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May 2016 - Dash Core Team Monthly Report

kot

kot

Moderator
Masternode Owner/Operator
Dear Community members,

It is my pleasure to give you a report of the Dash core team progress. Below, you will find our report covering activities performed through the end of May, grouped by the four strategic areas for 2016.

  1. Software Development
    1. Dash core wallet - version 12.x (lead developer: Evan Duffield)
      1. Closure of the development phase
      2. Testnet release
    2. Dash Evolution Web Wallet(lead developer: Andy Freer)
      1. Web-wallet: Completed client SPA framework with Backbone & Marionette
      2. SPV: Completed integration of various SPV frameworks for Web SPV wallet functions
      3. SPV implementation developed by Jon Kindel (snogcel). The other dev who works with Andy is @acidburn.
      4. The goal of the project is to have decentralised Dash web wallet to be working like a banking wallet + a possibility to integrate it with different services (e.g. gambling, entertainment).
      5. The project is in prototyping phase. It is not yet documented and in head of Andy.
      6. Evolution planning and optimization launched (goal: to shorten time of Evolution development and delivery by good design, planning and resourcing).
    3. Dash wallet for Android - updated features (lead developer: HashEngineering)
      1. @HashEngineering and @tomasz.ludek are working together on functional and graphical improvements and bug fixes
      2. Beta testing is finished, but team realized a key feature needed to be added back into the app that was removed with the new UI. This feature may be added back in June. Once added, we will have a two phase launch.
      3. Phase 1 is for volunteers who want to install the newest version that has full InstantSend support and the New UI.
      4. Phase 2 will happen two weeks later and the update will be pushed to Google Play and then new users can install it and current users will get it via auto update.
    4. Dash iPhone Wallet
      1. We are still working on the acceptance in the AppStore (there is a chance that with the new Dash Fundation name it will be easier, but still we are experiencing many issues and resistance from AppStore)
    5. Electrum-Dash wallet development (PM: Robert Wiecko; external vendor: Tyler Willis)
      1. Masternode operations from the wallet developed for Trezor (Acceptance testing and bug fixing is in progress)
      2. Development of masternode operations with KeepKey started
      3. In-house Electrum-Dash build system setup
      4. Detailed status reports are available in this location: Status reports
    6. Lamassu integration (PM: Daniel Diaz, external vendor: Deginner)
      1. Detailed status reports are available in this location, together with the Fiat Gateways project: Fiat Gateways
    7. Armory wallet (lead developer: moocowmoo)
      1. Development suspended as we are not sure if Armory project is still alive
  2. Business Development
    1. Fiat Gateways project (PM: Daniel Diaz, external vendor: Deginner)
      1. Significant scope and time creep experienced. Mitigation actions taken on the vendor side:
        1. More resources are getting engaged on the project. Currently 4 developers work on fiat gateways and 3 at Lamassu.
        2. Budget control system implemented - no payments will be signed without tasks done and confirmed
      2. Regular weekly calls established to have a status updates and more control over the project. Assisting PM engaged to help with organizational matters.
      3. When the team gets stabilized, new project plan will be created and published.
    2. Merchant Integration (PM: Robert Wiecko)
      1. Work is in progress. Technical specification is being worked out and consulted with the Customer.
    3. Shake debit card integration (led by Ryan Taylor)
      1. Limited responsiveness of the partner from Shake. It seems like they are dealing with some internal issues.
      2. Shake is wrapping up testing on the physical cards and he now plans to launch Dash and the physical cards at the same time (about two weeks)
      3. Inquiring about getting a Visa card for the Dash Foundation - Fernando Gutierrez will receive an alpha invite from Shake this week to test for himself and in the meantime Dash inquired with Shake about availability of a commercial debit card or multi-user card
      4. Sahke is working on a developer
  3. Marketing and Communication
    1. Cooperation with 8BTC relaunched
      1. tungfa and Alexy are working again on this. Budget is secured for the project
    2. New website design
      1. @TheDashGuy works on the new design proposal (first draft provided for review)
      2. Delays experienced due to limited availability and high workload of developer
    3. Dash Wiki maintenence and updates
      1. Creation of Dash Glossary: Glossary
      2. Updates in Dash Wallet section: Wallets (QT, Electrum, Mobile,...)
      3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash_(cryptocurrency)
      4. Wiki updated to "InstantSend + PrivateSend" at https://dashpay.atlassian.net/wiki/
    4. Started preparation for d10e conference in San Francisco in July.
      1. Expected Dash presentation by Evan and panel discussion.
      2. The conference will be transmitted in VR - big interest is expected
    5. Started preparation for Atlanta Bitcoin Meetup in August.
      1. Expected Dash presentation by Evan.
    6. Channels http://www.youtube.com/c/DashOrg and http://www.google.com/+DashOrg were updated and re-branded
    7. All (nearly) videos available on https://www.facebook.com/DashPay/. The same on Russian Outlet.
    8. "What is Dash" video updated to display and talk about www.dash.org instead of old domein. Updates available in English / Chinese / Russian/ Japanese. More updates coming.
    9. International efforts
      1. China (Thanks @Alexy + Team)
        1. https://dashpay.cn/达世币的起源和货币的未来/
        2. https://dashpay.cn/2016年4月达世币核心团队月报告/ .....
      2. Russia (Thanks @alex-ru + Team)
        1. https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/Все-публикации-о-dash-на-Русском-языке-в-2016-году-архив-2015.8986/
        2. + Russian outlets (FB, local Russ and chat groups ansd forums)
      3. Portugal / Brasil (Thanks to @hexoli + @@studioz)
        1. https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/...100-profissionais-focados-em-blockchain.9083/
        2. https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/top-100-blockchain-organisations-de-coindesk-para-slock-it.9082/
        3. https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/governança-descentralizada-transparente-e-baseada-em-blockchain.9065/
        4. + Port/Br outlets (Telegram Chat / FB page/ BCT Portugal)
  4. Project Organization
    1. Second draft of the Dash Project Management Framework submitted for discussion: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/project-management-framework-proposition.8693/
    2. Evolution Planning started (work on optimization of Evolution delivery together with Evan Duffield and Andy Freer). The goal is to significantly shorten the time of Evolution delivery and resources optimization.
    3. Started mapping of licenses and copyrights in the project.
    4. Launched planing of the Q3 and Q4 budget.
Original report is available in this location: https://dashpay.atlassian.net/wiki/display/OC/May+2016+-+Dash+Core+Team+Monthly+Report
 
