Pre-proposal: DASH RFP Process

[CaptainCalliope]

I'm still working on this proposal, but seeing as it's a bit last minute I'm sharing what I have for feedback.

What's missing? What should I change? What can I do to make this proposal stronger?

I'm actively drafting the proposal on this document:
https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/DASH-RFP-Process-hbgbOkOboXZh0v5Af04U9

Feel free to comment here or directly on the document itself!

DASH RFP Process

I’d like to create a community driven RFP (Request for Proposal) process that improves the quality, accountability, and success of proposals.

An RFP is a document that defines needs and the kinds of service being sought out to meet them. RFPs are sent out to markets and invite service providers to make competing proposals to solve problems based on documented requirements.

My aim is to enhance existing processes to broaden collaboration on budgetary projects.

A successful Dash DAO RFP process should:

• Involve the right people. All stakeholders who will be impacted by this process should be involved in its creation.
• Be decentralized. Anyone in the Dash ecosystem should be able to participate in the creation of an RFP and its administration.
• Add value to the existing proposal system rather than change or compete with it.
• Be optional. No one should be required to engage an RFP process to either make a budget proposal or vote on one.
• Encourage collaboration between different stakeholder types in the Dash ecosystem.
• Create clarity and shared understanding around strategy, accountability, and how to evaluate success of projects.

Benefits

A dash RFP process would support the Dash community both internally and externally.

MNOs will have:

• More confidence because proposals will respond to needs already vetted by MNOs
• Increased security because the RFP will create competition and thereby better proposals

Dash community members will have more concrete processes through which to participate in shaping the longterm success of Dash

Both Dash MNOs and the wider community will be able to:

• Develop strategic projects that meet identified needs.
• Budget for strategic projects that require longer time frames and/or multiple stages of development
• Define accountability structures in advance of proposal submissions

External parties:

• Vendors and service providers outside of the Dash community will become aware that there is value alignment and opportunity to earn revenue through Dash
• Dash can build partnerships with strategic groups that can then bring their experience/work/talent/capacity/etc to dash

Who am I?
I’m a community organizer and projects facilitator that works at the intersections of open source tech and nonprofits.

A number of years back I cofounded a nonprofit arts service organization called C4 Atlanta focused on economic development through arts entrepreneurship programming. To this day it’s the work I’ve been the most proud of.

I have tons of experience working in and around open organizations such as Mozilla and Code for America. What I’ve gained from my experiences in the open source world is a passion for helping organizations incorporate radical participation into their DNA.

(How I work, what brings me to dash, etc)

Process (How?) still heavily working on this section

How I work

My top priority is making sure this process is community driven.

My work will be open and collaborative with members of the community involved every step of the way.
The community will own all of the outputs of this effort.

Identify key touch points navigated through by people new to Dash in making their first proposal.

Consult with people who have developed RFP processes in different types of organizations.


Accountability


Budget

My requested budget covers my time, the time of consultants with greater expertise in this area, and costs associated with attending the Dash Conference in London so I can get face-time with collaborators, potential partners, and other key stakeholders in the Dash community. Budget that is unused will be factored into future proposals I submit to the DAO.

This budget assumes 1 Dash = $300 USD

• People
  • Me 100 hrs
    • $5300
    • Dash 17.666666666666667
  • Consultants 4x6 hours
    • $1272
    • Dash 4.24
    • How to create an rfp process
    • How to engage multiple stakeholders in composing rfps
    • How to market rfp
• Conference
  • $769.32
  • Dash 2.5644
• Travel & Lodging
  • $2000
  • Dash 6.66

$9341.32
Dash 31.13 + submission cost

Total: 36 Dash.

 

[Vedran Yoweri]

A RFP process would be very beneficial for us, we need it.

But i think it should be a masternode owners process, something like this:

- Pre-RFP proposal discussions on forum.
Deliverables: functional description & budget range.

- RFP proposal up for regular voting.
Once voted in it goes on the official RFP list, a dedicated forum section where RFP's can be viewed and discusssed with potential contractors.

The only challenge is how to organize the funding for the proposal submissions. Could be something multisig or trusted core member getting budget for let's say 5 proposal submissions at a time.

If you or your team of consultants can / would do work for some RFP i'm fine with compensation for that, but the dash RFP proces should be run by MNO and should not be more complicated than necessary.

 

[dashdisciple]

What's missing? What should I change? What can I do to make this proposal stronger?

-Where would the RFPs be posted?
-Would there need to be a certain number of MNOs backing a person's RFP before it became a full request?
-How would the RFPs be distributed/advertised to potential talent?
-How would the system fund the 5 Dash Fee for the best of class per RFP?


Good start - I think you're addressing an area that could be very beneficial to the efficiency of the treasury funds if worked out.

 

[CaptainCalliope]

But i think it should be a masternode owners process, something like this:

- Pre-RFP proposal discussions on forum.
Deliverables: functional description & budget range.

- RFP proposal up for regular voting.
Once voted in it goes on the official RFP list, a dedicated forum section where RFP's can be viewed and discusssed with potential contractors.

The only challenge is how to organize the funding for the proposal submissions. Could be something multisig or trusted core member getting budget for let's say 5 proposal submissions at a time.

We're definitely on the same page here and your ideas mirror many of my own. I was attempting to be non-prescriptive in my proposal so as not to short circuit collaboration with my biases, but perhaps I should rethink that.

the dash RFP proces should be run by MNO and should not be more complicated than necessary.

What do you mean by "run by MNO"? I agree it's important to center them as they have final accountability over the budget, but I don't think they should be in control of administering the overall process. I think room is needed for multiple competing/cooperative RFP processes administered by different groups across the network. The key would be creating an overall process that builds trust and confidence with MNOs while moving complexity to the edges of the network.

That said, there should be norms that ultimately center MNO at key points. Right now I'm thinking about a series of stage gates involving advice, sponsorship, and endorsement processes before ultimately seeking final MNO endorsement at the budget proposal level.

RFPs could come from multiple directions. Some examples:

• MNO's commission the creation of an RFP to a trusted sub-dao or working group.
• An existing sub-dao or working group creates an RFP and seeks MNO endorsement.
• A newer party comes in and seeks some kind of MNO-driven sponsorship before creating an RFP and seeking wider endorsement.

I don't know what sponsorship or endorsement might look like yet, but I see an opportunity here for creating multiple stages of verified MNO vetting before a final proposal is even submitted. The parts of the overall process that MNOs would own in this model is the Sponsorship and Endorsement processes.

These are just initial ideas I have, not what I actually intend to propose. I'm sure better will emerge as more people have input.

-Where would the RFPs be posted?

Naturally, this can flow into the questions about who owns 'official' centralized infrastructure. I'm thinking it would be better to sidestep that whole conversation by having some way to cryptographically verify that an RFP has been endorsed by the Dash DAO wherever the RFP documentation resides.

-Would there need to be a certain number of MNOs backing a person's RFP before it became a full request?

Either a certain number, or a subgroup of MNOs vested with the trust and authority of the wider network. Perhaps there are other options. I have no opinions here. Figuring this out is part of the work.

-How would the RFPs be distributed/advertised to potential talent?

This is the fun part! And why I've budgeted for consultant time.

-How would the system fund the 5 Dash Fee for the best of class per RFP?

Again, figuring this out is part of the work.

 

[Vedran Yoweri]

but I don't think they should be in control of administering the overall process.

an RFP is a request from MNO to the world. why should someone else be involved?

I think room is needed for multiple competing/cooperative RFP processes administered by different groups across the network.

anyone can submit a Pre-RFP proposal. for free. no special stuff needed.

The key would be creating an overall process that builds trust and confidence with MNOs while moving complexity to the edges of the network.

MNO don't need trust or confidence building. what are you talking about.

That said, there should be norms that ultimately center MNO at key points.

you mean the voting for the RFP? systems already in place and working.

Right now I'm thinking about a series of stage gates involving advice, sponsorship, and endorsement processes before ultimately seeking final MNO endorsement at the budget proposal level.

sponsorship? endorsement? what for?

• MNO's commission the creation of an RFP to a trusted sub-dao or working group.

• An existing sub-dao or working group creates an RFP and seeks MNO endorsement.

• A newer party comes in and seeks some kind of MNO-driven sponsorship before creating an RFP and seeking wider endorsement.

these are the complexities not needed.

I don't know what sponsorship or endorsement might look like yet

i'm not going to vote to fund people to come up with ideas.

 

[CaptainCalliope]

an RFP is a request from MNO to the world. why should someone else be involved?

Investment. MNO's aren't the only people invested in Dash's future and success. As such, it is MNO's responsibility and in their best interest to work with other invested stakeholders to make sure the DAO budget is allocated as effectively as possible.

i'm not going to vote to fund people to come up with ideas.

RFP processes are a core function of organizations large and small who want to do things they don't have internal capacity to accomplish. They take a lot of work in terms of man-hours as well as conducting discovery, stakeholder engagement, systems analysis, consensus building, and so on. At the end of an RFP process what you have aren't ideas, but vetted strategic opportunities and priorities.

