Open dApp Framework

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

Conduct an analysis of existing project management dApps to provide a general, open-source framework and document it as project based learning material modules.

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

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Tevo Saks and Stephen Whitenstall are founding Swarm members and have worked together on ideation workshops since June 2021. See below for further details.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

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Overview

Over the last few months tools like dework have become adopted enthusiastically to meet a demand for Web3-native project management with token payments, credentialing, and bounties.

Tevo Saks has started an initiative to facilitate a review of community use of dework. This is building a useful comparative process framework. Already this activity has revealed a wide range of requirements from bounties and voting to GitHub integration for audit trail. As well as many different process approaches that reflect particular community needs, priorities and values.

No one size fits all. Whether we build decentralized nodes or grow distributed networks it is important to capture the varied use cases that emerge.

See Tevo's Miro - https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOs6bN2M

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The Problem revisited

The problem is that existing process frameworks are modeled on specific dApp platforms. The efficiency of a consistent single centralized process relies on specific interests, set functions and prescriptive roles or paradigms.

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Solution

In contrast, effective decentralized governance is dynamic and flexible. This is an important adaptive response to the inevitable and opportunistic gaming that occurs in a complex network. The decentralized nodes of our ecosystem rely on an evolutionary system "where rules are able to change continually to avoid threats and seize opportunities" - Calcaterra, Craig; Kaal, Wulf. Decentralization (pp. 284-285). De Gruyter. 2021

To nurture this environment it is essential that community nodes are documented, compared and continually assessed. Tevo Sak's work on ecosystem framework is one contribution to this task (see video Innovation Fund Research Overview). Stephen Whitenstall's documentation and auditing is another (see QADAO GitBooks).

Dework Process Framework Workshops

Tevo Saks has started and is progressing Dework Process Framework Workshops with participation from across the community. Incl. SingularityNet Ambassador Program, Catalyst Swarm, Community Governance Oversight, Governance Services Guild (former CC Admin), everCrypt DAO, Cardano4Climate and Catalyst United.

This is supporting users who wish to start using dework, to see how its functions may be related to their own projects. So a user may understand what role the tool may play.

To continue and incentivize this work bounties will be posted via Swarm.

dApp requirements analysis

Now an opportunity exists to conduct a requirements analysis for a general project management dApp framework. Real world use-cases of project management dApps such as dework (https://dework.xyz/ ) will be examined to identify their characteristics.

This will provide a snapshot of the use cases of various community nodes. What do they have in common and what differentiates them. Traditional requirements analysis will elicit, record and analyze according to a given perspective or context. And more recent Agile approaches may scope use cases in terms of user stories in an attempt to naturalize requirements in everyday language.

Our approach will be more intuitive, reflexive and experimental. Broadly it will fit into gimbalabs Project Based Learning approach.

Open dApp Framework workshops - Project Based Learning

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a "learning by doing" approach that preserves current knowledge and perspectives. Support is provided on a mentor basis in order to realize solutions to real world problems.

Building on Tevo's work, we intend to do a functional analysis of the common use cases and consider various abstract models or design patterns that may be used in specific circumstances. This would examine functional requirements such as bounties, tokens, voting, tasks, roles, contributors, and technical requirements such as communication channels, audit trail and wallet connection.

In the PBL context, the functional analysis is not prescribed. The intent is to discover use cases as they exist.

Decentralized governance analysis

In addition, blockchain governance principles and maturity models will be referenced to determine how decentralized the project management dApps are seen through these lenses. We will reference standards such as IOG’s Blockchain Governance Principles paper and the draft Blockchain Maturity Model.

Tokenomics PBL Curriculum Development and Building Background Knowledge: (BBK).

In collaboration with gimbalabs, the functional analysis, abstraction and decentralized governance analysis will be fed into Project Based Learning modules on the Canvas platform. Functional and technical requirements will be documented, and possible Cardano solutions identified in Plutus. This may take the form of cross-referencing or connecting with existing PBL modules.   

Finally, the Open dApp Framework will form the basis for modules in Tokenomics PBL Curriculum Development and Building Background Knowledge: (BBK).

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

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This proposal specifically address the Technical requirements section of the F9: Dapps, Products & Integrations challenge.

The right tools ?

In order to see whether the Cardano ecosystem has the right tools, libraries and SDKs for a particular idea it is useful to have a high level model of user requirements.

Our workshops will examine common use cases from a range of projects currently working in the Cardano ecosystem and seek to identify what typically needs to be in place for a Project Management dApp.

Materials from these workshops will be fed into Project Based Learning modules to create a reference product which developers, users, toolmakers and maintainers can draw on real-world use-cases to help them build feasible and relevant products.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

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Insufficient interest in an Open dApp Framework

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A major risk to any project is insufficient interest in the problem it is trying to solve.

