is welcome to join in, and help drive this initiative. The initiative will remain open so that members can work together. And at some later point in time, we will vote as a community on a smaller number of people who can push this initiative further. The intention is that (eventually) we will empower the working group to implement what has been decided upon as a community.

Financials

The requested budget is based on a projected idea of operations that are needed, in order to fulfil the Season 1 scope of work, as laid out above. Team syncs, meeting with stakeholders across the DAO, drafting documents, research & development, as well as other miscellaneous tasks which serve this effort.

The nature of the work that we’re doing, sometimes means that we are not working in strict 1hr time frames. It can be much longer, and it can also be shorter. Regardless, these efforts are impactful. And so I want to reframe how we quantify and ascribe value to that work.

Taking a cue from the legal profession — billable hours. Any work we do that is in service of the server architecture mission, is valuable; and thus should accrue remuneration in the form of $CODE.

Budget Calculation = 𝒙 no. hours per-week X 16-week Season X 15 $CODE/hr

Buffer (miscellaneous) = 7,600 $CODE

Total Requested Budget = 10,000 $CODE (2,500 $CODE per-month)

Contributor Exp. Weekly Hours $CODE (Season 1)
Vorcigernix 3hrs 720
luan (Team Lead) 7 hrs 1,680
Contributor_role 1hr

Team

The following people will comprise the initial working group, based on them previously expressing an interest in helping to build out this initiative - and also their contributions made, so far. This group is subject to change before the end of Season 1.

  • @luan: core contributor, Team Lead

  • @Vorcigernix (Vorcigernix#1185): core contributor

  • @Contributor_role: open position for anybody not listed above. Members should feel free to contribute as much (or as little) as they want. The bigger priority here is that on matters which impact the entire DAO – that these conversations are happening out in the open, and creating pathways for people to easily participate.

Success Metrics & KPIs

  • Gather data from each Guild (including their respective projects e.g. scribes)

  • Establish a cadence for periodic check-ins with each Guild and project

  • Work alongside each Guild to construct a set of OKRs for Season 1

  • Yes, I support this application
  • No, I do not support this application

0 voters

Next Steps

The immediate next step is to read through the KPIs that have been set on each of the Guilds and (DAO-specific) Projects budget proposals, to ascertain the extent to which they are aligned with the DAO’s Season 1 focus: Education.

VOTE

Month #3 Rundown

Milestone Summary

We’ve been identifying and discussing flaws in the existing OKRs structure, and how they can be an impediment to measuring success, as well as stifling to creativity and experimentation. @vorcigernix and I have concluded that the current OKRs system is too rigid. Some of insights that I expressed when I created ‘The State of Developer DAO’ thread stem from these discussions. Using our own team as a test case: we’ve pivoted our efforts slightly, based on these observations.

We’ve been rethinking how to better structure measuring progress on teams, and will look into the feasibility in creating some kind of framework that can be used as a template across the DAO.

As a reminder:

Some of the work and thought that has gone into ‘The State of Developer DAO’ thread, is a direct result of discussions within the OKRs team.

Allocation Revisions (Optional)

N/A

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