Someone needs to be doing higher level work like this and if MNO's aren't incentivized to do it themselves they should pay people to do it.

MNO don't need trust or confidence building. what are you talking about.

I disagree. Trust and confidence building are at the very core of the budgeting process. If MNO's lack confidence that a proposal will have the desired impact, or feel the proposer is untrustworthy, the proposal won't be funded.

you mean the voting for the RFP? systems already in place and working.

If MNO's have no other input into how the budget is allocated beyond voting yes/no/abstain, then it's a piss poor governance system.

Some MNO's are more engaged than others, such as yourself. This leads to better outcomes overall. This very conversation is a key point in which an MNO is offering feedback that will either improve a proposal, or kill it before it gets in front of all the other MNOs and takes up their time. You are providing a service here to other MNO's,to the budget, as well as to myself. This process is not built into the code of the DAO, but an augmentation that has emerged. I'm proposing additional augmentation in order for higher quality proposals to be produced that don't waste the time of the overall MNO network.

these are the complexities not needed.

These types of complexities already exist in one form or another. I want to add as lightweight structure as possible to this complexity so that the complexity abstracted away from the MNO network while maintaining their control.

In my opinion, the body of MNO's shouldn't simply be vetting ideas, but setting priorities that a larger network of invested stakeholders can put into action. MNO's shouldn't stay stuck reactively choosing between proposals that have no strategic alignment with each other. What I'm proposing is an approach to begin allocating funds in more proactive ways that set Dash up for greater success.

Thanks for your feedback! This is super helpful!

 

[Vedran Yoweri]

MNO's aren't the only people invested in Dash's future and success

they are the only ones who vote for funding.

RFP processes are a core function of organizations large and small who want to do things they don't have internal capacity to accomplish. They take a lot of work in terms of man-hours as well as conducting discovery, stakeholder engagement, systems analysis, consensus building, and so on. At the end of an RFP process what you have aren't ideas, but vetted strategic opportunities and priorities.

i'm not going to vote to fund people to come up with ideas.

Someone needs to be doing higher level work like this and if MNO's aren't incentivized to do it themselves they should pay people to do it.

we already have good people on business development.

I disagree. Trust and confidence building are at the very core of the budgeting process. If MNO's lack confidence that a proposal will have the desired impact, or feel the proposer is untrustworthy, the proposal won't be funded.

works like intended. nothing to fix.

If MNO's have no other input into how the budget is allocated beyond voting yes/no/abstain, then it's a piss poor governance system.

ok, our system is piss poor. if we give you money you will make it better. just to inform you of some history, you are dude #14 trying that line. didn't work once.

 

[CaptainCalliope]

ok, our system is piss poor. if we give you money you will make it better. just to inform you of some history, you are dude #14 trying that line. didn't work once.

Oi. My point was the system isn't piss poor and you're proof of that. Informal processes such as the conversation we're engaging in right now proves that where the system is incomplete, people step up to fill the gaps.

This is one gap I've identified, and obviously you disagree. It's not the only thing I can spend time working on however. I'm curious if there are any gaps you see that would be a better use of my time and Dash's resources. I'm here to offer my skills and experience to make Dash stronger, and if this particular proposal isn't the right way to go about it some direction would be appreciated. I'd rather focus on implementation rather than ideation, but the current incentive structure puts people in the position of coming up with ideas AND implementing them. If I have the wrong idea, what's something concrete you think I could investigate and propose a solution for?

 

[TroyDASH]

we already have good people on business development.

Yes, but it does not follow that having good people on business development means we are realizing the maximum potential for business development. Secondly I do not think this is even necessarily within scope of what the business development team does, as some RFPs will not have to do with onboarding a business/integration.

 

[Vedran Yoweri]

A RFP process would be very beneficial for us, we need it.

please understand we're on the same page with this.

This is one gap I've identified, and obviously you disagree.

maybe, i don't know. if an RFP needs extra work i'm all for it. just think we should not build a RFP process for every possible exception. Let's start with a lean an mean version, utilizing the tools already available. we can always expand if needed.

Yes, but it does not follow that having good people on business development means we are realizing the maximum potential for business development. Secondly I do not think this is even necessarily within scope of what the business development team does, as some RFPs will not have to do with onboarding a business/integration.

maybe, i don't know. but it would be very inefficient to try and fix all that wile trying to setup this RFP process. Let's try and fix one issue a time.

 

[jimbursch]

I am looking for someone interested in operating DashIncubator, and it might fit well with what you are proposing.

https://d-msg.com/dashincubator