Proposal For Governance That ADDs More Than It Takes

Assumptions

Our activities, as conscious agents, are mainly split into 3 realms, each with its own specific type of constraints: Assess, Decide and Do.

We evaluate, brainstorm, get feedback (that will be the 'Assess' realm), then we plan, we allocate resources (that is the 'Decide' realm) and then we simply implement and cross-off items as we finish them (the 'Do' realm).

A smooth flow from one realm to another, while maintaining integrity of each realm, generates consistent results, with low costs. Not maintaining integrity of realms (overlapping Assess / Decide / Do) inherently increases the energy costs, generating inconsistent results.

Problem We Aim To Solve

The Cosmos ecosystem governance is experiencing a lot of friction. One of the causes may be the constant overlapping of the 3 realms. Proposals are still discussed (Assess) while there should be just planned (Decide), or implemented (Do). Or they are jumped directly into planning (Decide), or sometimes even into implementation (Do) without a proper understanding of what needs to be done (Assess).

The overall results are often unsatisfactory, with discrepancies between various streams of work, unbalanced compensations and slow advancement. Furthermore, the trust in the ability to bring to life the vision behind Cosmos is constantly depleting.

Proposed Solution

We believe a set of competing DAOs implementing the Assess - Decide - Do (ADD) framework can bring more clarity, increase throughput and consistency, and, ultimately, create a more auditable and trusted governance.

We start by creating a pool of DAOs with specific roles: Assess, Decide and Do. The DAOs can have whatever name they want, but they will be of a specific type: Assess DAO, Decide DAO and Do DAO (see below, entities roles). Each DAO will compete with the ones in their specific type.

Entities roles

Assess DAOs will be responsible for:

• evaluating proposals, ideas, structural changes, partnerships

They will produce:

• documents containing deliverables
• when necessary, they will also suggest compensation’s value

Decide DAOs will be responsible for:

• allocating resources: time, work stream, financial values to be disbursed

They will produce:

• timelines
• milestones with or without associated financial values to be disbursed

Do DAOs will be responsible for

• implementing the Assess deliverables, within the DO timelines and respecting the DO deadlines.
• unlocking the financial values, which, in turn, gets distributed to the involved Assess and Decide DAOs

They will produce:

• code, infrastructure

Objects definitions

• Deliverables

  • a specific code feature with all the required details (including test cases)
  • a specific alliance, partnership or other organizational change
  • a specific financial compensation associated to any of the above

• Timelines

  • time distribution for specific tasks required to implement the Assess deliverables

• Milestones

  • specific time dates at which deliverables must exist, with their associated financial value, when available

• Work stream

  • a specific amount of man/work hours, declined into one or multiple teams

• Code

  • specific functionalities required for the Cosmos ecosystem codebase, including, but not restricted to: protocols, modules, UI

• Infrastructure

  • physical objects, including, but not restricted to: computing devices, physical workspaces

Processes

Assess DAOs will publish their deliverables, which will be subject to public debate and be subject to modifications during this process. A deliverable put out by an Assess DAO has a specific lifetime, between 30 days and 90 days. during the Assess process, the deliverables can change, or they can be discarded entirely.

Decide DAOs subscribe to deliverables, signaling their intent to Decide the timelines, work streams and deliverable. Decide DAOs can subscribe to as many deliverables as they want, proposed by as many Assess DAOs they want. During the Assess process, Decide DAOs can withdraw their subscription, signaling they are not interested in participating.

If, at the end of the deliverable life there is no Decide DAO subscribed, the deliverable will be automatically discarded.

If, at the end of the deliverable life, there is at least one Decide DAO subscribed, the deliverable is marked as “Sent to Decide” and it becomes uneditable.

Once they received a deliverable, Decide DAOs start publishing their objects, along with the uneditable deliverables. Do DAOs subscribe to their preferred Decide DAO, signaling their intent to implement the deliverables, within the timeline and respecting the deadlines published by the Decide DAO they subscribed to. Do DAOs can subscribe to only one Decide DAOs per deliverable.

Timelines, deadlines and work streams, combined together, form a Decide DAO object, which has a lifetime between 30 and 45 days. During this time, changes can be applied to the contained objects only in the first 15 days. After that, the objects become fixed, to give time to Do DAOs to plan their availability.

If, at the end of a Decide DAO object lifetime, there is no Do DAO subscribed, their object will be discarded.

If, at the end of a Decide DAO object lifetime, there is a Do DAO subscribed, the deliverable, along with the proposed timeline, work stream and deadlines, are passed along to the respective Do DAO.

Do DAOs start implementation immediately, and their milestones are automatically tracked and published. If a Do DAO misses a deadline, the associated financial value will be burned.

When a Do DAO finishes implementation, going through all the milestones, the associated value is unlocked and distributed among the involved DAOs.

ALL results are decided by public voting on the subscriptions.