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Looks good. So when is the expected evolution release date? Is there any GANTT charts that go along with the update?
 
No, gantt charts are for project planning rather than reporting :)
Anyway, we do not have them for every project we drive.
 
Ok, I'm gonna sound pretty anal here, but maybe we should start to use a project delivery methodology, like PRINCE II. i.e develop GANTT charts, resource profiles, risk and issues logs etc.

Its a good way to measure progress and instill project discipline.

$50 million market cap isn't insignificant anymore. We are on the cusp of being a contender for the top spot.

If a third party institutional investor came along tomorrow and wanted to get involved they would probably ask for project delivery documentation.

Perhaps we should focus our attention of expected delivery dates, documenting them, and planing all the associated marketing activities that will accompany the deliverables.
 
kot said:
You are not sounding anal at all to me :) (you just think it is a perfect world).
Have a look here: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/project-management-framework-proposition.8693/

Unfortunately, to implement this we would need to have (real) budgets for experienced PMs, discipline in delivery and approved framework. We are not there yet...
50M$ market cap does not mean 50M$ for project budgets.
Click to expand...

Having a properly funded Project Management Office is a no brainer. I have worked on much smaller projects which had a dedicated PMO.

As far as i understand, we aren't even spending the full 10% set aside each month. @kot can you put this to a MN vote?

This needs to happen.

Not knowing expected release dates for major software upgrades is poor form. How is the rest of the community meant to plan other activities?

(Including marketing and business development).
 
Visit public Slack channel, please. You will see some different opinions about PMO and quality (in our understanding). Although I am all for good PM org, PMO and solid processes.
Not everyone understands necessity of this and positive impact.
 
I just wanted to say that you guys are doing an awesome job! I hope the new core team budget actually pays you guys properly and we can get all of your full time commitment.
 
@halso the open-source world is totally different to the average corporate culture. IMHO Prince2 would be terrible for core dev and evo, as requirements are unclear upfront. It is a way better fit for vendor work, but if you take a look at the regular updates of Robert you can see that he applies standards from such PM frameworks whenever it feels like it's a good fit.

We totally have to make sure not to put too much overhead on work, as that might cripple progress. At the same time, we have to make sure to have some kind of planning/coordination/reporting/progress tracking, otherwise this project won't be able to scale. Trying to explain this is something we usually have a VERY hard time with. And that's totally understandable, as most people here are freelancers / enterpreneurs, and are used to the mentality of "execution is king". And they are right, but after a given team size, which is 4-5 max, there needs to be another layer. If we'd like to step up from here, we'll need to come up with a good solution in between the two extremes - if not, we'll remain at the level of a hobby project for 5-10 people.
 
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Thanks for the update - yes, you're right, July has just started and I'm already wishing it away!

These updates are very informative and unlike anything I've seen in other communities, so I'm looking forward to the next installment . . ..
 
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