Governance.md

Introduction

This document suggests a governance model to be used by the Neo core developers. The goal is to develop a fair model that balances compensation with each individual's responsibilities and outcomes/deliverables. This document also suggests the creation of a Core Developer Treasury to maintain the core developer team.

Main Issue

Developing a fair plan that balances compensation with each individual's responsibilities and outcomes/deliverables is essential. Stability, fairness, and organization are required to attract and retain talent.

Existing Problems

We face challenges in our development processes, for example:

• Issues raised that are not relevant to the current objectives of the project.
• Abandoned issues or PRs.
• Evaluating results based only on PRs.
  • Leading to competition instead of collaboration.
• A feeling of disorganization.
• Unclear assignment of responsibilities.
  • Who responds to people?
  • Who verifies results?
  • Who does the release?
  • Who details the issues?
  • ...
• Lack of processes leading to poor efficiency
• No overall vision of the code base health.

It looks like, culturally speaking, we are failing to understand this: Everything is about people. Software is about people, not code.

Understanding People:

• People want to work in a professional and welcoming environment.
• People want to feel safe.
• People want challenges that match their skills.
• People want a sense of professional growth.
• People want to create a legacy.
• People are not the same: different people provide different value
• People want a fair work environment, including fair compensation.
• People need a sense of belonging.
• People don't want and can't be controlled. They need to be convinced.
• People don't like feeling being used.
• People don't like being ignored.
• People like privacy.
• Seasoned developers are older people who demand more stability.
• People want to see the results of their work.
• We must understand the people using our stuff and how they feel about it.
  • Identify usability improvement points (installation, configuration, etc.).
• We want to attract and retain the best people.
• People prefer teams that work online and asynchronously.
  • Culture compatible with everyone's reality, timezone, etc.
• We want people to deliver their best.
• People expect a long-term vision.
• We want people that aim for the overall network improvement.
• People work better with incentives than punishments.
• People make mistakes, but no one should be negligent or lack general responsibility.

Proposed Solution: Create a clear Core Developer Team and Treasury

This governance model should embrace both responsibilities and compensations. This relates, but it's not the same as the development process #2955.

What to expect from the Core Devs?

We want to build a team of great people so that they can deliver their best.

This means that we expect that:

• The team works professionally and responsibly.
• The team works productively.
• The team works participatively.
• The team is capable of self-management.
  • Planning of features.
  • Bug fixes.
  • Organization of deliveries.
  • Dealing with incidents.
• The team is capable of governing itself.
• The team collaborates rather than competes.
• The team communicates their work.
  • Discussion of solutions on GitHub.
  • Creation of in-code documentation.
  • Keep documents and repositories updated and organized.
  • Produce information facts that can be used in web documentation.
    • It's not the developer's responsibility to create end-user documentation, only to provide facts about the functionality and behavior of the code and features.
• The team creates rituals (recurring activities) for information exchange and planning.
• The team collaborates with other working groups.
  • Assist the design team in creating visuals for abstract elements.
  • Help the content team to provide accurate content.
  • Offer integration support to new features
• The team uses dApps built on Neo
• The team creates mechanisms to deter harmful behaviors
  • This should be seen as a governance tool, not a motivation to work

Core Developer Team

We must offer more than a good working environment to maintain a core developer team with skilled and motivated developers. It's essential to compensate accordingly. To do this transparently, we suggest the creation of a Core Developer Treasury. This treasury is used to compensate core developers for their work.

Elected core developers can vote on issues and participate in paid reward distributions.

• Voting can be done on GitHub issues.
• Voting can be done privately on Discord
• Voting is done using emojis:
  • 👍 : +1
  • 👎 -1
  • 👀 0

Core Treasury & Compensation

The idea is a Core Developer Treasury managed by NGD and maintained by Core Developers. NGD funds the treasury while core developers vote on the rules and perks.

• A consensus node and private donations fund this treasury to keep core developers connected with the technology and incentivize $GAS consumption.
• To keep contributors safe, it's recommended to use private channels to discuss monetary values and transactions.

Compensation

Offer a combination of:

• Base Salary
• Rewards
• Perks and Benefits

Base Salary

It is necessary to offer stability and retain seasoned developers.

• Should be enough to provide family security.
• Lower than market rates.
  • The goal is to offer a more significant part of the compensation through rewards.
• Guaranteed during down periods.
• Guaranteed up to 45 days of inactivity.

Rewards

Primary reward distribution model.

• Motivate delivery of above-average results.
• Allow for adequate compensation according to each individual's contribution.

Perks and Benefits

Perks and other benefits are offered through reimbursements or periodical payments.

• Subsidy for purchasing computer devices and parts.
  • Core developers must have access to the best hardware available on the market
• Airfare and hotel for travel and related events.
• Leisure allowance.
• Idiom lessons.
  • Improve team communication
• Retirement fund.

Access to a re-investment fund

Allow core developers to receive money to be spent within the Neo community.

• Used to purchase tokens, NFTs, and other items.
  • Aim to connect core devs with the results of their work.
  • Stimulate the internal market.
  • Identify usability issues and bottlenecks in wallets, explorers, and other auxiliary services.
  • Increase the supply of nodes in testnet and other services.

Cover for Cloud Computing Expenses

Used to put developers close to their tech and increase service offerings (testnet nodes, etc.)

• Allow core devs to maintain computational services without personal expenses.
• Enable core devs to conduct experiments without additional costs.

Compensation from Community Contributors

If a core developer is part of a community, the compensation should be given to an address appointed by the community representative.

• This is important to ensure communities stay united and under their governance and compensation model.
• This allows communities to follow legal procedures in their residing countries.

Inclusion and Termination

Discussed privately by Core Developers. Managed by NGD.

• Can't make decisions that are in disagreement with this policy.

Retirement

Core developers may become eligible for a permanent membership.

• Minimum 10 years of relevant contributions.
• Access to the retirement fund.

Technical Committee

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