Source: Things Bankless DAO gets right: Culture
The DAOs I have been involved with have a tough time integrating new members but this doesn't seem to be the case for BanklessDAO. In fact, one of its top points is that it offers amazing opportunities if you're a complete noob.
Yes, it's not a DeFi protocol. Maybe that's why things can move at a slower pace and more opinions can be accommodated? Nonetheless, here are a few things I have seen that work to the benefit of BanklessDAO
- Guest-pass system.
Guest-pass offers no-holds-barred access of all the major channels across the discord server to new contributors. It needs to be renewed by a regular contributor after 2 weeks. It has been contentious because it's a hassle to renew but it forces new contributors to interact. Veteran-noob interaction is something DAOs need to watch out for.
- Crashable Meetings.
Another place that gets it right is @redactedcartel’s Slack server. New contributors are allowed to be a fly on the wall in partnership meetings. The same goes for BanklessDAO. Usually, all meetings have a new-contributor introduction section.
- Triple-consensus check
Sesh poll -> Forum -> Snapshot
That's how decisions are made at BanklessDAO. Keeps all the major parties in loop. Department-specific decisions are made as per department guidelines...which brings me to...
- Department-specific governance
Departments (guilds) are largely governed using their own governance documents to bolster decentralisation. Guild members can suggest changes to this document, and it is often a good first bounty for new contributors.
- Training for succession
Embodied in the practice of @frogmonkee @bcethhunter and @angyts2, each contributor is trying to train his or her successor in some sense. Web3 moves fast and BanklessDAO is more than willing to give space to new contributors. As an example, operations is something that DAOs limit to core contributors alone but BanklessDAO allows new contributors to join their ops guild and rise up via contribution.
- Weekly community call
A brilliant way to catch up on what your friends from other departments have been working on. Nothing is as refreshing as hearing @icedcool_eth's dad jokes and @Liquidiot's soothing voice. The banter in cc-chat channel is amazing on its own.
- Knowledge discussions
Shoutout to dev guild for holding knowledge sessions and Jordaniza in particular for clarifying my solidity queries. The education workgroup of edu guild hosts workshops to keep peeps updated as well!
- Challenge discussions
If you face a challenge, you tell it to the wider audience if it affects them: that's the philosophy. We ran into problems with GSE implementation because of Quorum. Everyone knew about it. That caused debate, discussions, and even arguments but everyone knew about it. Even the newcomers knew that some proposal called 'GSE' is causing a lot of hype. It's because the peeps were open about the challenges we're facing. Right now we're looking to increase the utility of $BANK token, and we've been open about that as well.