<aside> 🏇 Welcome
This draft quarterly report documents the major focuses, activities, and results of the KeeperDAO Labs team over the period from January 8 to March 31, 2022.
Key points:
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Q1 2022 was the first quarter of the re-organization of KeeperDAO, initiated by KIP-12. The period in force for KIP-12 lasted from January 8, 2022, to March 31, 2022.
The primary aim of KIP-12 was
“to empower long-term contributors to accelerate a process of transformation within KeeperDAO”.
Transformation was needed because the structure of KeeperDAO was laid unchanged from the time of its founding. It was a small, process-casual organization dependent on a handful of founding members, some of whom were hyper-engaged, and some of whom had become only tangentially involved in day-to-day affairs.
A group of talented new contributors from the community had begun to fill gaps and imagine new capabilities, could not act and grow to capture those opportunities as a fully integrated team, unless major changes were made.
The goal of the re-organization was simple. Sweep away the past, remove the cobwebs, identify clear strategic aims, get the right people in place, and start putting resources into driving forward at an ever-increasing pace.
<aside> đź“Ś Takeaways
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During Q1 of 2022 we focused on transforming a loosely-organized but highly talented and motivated group of contributors into a high-performance organization that was prepared to scale and deliver consistent results in a competitive marketplace.
To do that, we focused on (1) increasing the total headcount, and (2) reorganizing the workplace so that contributors could continue to plan and work together effectively as the headcount grew.
Why increase the total headcount?
During Q3 and Q4 2021 we were already coming to the realization that we were severely understaffed. The existing KeeperDAO Labs team were shouldering the equivalent of 2-3 FTE workloads and responsibilities, and were on the fast-track to burnout and/or churn. Engineering work was chronically bottlenecked. Morale was low, and it seemed there was no way to change this situation in the short-term. Our onboarding and hiring practices, and any semblance of a recruiting pipeline, simply did not exist.
So when we resolved to take KeeperDAO to the next level, it was clear we wouldn’t be able to achieve our goals without expanding our headcount substantially. That turned this into a major focus.
How did we increase the headcount?
Recruiting and onboarding is a continuous and time-intensive process. It also places a strain on existing contributors who must screen and interview candidates, then orient and train newly onboarded contributors.
To ensure this investment was worthwhile, we resolved to onboard and retain only top talent, and developed a contributorship framework consisting of: