💸 Sampo Working Group

“Sampo” is the Finnish mythic “Horn of Plenty.” It symbolizes the Sampo working group’s mission:

Mission:

The Sampo working group develops and grows the value of the economic layer of the Token Engineering Commons. It aligns this micro-economy with the TEC mission and the collective success and individual benefit of its token holders.

How will this work team benefit the TEC community according to its near term mission?

  • Financial Guidance
    • Sampo monitors and assesses the health of the TEC’s economic layer
      • We partner with the Transparency Working Group as an “internal customer” for their data
      • We partner with the TEC Stewards in evaluating budgetary policies and options
      • We partner with TEC working groups by offering budgetary counsel upon request
      • We manage TEC treasury strategies and advise working groups on their treasuries
  • Income Generating Strategies and Services
    • Sampo creates strategies for developing services that increase the value of the TEC economic layer
      • We develop designs for services that build the Schelling Point for token engineering expertise
      • We develop business models that ensure the sustainability of these services and the TEC
      • We provide advice to working groups on developing services and business models
  • Fundraising Support and Token Holder Relations
    • Sampo develops and executes fundraising strategies to secure philanthropic backing and token holding
      • We partner with TEC’s Writers Guild to write applications for general support and project-specific (restricted) grants
      • We partner with Comms and Communitas working groups to develop individual donor fundraising campaigns. We support TEC Fundraisers in their pitches
      • We partner with Comms, Communitas, and Transparency working groups and the Writers Guild to develop impact reports and audits for token holders
      • We develop token acquisition and staking incentive programs
      • We partner with Soft-Gov and Communitas to engage token holders

What would be considered a success vs. failure?

  • Success:
    • The TEC develops new impact-oriented, capacity-building budgets that improve our ability to execute workflows on behalf of our mission
    • The TEC paints a compelling vision of its value and impact on the world that attracts the next rounds of mission-critical funding
    • The TEC develops a set of extremely useful services that serve as the platform for the token engineering Schelling Point
    • Sampo demonstrates compelling new modes of organizing its work and developing its members that serve as an inspiration for other working groups
  • Failure:
    • The TEC runs so low on funding that it is unable to carry on the operations it needs to build for the long-term
    • The TEC’s inability to fund operations and investments prevents us from compensating contributors and we lose critical talent, passion, and knowledge in the community
    • We fail to articulate a compelling vision for the future of the TEC and are unable to attract the next rounds of critical funding
    • We become so focused on money that we lose our mission, our relationships, our culture — and our way

What is the pace of the work?

  • This is an intensely paced working group, and that will be particularly true in its first few months as we urgently address shrinking operating funds, paint a compelling vision to attract new funding, and outline plans for the TEC’s initial cluster of services. It will be hard work — but it will be fun, exciting, and rewarding. You will remember this time together later in your life.
  • We meet weekly though working group members are asked to maintain the flow of contributions asynchronously through our various tools such as Clarity. We will spin up ad hoc “work teams” (such as the Sampo Analysts) that are only active when most needed and slip back into dormancy when not.

Core Contributor Roles:

Note that these roles are just an initial articulation of Sampo’s needs. They will inevitably evolve over time and should be treated as a constantly updating description of the required work flows across Sampo.

  • Coordinating Steward: @gideonro

    • Develops overall vision for Sampo
    • Ensures overall coordination within the working group and with other working groups
    • Develops overall impact plan for Sampo
    • Manages overall advice process from TEC community governance
  • Organizer: @bear100

    • Onboards new Sampo members
    • Helps existing members to engage with Sampo work
    • Helps existing members develop skills related to Sampo work
    • Organizes Sampo work spaces and helps with all around coordination of the working group
    • Works closely with Sampo Coordinating Lead
  • Coordinating Fundraiser: TBD

    • Coordinates grant applications and reports
    • Tracks various fundraising opportunities as well as funders themselves
    • Provides logistical support for pitches by TEC Fundraisers (not an official Sampo role but part of the responsibilities of some TEC Stewards)
    • Works closely with Sampo Coordinating Lead
  • Builder: TBD

    • Stakeholder needs analysis and advice process synthesis
    • Requirements analysis and specification setting
    • Service vision-setting and roadmaps
    • Project management
    • Project coordination with Token Engineer and Software Development Engineer
    • Works closely with Sampo Coordinating Lead

The following are largely bounty-based contributor roles:

  • Analyst: Rex

    • Performs financial analysis for the TEC, in close collaboration with Transparency WG
    • Makes requests for data from Transparency WG to aid in this analysis
  • Token Engineer

    • Models and assesses economic proposals that impact the TEC
    • Token engineering analysis and design for TEC services
    • Smart contract development for TEC services
    • Training ground for Token Engineering Academy students - will like require TE Lead to support this
  • Software Development Engineer

    • Front-end and back-end software development for TEC services
    • Training ground for Token Engineering Academy students - will like require TE Lead to support this
  • Grant and Pitch Writer:

    • Writes grant applications and reports
    • Writes pitch and supporting materials to funders
    • Writes impact reports to token holders
    • $TEC/xDAI bounty-based compensation

Advisory Counsel:

  • TEC Governing Stewards:

  • TEC Coordinating Stewards:

  • Sampo ‘Satellite’ Council: (still just an idea at this point)

    • akrtws
    • mZ
    • Jessica Zartler
    • Trent McConaghy
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