Enhancing Governance and Incentives for Stacks Projects - Hamish

[hamishjones]

"Hamish 1) Total grant amount: $1500

2) Project Description: Comprehensive research on Stacks governance and incentives to revolutionize decision-making, inclusivity, and ecosystem health. Our project tackles the complexities of governance in the Stacks ecosystem. We conduct research into voting mechanisms, decision-making processes, and tokenomics to identify challenges and propose solutions. Our goal is to enhance the effectiveness and inclusivity of Stacks governance, ensuring all stakeholders have a voice in transparent and efficient decision-making. Phase one lays the groundwork for developing tools and whitepapers that will share best practices in governance and incentives across the Stacks ecosystem.

3) Impact: Our project focuses on enhancing governance and incentive structures within the Stacks ecosystem. Quantitatively, we aim to increase participation rates in governance processes, reduce decision-making time, and ensure more stakeholders feel their voices are heard.

4) Project Timelines, Milestones, and Deliverables

• Kick Off Payment: 16% - $250 (for investment in ecosystem projects). Part of this project involves investing $500 all up in the ecosystem - participating in DeFI, DAOS, buying NFTs etc. The best way to understand a community is be an active participant in these communities

• Milestone 1: 16% - $250 - Research and Data Collection (August 31, 2024) Activities: Invest in ecosystem projects Conduct surveys and interviews with stakeholders. Collect data on current governance mechanisms.

Deliverable Metrics: Invest in Projects Completion of preliminary research. Preliminary report summarizing initial findings.

• Milestone 2: 33% - $500 Analysis and Recommendations (Sept 30,2024) Activities: Analyze collected data to identify key governance challenges. Develop detailed recommendations for improving governance and incentives

Deliverable Metrics: Comprehensive report with actionable recommendations.

• Milestone 3: 33% - $500 - Community Engagement (October 30, 2024) Activities: Host meetings to present findings and gather community feedback. Revise recommendations based on community input.

Deliverable Metrics: Successful hosting of workshops with active participation from community members. Final report and presentation incorporating community feedback.

5) Is/Will this Project be Open-Sourced? - yes

6) ZeroAuthorityDAO Profile Link: https://zeroauthority.xyz/profiles/SP2BFVXH4QXBFZ40E82NYP1J4J56KTGWTYA2AFRJ5"

[Gordon1770]

On behalf of the Stacks Australia community we are grateful for the active contributions of Hamish Jones in both the virtual and IRL space. I look forward to assisting Hamish in what ever way we can to in his next step of contribution to advance DAO development and participation for Stacks.

[hamishjones]

I've put together this 30 tweet (do we call them tweets? Are they X's?) thread sharing the start of this journey and some of the research to date.

https://x.com/hamishjones/status/1828921351710879929

[Hero-Gamer]

Thank you for the update Hamish, love seeing this getting off the ground already!

Keep us updated on your progress on milestone 1, and provide all necessary materials / proofs for approval. Keep building!

[hamishjones]

With it being August 31 here in Australia, and that being the first date mentioned in my project timeline, I thought I would share the below update.

Here is a link to the Preliminary Report. Please note that whilst this shows work to date it is still (and will) continuously evolve

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fj9fQsHl5FZNxWueTc0R6UW3uSOpgFYvig6nOw4u_ug/edit?usp=sharing

With Nakamoto upgrades slowing the release of some DeGrants payments, funds allocated for ecosystem investment are yet to be invested. Survey responses have been slow so research results here will also be included and may lead to some evolution in research.

I will also be adding links and a reference section as well as this research continues.

Whilst the initial report is being constructed as a Google Doc too, I will likely also look for other options for final publication of all research - ideally in a decentralised nature.

[Hero-Gamer]

Thanks @hamishjones for the update.

Milestone 1 still WIP right? Working towards getting it completed?

[hamishjones]

Thanks @hamishjones for the update.

Milestone 1 still WIP right? Working towards getting it completed?

Hi Hero,

The preliminary report is completed. The survey has been finished and distributed. Results are starting to come in.

I will allocate initial kickoff funds over the next 24-48 hours and then we can sign off on milestone one after I provide a list of project investments/community engagement.

[hamishjones]

Initial investment of 160STX kickoff payment in the following projects/communities/coins - and initial projects to be active in

1 x Stacks Invader Stacking DAO (Discord joined) Roo Coin (Active in Console Already) Velar (Discord Joined) Skullcoin (started "playing") registered hamishjones.btc

https://explorer.hiro.so/address/SP2BFVXH4QXBFZ40E82NYP1J4J56KTGWTYA2AFRJ5?chain=mainnet

[hamishjones]

Here is a link to the survey that has been developed and set out

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVgwW7BTlAYdcNtQ4e3SmoCGJ2QaQpv2yZ4KLLt8l8zs_i1w/viewform?usp=sf_link

[Hero-Gamer]

Hi Hamish, thanks for all the updates and links.

