Decentralization. Accountability. Optimization.

<aside> 🎙️ Written by DAO operations team: Devin Marty, Sam Harrison, Michael Benson, Chak Raam, Rachel Brissenden, and Gabby Vorbeck. To be reviewed by Daniel, Giv, and Li. Internal feedback given by Peter and Stephen

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*Harmony takes the community’s sentiment seriously – it lives at the center of every action the DAO operations team makes and is the impetus for this document. The following was, first and foremost, informed by community feedback during weekly open DAO calls.

** This Framework is subject to change and will be enacted in Q3 following additional community and team feedback. ***

Summary

DAOs are a core pillar of Harmony. Over the past year Harmony has supported new and existing DAOs, drastically scaled their DAO operations team, and has committed ~$4 million in DAO grants so far. But with an organization model that is still so new and untested, we still have a lot of learning if we are to become the home to 10,000 DAOs.

<aside> 💡 The fundamental tenet of operational decentralization, according to some of the initial framework architects F. A. Hayek, M. C. Jensen, and W. H. Meckling, states that decision-making authority should always be matched with the relevant specific organizational knowledge – centralized when those in key areas hold the relevant knowledge and decentralized when decisions require information that is known only to those in specific or singular areas. [see citations]

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If the DAO operations team is going to continue scaling the Harmony DAO ecosystem in meaningful ways, they need to improve the tooling and educational infrastructure, base new decisions on up-to-date reports and data, and prepare to pivot as a result of that data, communicating those pivots quickly to the entire ecosystem. Such a scaling endeavor cannot be accomplished without setting up a clear channel of communication that moves information from specific or singular areas across the “DAO’sphere” to a central, highly visible area. But this endeavor goes beyond simply the DAO operations team. Each DAO has a responsibility to report actively, collaborate with, and teach newcomers, as well as their fellow DAOists. Every DAOist should consider the following of the current DAO Ecosystem:

1. Are the DAOs currently promoting accountability?
2. Are we creating an environment where Harmony DAOs are responsibly growing, serving, and uplifting their communities?
3. What does the journey of a successful DAO look like, and do we have any examples in the current ecosystem?
4. What does the journey of a DAO community member look like, and can a DAO be a suitable replacement for their career?
5. What are the most important operations of a DAO, and do our current approval requirements appropriately emphasize and support those primary operations?

Despite 1,000s of DAOs across multiple blockchains, a DAOist may find these questions difficult to succinctly answer. Why? There is no infrastructure to report on metrics and scale accordingly. Thankfully, the existing Harmony DAO ecosystem has vocalized these concerns and we have taken their advice – advice that will give Harmony the opportunity to become synonymous with DAO.

Thus, it pleases the Harmony DAO operations team to announce the 1DAO Alliance – a meeting place where Harmony DAOs can discuss issues, develop relationships, learn best practices, attract new members, report on metrics, and contribute to the direction of the greater DAO ecosystem.