Talent Coordination Bot Proposal - Soil - Unlock Community Powered Opportunity
Authors: BluePanda, Impactbilli.eth, Milo
Supporting Budget Steward(s): @Erik_Knobl @kempsterrrr
Summary
Today, many great opportunities remain buried beneath overwhelming discord channels, notion tables, DMâs and a multitude of calls amongst only a handful of the most dedicated people.
We built a tool/bot, currently called âsoil â, that unearths the right project for the right person at the right time. That way, you donât miss your next great opportunity to learn, collaborate or connect.
If youâd like a demo of where the bot currently stands, do not hesitate to reach out to BluePanda, Impactbilli or Milo.
Video Summary - Only 3.5 minute
Motivation
DAOâs should hold a promise to make work, work for us all. Its permissionless, mission-centered focus attracts frens with similar drives & values while drawing on diversity of experiences, perspectives & skills. This provides fertile soil to turn the DAO into an oasis of opportunities to learn from each-other, connect meaningfully as well as collaborate on opportunities of a lifetime - which we are already seeing in DAOs today, especially in D_D.
However, the current tools make it hard for everyone to keep track & find what opportunities are relevant for them, which leads to many missed opportunities, more lurkers than we would like, many of who actively want to contribute but do not find the right opportunity, which leads to lack of retention & overall less momentum around the D_D mission than we could have.
We built a first version for a bot that will help each & every D_D member find & be found for actionable opportunities specifically relevant to them. We would like to prove the value of this bot & initiate its further development, here, with the help of our D_D frens.
Mission, values and goals alignment
Soil supercharges the idea of âbuild web3 with friendsâ by empowering the community to find fellow contributors to launch projects with, based on a highly relevant project/person match.
This tool speaks directly to all of the D_D values, but especially to the one of Diversity and Inclusion, as today it is mostly the loudest voices & strongest self-starters that find their way in the DAO. Soil offers a way around affinity bias and facilitates more meritocratic skill and interest based matches. This helps engage a broader set of people for the right reasons.
When it comes to the D_D goals, the tool falls right in line: (1) It creates the possibility to engage members on their specific interest, providing a more scalable yet personal education, onboarding & support path. (2) With the help of the D_D, this tool is well positioned to become a core web3 infrastructure that helps realize the promise of all DAOs, unlocking a huge set of opportunities for DAO members across web3.
Brand usage
Our current version of the tool is an alpha version that is under development - we could, however, see how other DAOs could use this bot too & having D_D as the birthplace of the tool that has the potential to become core-infrastructure across all DAOs is how we would use the brand - very much in line of the idea of âbuild web3 with friendsâ.
Scope of work
Development sprint:
4 x 3 week build-measure-learn-sprints for a total of 3 months of work
High level roadmap & goals of each sprint
- Sprint 1: Graduate from current test discord to D_D discord
- Sprint 2: Successfully match people/project in a scalable, better & easier way in D_D with a specific focus [for example for the mentorship project]
- Sprint 3: Grow adoption & range of use-cases from couple of core contributors & a specific focus to DAO wide impact & usage
- Sprint 4: Look beyond D_D & focus on how this tool can create value for other DAOs
High level structure of each build-measure-learn-sprint
Phase 1: Measure & Learn (1 week)
- Launch a stable version of the tool & onboard testers
- Gather feedback
- List out learning goals with accompanying metrics to track
- Give D_D members access to the latest version & organize 1-on-1 onboarding calls to capture feedback
- Encourage usage & track metrics with tool in âactionâ
- From that feedback, we reprioritize features & recalibrate the lessons we learn with frameworks such as J2BD, ⊠Community input is crucial here.
Phase 2: Build (2 weeks)
- BUIDL
- Build top features with input from / in partnership with all interested D_D contributors in a 2 week sprint.
- Weâre counting on 3 core contributors for these 2 weeks that can commit a minimum of 16 hours per week (at least the weekend) but welcome of course anyone who has any time to contribute & is excited about the project.
Financial implications (New)
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Grant update rationale
When the idea of Soilđ± was launched a month ago in D_D, we didnât dare imagine the community engagement we have today. We had hoped to gather a team of 5 contributors to work towards increasing the quality & quantity of project/person matches across the DAO. Instead, shortly after publishing our proposal on the Forum and getting 80+ thoughtful comments, people flooded our DMs. Weâre proud & excited to say that now - before the grant - we have a team of 17 (& growing) dedicated, talented D_D native contributors.
So far, itâs been pure magic to be part of the team formed out of a bunch of strangers with a common love for building impactful things. This, above all, is a testament to the quality of the D_D community & DAO. Our hope is that Soil can be one of the many success stories that come from this highly creative & capable DAO.
