Purpose: S2 Financial Proposal
Status: Final Version for Voting
Voting: 8-15 August Voting Aragon Voice
Authors: @brent @alibama @SpectraCryptoVerse @Carla78 @barukimang
Previous Versions: v1.0 - v1.1
Reviewed: via Forum Discussion 16 days
Aragon dTech Guild - Season 2 Proposal
“We are the Eagle Eyes and Ears for Aragon”
Translating users’ voices to Feedback which you can use to make our DAO Services a huge success!
dTech was initiated in November 2021 to fulfill the technical support function for Aragon’s product users. We provide 24/7 service and have supported thousands of Aragon users with a respectable resolution time. We effectively enable Aragon product teams to focus on their core development tasks.
We request $363,000 funding from August 1 2022 - March 31 2023 for the Aragon dTech team for 8 months of dTech operation to deliver the following initiatives
- Technical Support 40%
- Maintenance as a Service 30%
- Aragon Documentation 20%
- Integration Evaluation 5%
- Guild Operations 5%
We actively help to grow the number of active DAOs on the Aragon network in terms of both user retention and new users seeking support to overcome typical technical barriers. We actively support the teams within the DAO on technical support and have built a strong team culture focused on improved user experience when interacting with Aragon products. With the launch of the new app, we could see a 3, 4, 5x increase in technical support queries. dTech is ready!
1. Proposal Rationale
Technical engagement with the community, technical support, and product integration enables people, communities, and organizations to use Aragon products which they otherwise struggle to comprehend and deploy. A core team dedicated to the support and expansion of existing and future products ensures Aragon’s footprint in the decentralized governance space. Without these technical support services, users have a high barrier to entry setting up a DAO with Aragon’s products. Without technical support our user base is considerably more likely to migrate to other DAO solutions.
2. Initiatives & Deliverables
The Aragon dTech team proposes to continue into its 3rd season with the following initiatives:
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Initiative: Tier 1 Technical Support
Management, moderation and response for all current and new products and services of Aragon user issues via Hubspot help tickets, Discord channels in English and Spanish. Additionally, dTech will continue to moderate and add value to the Support Forum.
Deliverables:
1.1Support tickets replied 16 hours average
1.2 Support tickets resolved 24 hours
1.3 Support setup for Spanish -
Initiative: MáS (Maintenance as a Service)
Continue piloting MáS (Maintenance as a service) to support Aragon product software, assist with bug resolution, monitor industry changes that affect current products. Quality Assurance testing for all new products prior to release will also be a function of MáS. dTech will test user stories set forth by the product team, ensure UI/UX usability, find and report possible risks back to product and development teams.
Deliverables:
2.1 Bi- Weekly issue status call with development team
2.2 Monthly report of number and status [inprogress] [resolved] of issues/bugs
2.3 Complete full product testing of new Aragon products Maximum Days
2.4 Report on products testing and a results -
Initiative: Aragon Documentation
Continue management of the current Aragon User Documentation 2 created by dTech by adding updates and additional translations. Create FAQ and documentation for the new Aragon app based on user support and feedback. Initial review of the new app’s developer documentation and adding future improvements. In addition dTech, will continue with Miragon 3S (the Aragon Answers series)
Deliverables:
3.1 Complete 1 Miragon 3S videos per month with a total of 10 minimum over the proposal timeframe
3.2 Report number of views for each of Miragon 3S video
3.3 Create at least 1 video gif per month for the current Aragon documentation
3.2 Deliver 3 more translations to Fundamentals and Aragon Client documentation
3.5 Initial review of Aragon App developer documentation
3.6 Upgrade to the How-to Guides and developer documentation,
3.7 Creation of an Aragon App FAQ based on user feedback -
Initiative: Integration Evaluation
Based on user feedback received, dTech will collaborate with the development community to become involved in the technical aspects of Aragon products/add-ons and provide feedback to the product team who can weigh risks and viability of partnerships. e.g. Blossom Labs, Dework, Otoco, WallId, Raincards.
Deliverables:
4.1 Report integration network in the CRM
4.2 Report the number and status of engaged third parties
4.3 Report Product team collaboration as a result of research -
Initiative: Guild Operations
dTech, like other guilds, have operation tasks that need to be performed that ensure transparency, deliverables are being met, initiatives remain within budget, and accountability and professionalism is ensured.
