Create an RFP for a Dev House on Retainer

Shutter DAO DAO Proposals
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Proposal

I propose that Shutter DAO 0x36 create an RFP for a dev house on retainer as defined below. After having spoken to a bunch of brainbot people over the last couple of weeks, I have realized that it could be helpful for the DAO to off-load some of the devs focusing on Shutter core development. So this proposal should help with this by outsourcing some of the lower hanging fruits as to not distract the core devs of Shutter too much. I also gives people / entities interested in contributing to Shutter a way in.

Scope

The dev house will perform tasks in support of Shutter DAO 0x36 and proposals from its members, including:

  • crafting transactions (ask “executable code”) for Fractal votes
  • creating infrastructure for Shutter DAO 0x36: sub-DAOs and SAFEs on other chains
  • creating for SHU: creating representations of SHU on other chains, ensuring SHU is listed on canonical bridge UIs
  • operating lightweight/supporting infrastructure components such as potential telegram bots, analytics dashboards etc.

Task Estimation & Approval

Whenever possible …

Shutter DAO 0x36 should estimate (scope, deliverables, standard, hours required, etc.) and approve tasks in advance, and

Shutter DAO 0x36 members should work with the dev house when creating proposals to estimate related tasks. The estimates for related tasks should be included in proposals on the Forum.

Monthly Funding Proposals

At the end of each month, the dev house may post a funding proposal on the Forum, including: the tasks completed during that month, the number of hours dedicated to each task, and the funding amount requested from Shutter DAO 0x36.

Shutter DAO 0x36 members may ask questions regarding and propose changes to the funding proposal.

After five days of posting the funding proposal on the Forum, the dev house may put the funding proposal to a vote on Fractal.

The dev house must accept funding disbursements in USD stablecoin.

ADDING: Less frequent reimbursement request are okay too and will decrease the stress on the DAO to vote on proposals.

Selection Criteria

Experience

The dev house must provide a portfolio or similar detailing its experience.

Team Member Biographies

The dev house must provide biographies (which may include CVs, GitHub profiles or other) for relevant team members.

References

The dev house ideally provides references from former/current clients Shutter DAO 0x36 members may solicit references from the dev house’s current and/or former clients if desired

Responsiveness

The dev house must commit to specified timeframes for:

  • responding to inquiries from Shutter DAO 0x36 members
  • beginning working on estimated and approved tasks

Process & Timeline

Proposal: Create an RFP for a dev house on retainer (Forum post) (current phase) April 26 - 29

Proposal: Create an RFP for a dev house on retainer (Snapshot vote) April 29 - May 2 (72 hours voting period)

Accept RFP Proposals (Forum posts) May 2 - 8 (deadline at 23:59 UTC)

Select a dev house on retainer (Snapshot vote) May 9 - 12 (72 hours voting period)

Platform

Snapshot (no on-chain transaction associated with the vote) Vote

  • Vote “YES” if you support this proposal

OR

  • Vote “NO” if you do not support

OR

Vote “ABSTAIN” if you do not have an opinion but want to help the vote reach quorum

6 Likes
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Love this. Only comment I’d have is that having a proposal to pay each month just for this might put a lot of strain on governance participation

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It doesn’t say they have to do it every month. But I can specify that they can also do it less frequently. Some people might need the money on a monthly basis though.

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This would be a cool Sablier/token streaming use case

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Hey guys! Gabriel from Blockful here, Fundamental question that you raised @czepluch.

To mention a similar proposal that occurred on ENS Dao, follow the link: Service Provider Stream Nomination Thread - #38 by alextnetto.eth - đź’¬ General Discussion - ENS DAO Governance Forum

In this case, ENS DAO set aside a maximum budget and let it free the scope for the service providers.

They used Superfluid to make the recurring payments, as the annual budget was previously approved. So, in this case, they didn’t need DAO approval each month about the budget.

I think it could help with some insights and use as an example and make a constructive discussion forward to it.

9 Likes
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Actually thinking a little bit more about it I don’t care too much about getting personal references. Of course the dev house should be able to show it’s previous work, but I don’t think getting references of the people working for the dev house is important.

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At Kleros Labs, we will support this proposal as we think such a setup is perfect for creating synergies and getting things done. However, we believe that a monthly vote is a bit too much and could lead to voter apathy. In our view, two options could be considered: a streaming approach with Sablier/Superfluid, or a quarterly vote. In both cases, it would be important for transparency and accountability to have some reports showing what was done, perhaps on a quarterly basis. Good to see such an initiative, @czepluch. We are curious to understand why you think references aren’t needed now ?