To push the project towards successful completion, we want to reward & sustain the enthusiasm that is clearly present around Soilđ±. That translates itself to an update of our initial requested grant amount to 47,460 $CODE to continue development for the next 3 months with 19 core contributors. We estimate that in this timeframe, weâll be able to develop the MVP to the point where it has a significant impact on D_D & we can start to think about how Soil might have impact on other DAOs & online communities.
Budget Breakdown
After a couple of fruitful weeks with our contributors, hereâs what weâve learned:
On average, our core contributors are able to dedicate between 10 - 20 hours per week to the project. We, of course, have some very, very dedicated contributors that are doing over 40, but for budgetâs sake, weâre calculating at 13 hours per week/contributor.
With our current core contributor composition (= core, meaning who put in a minimum average of 15h/week), we are currently at 17 - for which we provide a breakdown of who does what, below. Weâd like to budget for a total of 19 core positions - as we are on the lookout for 2 more solidity developers.
Weâve also learned that the cadence is a lot more continuous than previously thought. By having a bigger team, weâre able to parallelise a lot more. So far, we have done the user research & design in parallel with the backend & frontend boilerplate setup and continue to keep up this parallel approach, as it is essential to the speed with which weâve so far been able to move this project forward. This speed is what keeps everyone engaged.
On top of that, weâve gotten a lot of support from non-core contributors throughout D_D. For this reason weâd like to allocate a bounty budget that could get community members rewarded for an in-depth user-interview, feedback session, copywriting, design feedback, etcâŠ
This would bring the budget breakdown to:
19 contributors * 13 hours a week * 15 $CODE/hour * 12 weeks + 3000 $ CODE bounty budget = $CODE 47,460
What can D_D expect in return for this grant?
- Soil enables D_D to become a DAO that sets a new standard for how work is found & done in DAOs. This comes with many benefits such as:
- Higher attraction, retention & engagement rates of highly talented individuals - Soil will drastically reduce the time between finding & joining a project, which increases the chance of these talents sticking around & contributing further to the DAO (today, only 1/10 of people wanting to join a project, actually find one).
- More great projects - Soil will make it a lot easier to start & staff a project. As going on a bunch of calls & proposing a new project can be intimidating, soil makes it easy for everyone with a good idea to propose it & test interest with potentially relevant contributors, without needing to talk to hundreds of people separately.
- It can be a tool to ensure the DAOâs economic viability in the long run - enabling more & better project/person matches opens up the possibility for a whole outward facing value layer built on top of the DAO, should we choose to pursue this route.
- As D_D shows its support to this project through this grant, D_D builds its brand as a DAO for builders to come together & build things that matter - all in a spirit of learning & helping each-other to level up.
- As we work day & night to make Soil a smashing success, we are learning many lessons about the DOâs & DONâTs of building in & with the DAO. We want to open source these lessons to all DAO members through a playbook as we learn firsthand the best way to launch projects in D_D successfully.
Members and Positions
Product Design - UX/UI
Milo - Working on the UI Designs, working on facilitation of the team space
Julo - is consulting Soilđ± UX/UI team on designs and functionality of the platform
exwhyzee - Working on the UI Designs
Canna - Working on the UI Designs
FrontEnd
Sbelka - working on FrontEnd designs using Next, Tailwind, redux, and graphQL
Lewis - working on FrontEnd designs using Next, Tailwind, redux, and graphQL
Harpal - working on FrontEnd designs using Next, Tailwind, redux, and graphQL
Eloigil - working on FrontEnd designs using Next, Tailwind, redux, and graphQL
Miral - working on FrontEnd designs using Next, Tailwind, redux, and graphQL
BackEnd
WiseTy - Working on a new Graph based database called Neo4J this is work with BluePanda on the BackEnd of Soil
BrianHHough - Working on the BackEnd of Soil using GraphQL and MongoDB
BlockChain
Tricelex - Working on the Blockchain side of Soil Focusing at first to connect Lens protocol with Soil
Bot Development
Alex1237 - took over the development of the bot and singlehandedly handles backend
Product
AK - product management, user research & general strategy
Coordination Team
BluePanda - Coordination of the coding team, moving forward the Machine Learning efforts and at this stage focusing on BackEnd of the Application using GraphQL and MongoDB as well as general strategy
with-heart - Working on the quality of Code, Coordination of all teams, and FrontEnd quality
impactbilli - Coordinating the product management, UX & UI teams as well as general strategy
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There isnât much clarity around the business model yet, but some of the key ideas around revenue generation for this tool are currently the following:
- A DAO/community based subscription fee
- Alternatively, a pays per member search or match basis
- Mint SBTâs/NFTâs based on certain community endorsements or project completions
Weâre happy to have open discussion around this. The main point here is that we believe that if D_D, as a community, decides they want to see the value from this tool realized, they will also participate in the upside in a way that makes sense.