Deliverables:
5.1 Maintain Guild Wiki and Notion
5.2 dTech strategy calls x 2 per week
5.3 Contributor bounty engagement
5.4 Monthly reporting
5.5 Monthly strategy & performance reviews
3. Strategic Alignment
dTech aligns with the Aragon Network in the following ways:
- Ecosystem: Supporting collaborative ecosystem partnerships teams like EVMcrispr
- Ecosystem: Created DAO credit card integration: Aragon dTech Rain Credit Card (built on the earlier Otoco legal wrapper integration)
- Aragon Network: Providing technical documentation and communication from our unique perspective as leaders in community engagement in Discord and support tickets.
- Aragon Network: Fixed or helped to fix (critical) bugs in Aragon software: MáS project
- Dev Teams: Aragon dTech frees up engineers’ time which in the past was consumed on supporting users instead of developing.
- Product: We support all current and future Aragon products and possible industry tools to the product team for a better product fit.
- Research: dTech is on the frontline collecting user feedback and data needed for DAO development. An early example came from seeing the failure of Aragon to maintain the CLI. We helped investigate EVM CRISPR and bring a proposal to the table that supersedes most of the CLI functionality in a simplified browser interface.
- DAO Experts: Aragon supports business development initiatives prescribed by the DAO Experts program serving as technical engineers and advocates of its growth
- The AN DAO: Supporting technical operations of all teams that is not otherwise covered by an Aragon devops team.
- dGov: Technical advisory for governance tooling and proposals, Github LaTEX Charter Updated and Community updates on governance tooling progress
- Community: Using dTechs Spanish contributors, dTech will assist Community with any Spanish initiatives
- Ops: dTech helps ops with technical platforms such as the recent research and setup of Dework which has become an AN DAO wide standard
- Finance: dTech helps finance with web3 platforms such as gnosis safe and Coordinape
4. Limitations and Risks:
- dTech does not receive a clear strategy from leadership in the DAO making it difficult to align with other initiatives.
- The Aragon App is delayed from the planned launch - dTech preparation effort is a waste
- Lack of ANT holder awareness of the scale and extent of dTech work to date
- No funding = no support, results in dwindling Active DAOS or drain on product team
- Team members leave who are focusing on an important dTech initiative
- Spanish support experiment proves to be of low value.
- Senior level tasks are presented to MáS (Maintenance as a service).
5. Team Information
The dTech team is fluid as additional contributing members may join from the community and others will leave. Some will be moved into a core contributor role as the need arises and dedication is demonstrated. All members shadow each other to ensure initiative deliverables are met however, each initiative has a lead.
Core Members
- anson parker#4296 Lead Integration Evaluation
- barukimang#3560 Lead MáS
- Carla78#9313 Lead Documentation
- Spectra CV#6148 Lead Contributor & Bounty, Transparency
- Brent Russell, Brént#008 Steward & Guild Ops Lead
Technical Support Contributors - Camel Pavel#1004 Lead Spanish Technical Support
- aakansha#9163
- tony.stark#5145
The current five core contributors (Leads) have been a part of dTech since inception and have completed 2 successful ESD funded seasons. Three contributors have also joined over the course of the previous two seasons. dTech has met all deliverables, within budget, time and resources and delivered value beyond the scope of previous proposals. See end of season reports: Season 0, Season 1
6. Funding Information
This proposal aims to secure funding for operations totaling $363,000 USDC Equivalent paid as per the prevailing finance guidelines
- Core Contributors $37500/month
- $7,000 bounties to be delivered to non-core members (Contributors and other community members)
- $6,000 for Team education expenses
- $1,000 for Various expenses (Platform fees, tools, etc)
For comparison, I am including Glassdoor salary estimates based on Charlotte, NC which has a cost of living below the US national average. These estimates include the value of employee benefits which guild contributors provide themselves essentially as contractors.
- Technical Writer: $98,917
- Technical Researcher: $112,313
- Technical Support Specialist: $75,164
- Technical support Engineer: $108,242
- Software Engineer: $116,258
- Videographer: $90,726
- Solidity Developer: $90,408
- QA Analyst: $100,406
All unused funds will be rolled over into future approved dTech proposals or returned to the DAO at the end of the proposal time period.