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I think references are needed. I just wanted to make sure that we don’t necessarily need references for all people of a dev house, but references of the dev house itself. Allowing the privacy of the devs to stay intact if they so desire.

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Streaming this might be difficult because we can’t know the scope of the work up front. There might be periods where much is needed and other periods where little is needed.

Invoices in arrears for deliverables is probably best until we gain some experience in the DAOs needs or the Dev House’s work.

Limiting the frequency would be a helpful aspect of the service provided (as @Luis and @0xAlex stated) when possible (as @czepluch suggested).

1 Like
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As @5pence mentioned, I prefer an ad hoc approach to this. Without a clear list of to-dos, we might have a dev team sitting around waiting to find work. Allocating a per task budget and invoicing will be the best solution here. Both superfluid and hedges.Finance has features that enable us to do this.

hey @Novak, how does the dao evaluate the work done? Are there any list of pre-approved scopes or a pre-submission vote?

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Hey @Baer_DAOplomats.

There wasn’t any pre-approved or recommendation of scope. They placed an objective that was: “List projects you want to build or are already building for ENS and how they will benefit the growth and adoption of ENS worldwide.”

We placed a recommendation of scope (as I previously mentioned on this thread) where we thought that could bring impact, growth, and adoption to ENS.

The evaluation of the work done is being made by weekly community calls, where the service providers are allowed to present their work, and a (optional) formal report (like a PDF or presentation) of the features we developed and the progress we made.

The DAO can end the streaming payment at the moment they think we aren’t delivering the estimated work.

The positive point of a broader scope is that we were able to not only contribute to what we suggested on the first scope, but as we kept working as ENS service provider we saw different opportunities to contribute too, as a Governance Audit, vulnerabilities on treasury, Scaling ENS to L2’s and BD/adoption initiatives (soon to be aNOUNSed :grin:)

Suggestions:

  1. Shutter needs to give clear objectives for the Tech Service Provider, like macro (general objectives the DAO wants to achieve) and micro (specific features needing development) scope;
  2. As the service provider, or providers, are accepted, organize a monthly call or by a Forum, open for the community for discussion and a presentation by the Service Provider with a report of what was developed;
  3. Streaming payment is the best option to reduce the effort of the DAOs decision and efficient money transfer for the service providers. It can be terminated at any time if the delivery doesn’t match the DAO goals, makes the management of hours spent by the service provider easier by providing predictability of developers allocating.
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Dear Shutter DAO team,

We received a notice from Loring via Brainbot indicating that this Request for Quotation (RFQ) might be of interest to us. Indeed, we are interested and eager to participate in this RFQ round.

About us: Softstack (previously known as Chainsulting) was founded in 2017 and is based in Germany. We have all our resources onsite and provide Web3 services in software development, cybersecurity, and consulting. You are welcome to review our references at softstack.io.

Given the nature of the proposal, it’s challenging to estimate the time and budget without further discussion. We would prefer to discuss the initial phase in a meeting and then delve into the details, to be able to provide a proper quotation. Please check my calendar for availability Calendly - Yannik Heinze (softstack formerly Chainsulting)

After reviewing your technology stack, I am confident about managing the scope of work, and we are eager to take on your project load and create something exceptional together.

Best regards,

Yannik CEO at softstack

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RFP for a dev house on retainer - Subvisual as a technical partner

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Subvisual, a product-focused venture studio with over a decade of expertise in the web3 space, proposes to partner with Shutter DAO 0x36 to enhance its development capabilities and achieve strategic objectives. Known for our early-stage involvement in successful ventures, our team has demonstrated proficiency in crafting meaningful products that secure user satisfaction and market traction.

Subvisual recognizes its potential in tackling this type of open call as it requires a strong product design thinking and ideation component that characterizes our services and distinguishes us from other development agencies. We are not just software developers using blockchain. Beyond technological excellence, we design meaningful products to enable the technology to benefit the people who use it.

Because we believe in Shutter’s path, and our basic principles are decentralization and transparency, we want to position ourselves as the technical operators of the Shutter DAO 0x36, and contribute to its infrastructural evolution and the ecosystem’s growth.

Alignment with Shutter DAO’s Vision

Subvisual is fully committed to Shutter DAO’s goals of enhancing security, promoting fair markets, and preventing censorship. Our previous proposal for developing an incentive mechanism for Keypers and a delegated staking mechanism underlines our dedication to supporting Shutter DAO’s innovative frameworks.

