Paulo (Proposals.app)

Task

expert interview

Status

Completed

Date

Feb 5, 2024

Completion Time

Interviewer

Segment

consultant

User Details

Subject info

Name: Paulo Fonseca

Role / Job title

Experience

Purchase summary

Company info

Proposals.app

Size:

Type:

Maturity

Interviewer Observations

Artem and Paulo discussed the challenges of governance and voting in online communities. Artem expressed frustration over lack of engagement, while Paulo shared their experience with building Proposals app to address this issue. Paulo emphasized the importance of understanding professional delegates' needs and the value of research in improving the voting process. He also emphasized the need for a more streamlined and user-friendly platform, while Artem suggested integrating AI-powered tools to facilitate the sensemaking stage. The speakers discussed the significance of face-to-face dialogue in deliberation and decision-making, emphasizing the importance of human input in decision-making processes.

Governance and participation in blockchain networks.

Research revealed that professional delegates in a blockchain-based platform were not participating in proposals, leading to a tool development to increase engagement.

Speaker 2: Proposals often start in Google Docs before being posted on forums, where people are hesitant to share unpolished ideas.

Speaker 2 explains that there are two types of users in the platform: service providers and independent delegates, with different levels of engagement and potential conflicts of interest.

Both groups are served by the platform, which helps them vote on proposals and create their own proposals, while also managing potential conflicts of interest.

Governance and decision-making in a blockchain-based platform.

Speaker 2 discusses experimenting with a new platform for proposal management, integrating with existing tools like Google Docs and Notion.

Speaker 2 mentions service providers creating their own web apps to show progress and integrate with the phone process for treasury management and contract engagement.

Speaker 2 explains how governance in decentralized communities often happens through direct communication rather than formal proposals, with delegates being involved in negotiations to guarantee votes.

Professionalizing delegates in decentralized governance.

Speaker 2 mentions a list of professional delegates in the community, including their voting power and participation in various protocols.

The professionalization of delegates began with the recognition of private communities and paid delegation programs, leading to the emergence of professional delegates.

Stable Lab raises investments as a service provider, productizing delegation for other communities.

Speaker 2: Delegation mechanism incentivizes amassing voting power, leading to suboptimal governance.

Blockchain governance and participation.

University blockchain clubs are gaining influence in the uniswap ecosystem by delegating voting power from big VC firms like a16z.

These clubs are using their newfound power to post proposals and vote on decisions, often with the help of our product.

Speaker 2 notes that some members are incentivized to participate in governance through payment or reputation.

Proposal transparency and whistleblowing mechanisms.

App proposals app aims to help voters decide on proposals by providing context and reminders.

Speaker 2 reveals that the initial proposal was written by the same company that posted a revised version, admitting to collusion.

Professional delegate questions the entity providing the service, and Speaker 2 confirms it is their company.

Speaker 2 proposes a whistleblowing mechanism for anonymous tips on proposal fraud, with incentives for verification and reward for correct information.

Improving transparency in proposal submissions.

Speaker 2 highlights the importance of due diligence in proposal evaluation, citing an example of a delegate analyzing data to expose poor quality work.

Speaker 2 proposes adding features to power whistleblowing in proposals app, including more transparency and accountability.

Speaker 2 proposes a platform for organizing and tracking governance proposals, including forum posts, snapshot proposals, and entry proposals.

Speaker 2 suggests implementing a collaborative feature for proposals, such as a document editor for line-by-line item agreement tracking.

Using AI to improve decision-making processes.

Speaker 1 proposes using AI-powered chatbot to facilitate group decision-making processes, potentially improving engagement and quality of proposals.

Speaker 1 expresses frustration with current deliberation tools, believing they don't facilitate meaningful engagement.

Speaker 2 advocates for face-to-face conversation as the ideal form of deliberation, citing its effectiveness since caveman times.

Using AI to facilitate productive dialogue.

Speaker 2 argues that face-to-face dialogue is necessary for meaningful discussion and understanding, as opposed to online forums where people can hide behind their screens and avoid confrontation.

Speaker 2 suggests using AI to map and analyze arguments, identify areas of agreement and disagreement, and facilitate further discussion and proposal-making.

Speaker 2 suggests that decisions should be made in a group setting, rather than in a vacuum, to ensure legitimacy and avoid generating the same issues as posting on a forum behind a keyboard.

Speaker 1 raises concerns about the percentage of members who would actually participate in a Zoom call, and the potential for one person to dominate the conversation if breakout rooms are not used.

Improving debate quality with AI real-time mapping.

Speaker 2 suggests using AI to map debates in real-time, providing visualizations to help debaters adjust their arguments.

Speaker 1 agrees that this could improve debates, making them more productive and better addressing arguments.

Speaker 1 expresses frustration with a recent proposal and the sense-making process, while Speaker 2 describes a call where parties were changing their minds and debating the proposal in real-time.

Facilitation and conflict resolution in the blockchain space.

Facilitation and conflict resolution expert hired to mediate discussion between Speaker 1 and Speaker 2.

Speaker 2 facilitated workshops on conflict resolution and design thinking for EA, using techniques from sourcecred.

Speaker 2 declined facilitating a session for aerelon due to a conflict of interest with one of the parties involved.

Speaker 2 expresses frustration with a project and hopes for improvement.

Action Items

Look into integrating Proposals app with Harmonica to connect proposal drafting and sensemaking stages

Talk to Ray about workshop facilitation experience with Sourcecred and MindDAO (?)

Build whistleblowing features into Proposals app to increase transparency around proposals

Consider adding collaborative proposal drafting features to Proposals app before proposals get posted publicly

Schedule another call to continue discussing governance and sensemaking