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Mitigation 

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Based on workshops already held we believe there is a great deal of potential interest in an Open dApp Framework and a ready user base for Project Based Learning materials.

To promote interest and engagement we will also be using Swarm bounties for incentives.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

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Timeline

June 2022 to September 2022

Between July and September 2022 Tevo Saks will continue informal Dework Process Framework Workshops and Stephen Whitenstall will prepare a PBL pathway and onboard into Canvas.

• Dework Process Framework Workshops will continue - facilitated by Tevo Saks
• A Project Based Learning (PBL) pathway will be prepared in collaboration with gimbalabs (Onboarding stage) - coordinated by Stephen Whitenstall

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September 2022

• Fund 9 Onboarding
• dApp Functional Analysis and Abstraction - facilitated by Tevo Saks
• The Project Based Learning (PBL) pathway will be designed - coordinated by Stephen Whitenstall

Deliverables / KPIs: Workshop 1 and Canvas PBL design.

October 2022

• dApp Functional Analysis and Abstraction Workshop 2 - facilitated by Tevo Saks
• The Project Based Learning (PBL) pathway will be updated with material from workshops (Building Background Knowledge: (BBK) - coordinated by Stephen Whitenstall

Deliverables / KPIs: Workshop 2 and Canvas PBL updates.

November 2022

• dApp Functional Analysis and Abstraction Workshop 3 - facilitated by Tevo Saks
• The Project Based Learning (PBL) pathway will be updated with material from workshops (Building Background Knowledge: (BBK) - coordinated by Stephen Whitenstall

Deliverables / KPIs: Workshop 3 and Canvas PBL updates.

December 2022

• dApp Functional Analysis and Abstraction Workshop 4 - facilitated by Tevo Saks
• The Project Based Learning (PBL) pathway will be updated with material from workshops (Building Background Knowledge: (BBK) - coordinated by Stephen Whitenstall

Deliverables / KPIs: Workshop 4 and Canvas PBL updates.

January 2023

• Feedback Workshop - facilitated by Tevo Saks
• The Project Based Learning (PBL) pathway will be implemented (Building Background Knowledge: (BBK) - coordinated by Stephen Whitenstall
• Final Closing Report

Deliverables / KPIs: Feedback Workshop and Canvas PBL implementation.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

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dApp Functional Analysis and Abstraction Workshops (Tevo):

• Bounty incentives for 4 workshops : $ 200 per workshop). = $800
• Each presentation & workshop:
• Preparation & research = 24 hours = $55/hour for 24 hours = $ 1,320
• Presentation, hosting, facilitation & recording = 4 hours at $55 per hour = $ 220. 4 X workshops during the course of the project = $ 880

Sub Total: $ 3000

Social Media Engagement (Tevo/Stephen)

• Promotion, engagement and communication on social media: Twitter, Telegram, Youtube, Discord & Reddit
• 2 hours/week for 4 months = 32 hours = $55/hour for 32 hours

Sub Total: $ 1,760

Production of Project Based Learning (PBL) pathway Materials (Stephen)

• Interpretation, documentation of workshops
• Each presentation or workshop :
• Interpretation, documentation = 8 hours at $55 per hour = $ 440. 4 X workshops during the course of the project = $ 1,760

Sub Total: $ 1,760

Total : $ 6, 520

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

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Tevo Saks

• Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/tevosaks/

As the co-founder of Catalyst Swarm and Catalyst School, I have learned to manage decentralized projects. As an individual, my goal is to learn to create an ecosystem where Proposal creation could be fun, and highly effective.

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Stephen Whitenstall

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-whitenstall-166727210/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/qa_dao

Co-Founder of Quality-Assurance DAO, https://quality-assurance-dao.github.io/. Stephen has provided project management consultancy for many Catalyst governance projects since Fund 4 including Catalyst Circle, Audit Circle, Community Governance Oversight, Training & Automation (with Treasury Guild) and Swarm. A Circle V2 representative for funded proposers. He has 30 years of experience in development, test management, project management, social enterprises in Investment Banking, Telecoms and Local Government. A philosophy honours graduate with an interest in Blockchain governance. 

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

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We may return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding if this project is a success and there is a need for more Project Based Learning offerings.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

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Open dApp Framework will be tracked via Swarm Dework, Github, Canvas & Gimbalabs Discord 

• Dework Organisation: https://app.dework.xyz/catalyst-swarm
• Gimbalabs Discord: Public channels in preparation.
• A PBL Canvas pathway will be created

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

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We will consider the proposal a success based on the following measures:

• Delivery of dApp Functional Analysis and Abstraction Workshops
• The Project Based Learning (PBL) pathway will be implemented (Building Background Knowledge: (BBK)
• Content of Feedback Workshop

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

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This proposal is entirely new.