Previous experience

  • Sandclock: from idea to launch - user-friendly platform for earning yield. The idea is that yield can be sent to different people, donated, or automatically invested into a different financial product, such as DCA. For this to work seamlessly, Subvisual had to build a custom contract from the ground up and a front end to go along with it:

Since the user target for the project was a mainstream audience, we conducted generative interviews to simplify the flows and user testing to validate our options.

  • Fractal.ID - We helped Fractal (a decentralised identification solution with +1 million users and more than 250 projects) create a new mechanism for data ownership and identity validation by building a new way to generate cryptographically-verifiable credentials for each user in their KYC product. We integrated with their existing infrastructure and extended it with a state-of-the-art data wallet Chrome extension that interacts with their newly launched blockchain, built in Rust and Substrate, which we helped design and implement.
  • Talent Protocol - from idea to launch - TP Contracts
  • Utrust - Subvisual joined Utrust as part of their team to help them define a strategy and build a stable product to go to market. From ideation to strategy through development, Subvisual was there to support decisions and provide experience-based knowledge. Utrust was acquired by MultiversX recently and rebranded as xMoney

Team Structure

Our core team comprises seasoned blockchain developers, creative product designers, and savvy business and product managers. This blend of technical and creative expertise ensures innovative solutions tailored to the demands of decentralized applications. Key team members include:

This team is capable of having a strategic vision that will be fundamental in guiding and executing the development proposals of the DAO members. We therefore offer our experience both in building DAO tools and in developing the business with potential strategic partnerships both for 0x36 DAO and for Shutter Network.

Extended capabilities

Subvisual Group encompasses a group of companies with specialized capabilities in web3 technology. This structure allows Subvisual to extend its service offerings through its group of companies, including mobile development, design, branding and marketing, and deep tech research and development. This integrated approach enables us to provide comprehensive, scalable solutions across various technological and creative domains.

Proposed Approach - Development Support

Subvisual will serve as the technical partner for Shutter DAO, providing comprehensive development support across all agreed-upon projects. Our role includes the implementation of DAO governance tools, infrastructure for Sub-DAOs and Safes on other chains, and potentially contributing to the Shutter Network as guided by the DAO members’ decisions.

Monthly Retainer and Payment Structure

  • Retainer Model: Subvisual will operate on a monthly retainer basis - $25k/month
  • Scope of Work: We will agree on a monthly cap of hours based on the estimated workload. This cap ensures predictable costs and focused delivery.
  • Additional Work: If project demands exceed the agreed hours in a given month, Subvisual will provide additional services at the hourly rate of $80 per person. This will be invoiced separately to ensure transparency and accountability.

Strategic Plan

  1. Initial assessment and Requirements gathering - Conduct thorough discussions with Shutter DAO stakeholders to understand their immediate and long-term needs, challenges, and goals. This phase will help in identifying gaps in their current governance infrastructure and other technical aspects.

  2. Strategic Planning - Based on the assessment, develop a strategic roadmap that outlines key projects, timelines, and resource allocations. Prioritize projects that align closely with Shutter DAO’s goals and that address critical needs identified during the assessment:

  • DAO tooling and infrastructure
    • Governance, voting mechanisms (transactions for Fractal votes), and other DAO functionalities (Sub-DAOs and Safes across multiple chains)
    • Keypers incentive mechanism and delegated staking
    • Develop components such as Telegram Bots for member interaction and analytics dashboards to provide insights into DAO operations and token metrics
  • SHU representation on other chains
  • Integrate SHU on canonical bridges UIs
  • UI improvements - designing user interfaces for the DAO’s platforms to enhance member engagement and interaction
  • Technical support - providing ongoing maintenance; crafting and optimizing smart contracts
  1. Consultation and Ideation: Leverage Subvisual’s expertise as a venture studio to offer consulting services during quieter periods. This could involve ideating new features, brainstorming improvements, and planning future expansions or integrations.
  2. Regular Review and Adjustments: Conduct regular review meetings with Shutter DAO to discuss the progress, gather feedback, and adjust the strategic plan as necessary. This ensures that Subvisual remains aligned with the DAO’s evolving needs and priorities.

This approach allows Subvisual to not only fulfil the immediate technical needs of Shutter DAO but also to act as a strategic partner aiding in Shutter DAO’s growth.

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1 Like