KIP-3 Labs Budget: September-December 2021
kip: 3
title: Labs Budget September-December 2021
author: lapras <lapras@keeperdao.com>
status: pre-draft
created: 2020-09-23
Preface
Proposal
Allocate 865 ROOK for KeeperDAO Labs for September through December 2021.
Background
In the Land of Ooo, in the time before KIPs, KeeperDAO Labs Individual Contributors (ICs) have been budgeted in 4-8 week allocations for foreseeable needs like development. Ad hoc Individual Contributors were paid on completion of a given project. This budget proposal takes similar form, with intent to continue this work, while also adding three new IC roles (with flexibility for a fourth).
Recent and current allocations can be found at 0xbBB8c9Ace4590d98f0A56FA311C6fBA0CEA3a68D, which has a budget lifespan that will last until October 4. With the ribbon-cutting of governance, it is time for budgets to be collectively assessed and ICs to be paid from a multi-sig.
Budget
KIP3a Definitions
Ad Hoc expenses are expenses which are paid on a case by case basis. For instance, expenses for translations on a web page. These will be documented by myself and communicated at the end of each Gregorian quarter, beginning with the end of Quarter 4 2021 (December 31).
ICs (Individual Contributors) are individuals who contribute to the development of the DAO in a formal sense.
Recurring expenses are expenses which are paid on a cyclical schedule. For instance, many KeeperDAO Labs ICs work a rough amount of hours per week and are paid on a weekly schedule (historically, on Mondays).
KIP3b Budget: 865 ROOK
There are five groupings for the Labs budget for the rest of the 2021, outlined below. This budget, if approved, is paid from the DAO Treasury. The sequence of payment transactions historically has been to send from the multi-sig DAO Treasury to an IC pool address (0xbBB8c9Ace4590d98f0A56FA311C6fBA0CEA3a68D), which is then used to pay ICs on Mondays (or when an ad hoc project is completed). Continuing this with a multi-sig address is the simplest way forward.
The breakdown of the budget can be seen here, with more detail in subsections.
| Purpose | ROOK Allocation |
|---|---|
| Engineering | 400 |
| Partner Outreach Development | 120 |
| Translations | 50 |
| Discord Bot Development | 45 |
| Community Grants | 250 |
| Total | 865 |
KIP3b1 Engineering: 400 ROOK
Currently, we have two IC Engineers who are paid weekly at 10 ROOK/week: @shadow and @pangolin. Their KeeperDAO work can be noticed with performance and design improvements throughout app.keeperdao.com. In short, I anticipate they will both be instrumental in delivering the aspiration roadmap we have for the rest of the year.
Note: @shadow will become a full-time KD Web Engineer on November 1.
I also introduce a new role which we will be recruiting for: Partner Integrations Engineer. This role will be primarily focused on assisting our partners integrate as well as stay up to date - this will include building tools, writing documentation, and writing PRs to internal and external repositories.
Over the next 3-4 months many new products are slated for release; consequentially, it is very likely new roles will make sense, therefore I am adding a discretionary allocation for an additional IC. If this role proves moot, this ROOK would roll over to the Quarter 1 2022 Budget.
These are recurring roles.
At a rate of 10 ROOK/week for all of the above, the sum is 400 ROOK.
| IC | Week Duration | Net ROOK Allocation |
|---|---|---|
| @pangolin | 13 | 130 |
| @shadow | 4 | 40 |
| Partner Integrations (TBD) | 11 | 110 |
| Discretionary (TBD) | 11 | 110 |
| Total | 39 | 400 |
KIP3b2 Partner Outreach Development: 120 ROOK
We are seeking someone to support connecting and facilitating relationships with potential partners. We are also seeking to fill some needs related to product documentation and whitepaper copywriting. I believe @destroyr is a perfect candidate for both, and should be contracted as a Partner Outreach Developer. Troy has been involved in the space for several years, going back to helping Nano grow in 2017 and has also been intimately involved in KeeperDAO helping with documentation, web copy, and research.
This is a recurring role.
At a rate of 8 ROOK/week for all of the above, the sum is 120 ROOK.
| IC | Week Duration | Net ROOK Allocation |
|---|---|---|
| @destroyr | 15 | 120 |
| Total | 15 | 120 |
KIP3b3 Translators: 50 ROOK
We are continuously adding web pages (to the product as well as to inform stakeholders about the protocol) and documentation, as well as keeping existing writing up to date. Consequently, we need translations. We recently added German but we have some loose ends, and we should add support for Spanish. This is to fund that.
These are ad hoc roles.
| Group | Ad Hoc ROOK Allocation |
|---|---|
| Translators | 50 |
| Total | 50 |
KIP3b4 Discord Bot Developer: 45 ROOK
There are several bots for Discord we would like to add which are relevant to current products as well as future products. For example, these bots will add updates to our discord every time the release version of the web app is updated, every time a KIP is up for voting, etc. Others will be related to MEV in the wild in which case users would have been better off using KeeperDAO products. This is an open role, and can be filled by multiple bot developers (dividing and conquering is fine for this project).
This an ad hoc role.
| Group | Ad Hoc ROOK Allocation |
|---|---|
| Discord Bot Development | 45 |
| Total | 45 |
KIP3b5 Community Grants: 250 ROOK
With the birth of decentralized KeeperDAO Governance, I anticipate many small projects to come up to foster community growth, accelerate development, discover and support partners, and so forth. If additional translations are needed, this can support that as well. This faction of the budget will be to avoid friction for smaller allocations. I am eager to explore community-driven projects this could be well-used for, without the overhead of individual approval.
The above will consist of ad hoc projects. The projects decided will largely be community-decided, community-driven, and community-developed. This will be completed transparently and also documented and compiled for a reviewable budget summary at the end of Quarter 4.
| Group | Ad Hoc ROOK Allocation |
|---|---|
| Community | 250 |
| Total | 250 |
KIP3c Excess ROOK Rollover
If excess ROOK exists (due to an IC role not being filled, an ad hoc need becoming unneeded, an IC needing a week off, etc.), excess ROOK will carry over to the next quarter.
Update
This KIP was targetting a September approval; the structure or intentions do not change. Due to the delay, some contributors are working on good faith so some of these above payments will be paid retroactively. That is all.
Specification
-
Before October 19, send 865 ROOK (and 1 Eth for gas, 10k USDC for partners who only take USDC) to a new multi-sig address. It will be managed like the IC address has been for the prior few months, with payments on Mondays for recurring ICs or on project completion by ad hoc ICs. The address will be managed by ~3 Core/Labs members (including myself). I volunteer @WhatsTheDeetz and @Pai-Sho (if they have the bandwidth). I volunteer these two because @WhatsTheDeetz is involved in all things community and @Pai-Sho is helping coordinate Labs engineering.
-
Pay ICs on recurring or ad hoc schedule throughout the coming quarter.
-
Recruit
Partner Integrations Engineer,Discord Bot Developers, and aSpanish Translator. -
By December 31, @lapras will summarize expenditures, assess rollover, and work with the community to decide if this model worked well and should be standardized and extended (with quarterly budgets).
