Torus: Governance for OS Projects

Torus is a flexible, plug and play framework for decentralized governance aimed at Open Source projects.

Torus will provide a "drag & drop" web interface that will let projects easily design and configure their own governance and operational modules (including budgeting, compensation, decision making, and more) and deploy them as smart contracts to the Cardano Blockchain.

The resulting organization will constitute a management interface and contractual infrastructure for the project, elevating governance sustainability and operational stability.

Initial Project Objective: Release a production-quality version of our smart contract deployment software for the Goguen mainnet and attract collaborative users from the Open Source Software (OSS) community.

1. Our first funding goals are -
a. Publish a list of known OSS governance models
b. Publish common themes/elements (plug-in "slots").
c. Build a production-ready software with first plugins.

2. So far we have -

- Deployed a prototype on ETH, tested it in a closed-alpha testing round.
- Conducted surveys with the OSS community,
- Begun composing case studies on existing OSS governance solutions (Redis, Python).
- Started designing the governance model framework on which modules will be added (See attached).

* You are all welcome to review our Initial Pitch Deck (Attached).

* Visit our Github (WIP README) - https://github.com/torus-online/torus/

* And check our alpha (MetaMask browser extension required)- http://torus-ui.azurewebsites.net/

I've been working with the original founder about two months, who's been at it for about a year now.
Founder Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/chadwick-kirby-605a22b/

Founder's Message:

"I came up with the original vision for Torus, and I wrote the first prototype. I'm a product manager and software developer at my primary job. I'm responsible there for our main B2B SaaS product – an enterprise reporting solution with over 1k yearly active users. I've been with that company for 12 years."

For Torus, I'm currently acting as president, product manager, and principal developer. As we accelerate, I expect to spend more and more time on product management and less time programming."

Main challenges -
1. Resolving issues of intellectual property,ownership, and control, before being able to move forward (the core idea is decentralized governance through existing OS projects).
2. Finding relevant developers beyond the founder to create the framework.
3. Discovering and collaborating with OS projects that can get serious about going DAO.

Thank you for reading!

Comments below -

Auditability -

Question (Steven Aldrich) :

"Funding required is not defined. There is no way to actually vote on undefined funding requests.

I would suggest that funding request be modeled in such a way that it looks across several Catalyst Rounds (Fund2 -> Fund(n)) so as to have a greater potential for adoption in each Fund."

Answer:

See below in feasibility the goals for Fund2. I believe we will need to flesh it out but for now the budget required here is basically that of a small startup. So it's up to the community to see if we want to have -

- Lean financing:

Would require full time employees (for the first year) -

1 Lead developer

1-2 Senior developers

1-2 Business/Design/Marketing

- Or a longer growth plan that will start with a similar team (with expanded budget, capabilities, and objectives) that will aim to expand rapidly (probably up to 20 people by the end of the first year would be very fast indeed, as an example).

In short - for the first 6 months we are looking at somewhere in the region of ~$200,000. For a longer horizon it would be substantially more.

This is why I think it's important to discuss and review this before getting into specific costs, because this could become a large scale endeavor.

Feasibility -

What are ways in which this proposal's budget, plan, scope or team can be modified to make it more likely for the proposal to be successfully implemented? :

Next Steps with Budgeting and Milestones (given full funding and staffing):

1. Collect knowledge base of known governance models in use in open source software today

2. Write research papers to analyze each of the collected governance models, assessing where they lie on the following scales: centralization, codability, effectiveness in the community

3. Analyze research papers together to confirm whether our proposed "layers" design has layers that represent the most important aspects of collected models in aggregate.

4. Design "plugin" software components for each "layer" That encapsulate codified functionality of each governance model.

5. Use acquired knowledge to propose a new governance model that fits well with the needs and pains we are observing in OSS and the benefits that blockchain has to offer. Design plugin components.

6. Draft a white paper to summarize the work we have completed so far, our proposal for a blockchain-based governance system that can support the existing models and a new model.

7. Find collaborative OSS partners in the community to validate market fit, lock in early "buyers," and iterate rapidly based on their feedback.

8. Prototype smart contract software to determine best approach for implementing on the Cardano blockchain. In parallel, begin design of user experience (information architecture, workflows, and wireframes) and visual design system.

9. Build front and back-end application, to Alpha

10. Iterate in collaboration with collaborative OSS partners

11. Beta (incl. iteration)

12. Customer relations, ask for commitments from partners, marketing beta signups, etc.

13. 1.0 launch

If funded in full Torus would be a large scale project. Roughly 1.6M ADA (~$200,000k) for first 6 months