Your milestone 1 is approved. Milestone 1: 16% - $250 - Research and Data Collection (August 31, 2024) Activities: Invest in ecosystem projects Conduct surveys and interviews with stakeholders. Collect data on current governance mechanisms.

Just to make it quick to find for anyone reading links of deliverables below. Deliverable Metrics:

• Invest in Projects: https://explorer.hiro.so/address/SP2BFVXH4QXBFZ40E82NYP1J4J56KTGWTYA2AFRJ5?chain=mainnet
• Completion of preliminary research. Preliminary report summarizing initial findings:
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fj9fQsHl5FZNxWueTc0R6UW3uSOpgFYvig6nOw4u_ug/edit?usp=sharing

@shaktistacks this is approved for payment disbursement.

[shaktistacks]

thanks for accepting the payment Hamish!

[hamishjones]

Hello everyone,

I must say it turned out a more interesting month with many more “interesting” conversations than I expected when completing further research and putting together this report that identifies a number of challenges, a number of recommendations and I also identify what I feel my next steps will be.

Key Governance Challenges Identified:

• Centralisation of Decision making: Many projects still rely on core team-led decision-making, limiting true decentralisation. There is limited appetite for full decentralisation and full on chain decision making.
• Voter Apathy: Low community engagement is a recurring issue, with many participants unaware of governance processes or unwilling to participate.
• Transparency and Trust: Governance processes are often opaque, and the ability to interpret smart contract code is low, making it hard for participants to trust smart contract actions.
• High Audit Costs: The cost of smart contract audits is prohibitive for smaller projects, leaving them vulnerable to potential exploits.

Actionable Recommendations:

• Phased Decentralisation: Where true decentralisation is the goal, transition governance models gradually, starting with off-chain voting and reputation-based systems.
• Incentives for Participation: Introduce better developed token-based incentives, governance mining, and gamified engagement to combat voter apathy.
• Cost-effective Smart Contract Audits: Explore the creation of AuditDAO or modular audit solutions to make security more accessible to early-stage projects.
• Community Education: Focus on educating users about governance processes through tutorials, webinars, and user-friendly interfaces to encourage broader participation.

Milestones Achieved:

This comprehensive report meets key objectives by:

• Analysing survey data from the Stacks ecosystem to identify the most pressing governance challenges.
• Providing detailed, actionable recommendations on how to enhance governance structures, community incentives, and security practices.
• Offering a comparative analysis with other popular DAOs (e.g., MiDAO, Aragon, LexDAO) to help inform best practices within the Stacks ecosystem.

My Next Steps:

In addition to sharing these findings across Spaces and other forums to educate and engage the community, I am looking to do the following:

1. Continuing this research

2. Presenting the research in different ways - via a website with different sections

   I will also focus on the development of CRM and community engagement tools. These tools will be designed to support both centralised projects and those transitioning to DAOs over time. The goal is to provide solutions that enhance audience engagement, regardless of whether a project is fully centralised, decentralised, or operating within a hybrid governance model. This approach will help projects maintain strong community ties while evolving toward more inclusive and decentralised decision-making.

Read the full report - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O_2CziSH8qE4LQfRJXmuZQmCdNDzCQuq7hTBic1uYxc/edit?usp=sharing

[Hero-Gamer]

Hi @hamishjonest, thank you for the update. I will look through this today and give you my feedback/approval.

I was wondering if I may request, to turn this valuable findings and research into public available resource /podcast for anyone in Stacks/crypto to access?

A few things I think can maximize this governance research:

1. Turn the word into a visually professional PDF for people to access a documentation. (in my mind I'm thinking other ecosystems outside Stacks could also be seeing it, so making it presentable I think makes sense)
2. A twitter post thread to summarize your finding, attaching the PDF link.
3. Connect with PeaceLoveMusic for an interview of your findings, with a panel of governance interested people, such as Gordon, myself, StacksLink etc.

[hamishjones]

All of these things are in the pipeline for October (and ongoing).

Looking forward to continuing the discussions

[Hero-Gamer]

Hi @hamishjones looks good to me! Thanks for your effort!

Can confirm Milestone 2 is approved.

_Milestone 2: 33% - $500 Analysis and Recommendations (Sept 30,2024)
Activities:
Analyze collected data to identify key governance challenges.
Develop detailed recommendations for improving governance and incentives

Deliverable Metrics:
Comprehensive report with actionable recommendations._

@shaktistacks please could you kindly help with payment. Tysm!