Authors: Alex Cavalier, Over Analyser
Situation
We are proposing the continuation and funding of the Product Working Group for 3 months ending on 31st December 2021.
What is the core problem(s) you want to solve?
- The INDEXcoop has limited resources (Capital, Engineering, Marketing, Business Development, Design, Coordination) and a vast space to work in.
- We have the ideas to launch almost endless index funds, the challenge is to ensure that we are focused on what the customer needs and what the coop can deliver.
[Note, to try and remove ambiguity, weâll use âfundâ to refer to the on-chain structured product and âproductâ to refer to the wider concept of the WGâs goals.]
Why is this worth addressing today?
Managing the coopsâ methodologists, pipeline of ideas, current products, liquidity and resources is an essential function for the coop. The Product Working Group is intended to be the central coordinating function within the coop.
How will you address it?
Over the last 6 months the PWG has been managing the coopâs products and methodology. PWG acts as the bridge between the community, methodologists, EWG (and thus Set Engineers). Over the last three months the PWG has successfully used a number of organisation structures:
- The Automated Indices Pod was created with a core of new coop contributors and has rapidly taken on responsibility for parameter changes, analytical models, Bots and documentation.
- Work teams have looked at product prioritisation and work team analysis. These have typically benefited from significant support from Senior coop members (Full time, AWG, TWG, and BD).
Following OAâs retrospective, and our September update we are actively building PWG into a more efficient team and taking over from Punia and OA.
What impact will this project have?
- Facilitate the launch of four financial fund Products (total of 6 products by the end of 2021).
- Facilitate and implement Product and Engineering 2.0 organizational structure
- Maintain L1 liquidity for all products so purchases can be made via DEX trades or exchange issuance with < 1% slippage.
- Dominate on-chain liquidity for each product sector.
- Improve the coops non-financial / fund product structures.
- Improve our understanding of our portfolio and help educate our customers.
Working Group Lead: Alex Cavalier
Request for funding
Proposed Budget:
As per Q4 Working Group Guidance significant contributors can select what they get paid for the quarter: USDC / INDEX (fixed USDC) / fixed INDEX / mix.
Individual stipends
| Name | Role | Monthly Stipend* | Total for Quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex | PWG Lead | $7,000 USDC + 230 INDEX (~$15k) | $21,000 + 690 INDEX |
| Abel | Simple Indices | 150 INDEX (~$5,250) | 450 INDEX |
| DocHabanero | Simple Indices Pod Lead | 150 INDEX (~5,250) | 450 INDEX |
| Afromac | Automated Indices Pod Lead | 250 INDEX (~$8,750) | 750 INDEX |
| OverAnalyser | Contributor | 160 INDEX (~$5,600) | 480 INDEX |
| Eric M | Automated Indices Pod | 150 INDEX (~$5,250) | 450 INDEX |
| Allan G | Automated Indices Pod | 170 INDEX(~$5,950) | 510 INDEX |
Other contributors
A further $15,000 per month is allocated for other contributor rewards to support PWG activities this includes
- CatJam
- TG
- Ahuja
Note, if contributors on the above stipends greatly exceed their expected contribution to PWG in a month, then they may be awarded further rewards as part of the general contributor rewards (from the budget above).
Expenses
A further $3,000 is assigned to cover other costs and expenses related to PWG activities. This is most likely to be to cover Gas costs on multisig transactions.
Notes:
- As before, we will also draw heavily on senior members of the coop who are rewarded via other budgets / stipends:
- @Punia, @Richard, @Dylan + others - SET
- @JDcook and @LemonadeAlpha - Full time contributors
Maximum for the Quarter:
INDEX 3,780
USD as INDEX $45,000
USDC $30,000
Community contribution to Product Working Group
Contributor rewards are allocated to an area, and then working group leads assign a reward per person for their area.
PWG rewards will be allocated based on:
- Managing current products
- Maintaining liquidity
- Product prioritisation and launch
- Communication of PWR activities
- Working with methodologists to refine proposals(*)
PWG rewards will not be given for:
- Attendance at meetings
- General forum posts
- Fund proposal development where the person has an external incentive to do it (Methodologist etc)
- Working with other protocols to extend extrinsic productivity.
Notes: The Pod structure was designed to be a cross-working group execution engine that owned certain product lines and is led by a PWG appointee. While it has served that role functionally, a few members of the Pods are within the PWG budget, instead of the WG under which they would typically be housed. We recognize that as a problem to fix to more accurately reflect budgets, and will strive to get stricter accounting this coming quarter.
Organization - How will it work?
What will you be doing?
- Continue building out expertise and management of leveraged products within the Automated Indices Pod
- Build out the Simple Indices Pod to take over non-Automated products
- Maintain product prioritization, communication with methodologists prior to DG2
- Manage the launch of products that pass DG2
- Manage product liquidity on L1 (~1% slippage for any size trade via on chain liquidity / exchange issuance). This should ensure products stay close to +/- 1% of NAV
- Work with EWG to prioritise and manage Engineering resource
- Manage non financial product prioritisation
- Redesign the product onboarding process to ensure weâre launching high quality products to reach our goals outlined above
This will rely on dedicated pods and ad-hoc work teams as required.
How will you interface with the community?
- Fortnightly PWG calls.
- Forum posts and discord.
- 1 to 1âs with core community members.
- Cross functional groups where required.
Commitments
We are committed to Index Coop principles
We are committed to serving the entire Index Coop with my work.
We are committed to open, rapid communication: I know that clear, constant, public communication lifts up the entire Index Coop community. I am committed to this style of communication.
Shared learnings: We will share my progress, learnings with the entire community. We will ensure that anything We create is accessible beyond my own tenure for future generations of Indexers to access & build on.
Intellectual honesty: We are committed to growth and improvement. We are open to feedback and will use feedback to improve my work for the benefit of the entire Coop community.
We are committed to making Index Coop a welcoming, fun, and engaging community to work in!
Edit: 12Oct21
DocHabanero added to stipends at 150 INDEX per Month. $5,000 per month removed from monthly contributor pool
Edit 12Oct21
- FOR
- AGAINST
0 voters