With the current ideas, which are subject to change, our suggested value split would be:
- 20% split for D_D treasury on all SBTâs/NFTâs generated within D_D, forever
- No subscription fee for the first year
- Positioning as a âborn in D_Dâ tool in all soil marketing
Team
Please provide some background on the Team involved in this project/guild so other DAO members can understand who is behind the initiative.
BluePanda
Miltos is a PhD-ML-Dropout whoâs fluent in solidity & spent the last 3 years diving deep into the blockchain & web3 enabled world by night while by day working on creating intelligent social graphs at i.a. Goldman Sachs. The combination of full-stack, ML + social graphs & solidity make him the perfect technical lead to realize our vision of making work, work for us all by unlocking the full power of DAOs. BluePanda is currently championing or contributing to the mentorship program, the OKRs, and the talent coordination program within D_D.
Impactbilli.eth
Tom dropped out of his Computer Science masters & spent the last 3 years both being a consultant & building a digital innovation consultancy. Helping clients such as the 3 EU institutions, multinationals & BEL20 companies. He sold the consultancy as he believed web3 offered an opportunity to make work, work for all of us. Tomâs been launching projects & ventures around tackling the statistic that 85% of people are emotionally disengaged at work since 2016. His previous experience building a consultancy around digital automation gave him lots of insights around how current day work doesnât work. Tom is currently contributing in Bankless DAO around talent coordination & has been contributing in D_D, more behind the scenes with BluePanda, since ETHAmsterdam.
Milo
Lola is a Scrum Master in a global tourism tech company and a graduate in Law, Administration & International Relations. In the past sheâs worked closely with business clients, understanding their nature and being able to predict consumer behaviors. She is a linking chain between the backend and the users and helps to move the project forward by formulating a customer-centric strategy. Milo is also a vigorous D_D contributor, focusing on the mentorship program and the OKRs of D_D.
WiseTy (new)
Ty was an audio engineer to multiple platinum artists in the music industry; yet, felt he could be more impactful in other ways. He discovered crypto in 2017, went down the rabbit hole, and never left. Ty is an upcoming computer science graduate @ The University of DC with an interest in specializing his skills in data science.
Heâs helped launch two products from 0 to 1 (currently on the App Store)
Heâs a fierce contributor to D_D, executed an MVP of D_Dâs onboarding process, and galvanized others to do it with him.
His passion for what the future of work looks like drives him to help connect people with the teams and projects they enjoy.
With-Heart (new)
with-heart is a developer and open source maintainer from Cincinnati, Ohio. In a previous life, with-heart filled vending machines and drove delivery trucks. Experience has taught him that every person has an important role to play in the communities theyâre a part of. That belief is at the core of everything he tries to do, which is why Soil feels like such a natural fit for him.
Success Metrics & KPIs
Engagement
- Per sprint, increased engagement around the tool
- Usage: More active users, more power users, with each sprint. A doubling (exponential curve) with each sprint we would deem successful.
- Impact: The amount of project/person matches doubles with each sprint
Revenue
- We will have revenue generation worked out by sprint 3. From there weâd target steady 5% week over week growth.
Overall User Growth
- of increasing unique profiles becoming part of the system
Next Steps
This proposal allows us to build a solid foundation for the tool that will be a game changer for the way we operate in D_D. Matching human capital at scale & helping people find the right project at the right time with the right contributor, is a key to create even more concrete momentum around the mission of D_D. The further development of this tool is a first step in that. AI, knowledge-graphs & Soul Bound Tokens are but a small set of the tools that weâre currently already thinking about implementing & using to facilitate better & more person/opportunity matches at scale.
The next steps, beyond this proposal, are of course creating massive value for the whole, growing web3 ecosystem. Web3 is lagging web2 when it comes to person/opportunity match platforms such as linkedin & upwork - this tool rights that and leaps ahead of the functionality of these platforms. The implications this has for the future of work in regards to work agency, alignment of individual & community incentives as well as the role of community support & growth in peopleâs personal & professional development, are profound. The next steps therefore can be resumed as: taking the meaning of unlocking community powered opportunities to the next level.
Weâre excited to usher in the era of community power by realizing the promise of DAOs & we hope you are too. WAGMI.