Lately, there has been a tendency to think of Developer DAO as a business.
It is not.
It’s a community, and as such, there will be plenty of opportunities for many things: networking, making friends, work, and yes, doing business.
But communities are like gardens. They need care. Investment of time, love and resources. And even though they won’t look the same, both planted seeds and blooming flowers need the same attention, while using resources in different ways.
For as long as Developer DAO has existed, we have focused our attention on our best elements, but have neglected the grooming of the rest. The results are in open view. The community is not flourishing, there are no vibes, the grass is no longer green.
It’s clear it’s time we shift gears, and start doing what we should have done from the start:
Invest in the community.
Instead of placing all our resources in three persons, we should reward as many as we can, with the goal of revitalizing our community. A DAO-wide, inclusive effort to make every contributor feel valuable and visible. More engaged. And more committed to the goal of having a vibrant community.
This DAO will live or die based on the output of all its people, not just a few. And we should all work together to increase the value of it. If we succeed, we will all be rewarded. If we fail, we all will deal with the consequences.
But, this effort needs one more component, in addition to being inclusive: Transparency.
There needs to be a set of rules that will apply to everyone, not just a few. Every member should know how to apply to make a paid contribution, and where to find open roles. What would be the criteria to evaluate his/her application. We should have opportunities for new members, and ownership and responsibility for older members. Every member with an idea to generate revenue for the DAO should also know what are the steps to implement it, what models currently exist for his/her own rewards, and if it’s possible to suggest new ones. Reward models should apply to everyone who complies with specific requirements, and not be just random numbers thrown in an excel table.
Right now, we don’t have that. And we don’t even know why decisions are made.
The budgets we create are about assigning value to what we do. And the current ones are telling most of the community that their efforts are not worth much. But that’s not true. The value of Developer DAO is its community. All its possibilities lie in how vibrant, how powerful that community grows. So it’s a good decision to invest as much as we can on it.
It’s actually a good business decision.