🤩Open Source Strategy
Approved by the OSC on 3/28/2024
As Cardano’s journey in the Voltaire era continues, the Open Source Committee’s strategy empowers community-led and sustainability-driven decisions, shaping our path forward in open source development.
General Context
The scope of this document is to present the Open Source Committee Cardano strategy. This strategy proposal is mainly defined by our strong commitment to a community-led and decentralized approach. The mission is clear: to support Cardano's journey in the open-source world, ensuring it remains both stable and secure.
As Cardano’s journey in the Voltaire era continues, the Open Source Committee’s strategy empowers community-led and sustainability-driven decisions, shaping our path forward in open source development
The strategy for Cardano’s open-source development has been shaped through a collaborative effort, involving a diverse group of stakeholders. Starting with fundamental questions about our identity and who we serve, we established a clear mission, vision, and values that guided the next steps, and the more granular elements. This has been a deliberate, step-by-step process to ensure that the strategic objectives we set are not only a reflection of our collective ambitions but also actionable and measurable.
More details about the methodology used and the foundational model in the Appendix A.
Summary
We envision Core Cardano as a project mainly defined by its technological excellence, driven by an inclusive community. Improving technical sustainability, governance, and deepening community engagement — these are the strategic pillars that sit in the middle of the structure and will guide our actions and goals for the current development stage.
For example, by the end of 2024, we aim to complete a comprehensive audit of Intersect-maintained Cardano projects, according to a Project Lifecycle Framework. This initiative, alongside our commitment to diversified funding models and diversifying maintainers group, set the ground for positioning Cardano as a model of open-source execution.
The diagram below illustrates our strategy development process. From the core mission and vision, we have identified strategic pillars that are crucial to our success. They have been broken down into specific goals, supported by detailed actions that outline how we will accomplish them.
The strategic approach embedded in this framework is designed to be iterative, a living model open to constant refinement. It supports a dynamic strategy concept, where all our thinking and actions continuously evolve according to the market changes, maturity stages, and the needs of the Cardano community. That way we ensure our trajectory is both responsive and resilient.
Strategy elements
Mission
We enable the successful development and evolution of Cardano as a community-led, decentralized open source project
Our mission is to support the growth of Cardano into a community-driven, decentralized open-source project. We are committed to providing tools, policies and support for its success, ensuring it remains adaptable and accessible.
Vision
We envision a future where the Cardano project is strongly led by a thriving community, and its open development is not dominated by any single entity.
We want to see Cardano evolving in open-source mature initiative, driven by a strong and diverse community. We foresee a future where the project is known for both its technological excellence and its democratic, inclusive development process. Cardano will exemplify a decentralized but stable ecosystem where every contributor plays its part.
Core Values
Openness
We believe and promote transparent collaboration, accessibility, flexibility, and community-driven governance, fostering trust, inclusivity, and innovation in the Cardano Open Source Project (COSP).
Legitimacy
COSP is more than a collection of GitHub repositories - it is the source code for the binaries that are deployed onto the real Cardano mainnet. It is therefore of the utmost importance to maintain the legitimacy of the COSP.
Citizenship
We are committed to be an exemplary Open Source citizen, actively contributing to the broader ecosystem and setting a standard in the open-source world.
Quality
We maintain the security and health of the Cardano mainnet. We are fully committed to high quality, both in decision-making and in writing software.
Sustainability
We acknowledge the necessity for ongoing development of the COSP, aiming to prevent stagnation and ensure the Cardano network's continued growth and dynamism.
Strategic Pillars
Technical Sustainability
Ensuring Core Cardano maintains its reputation for being robust, secure, and open, while continuously adapting to new technological developments and environmental changes.
Governance and Decision-Making
We follow a transparent, inclusive, and effective governance model that empowers the Cardano community to actively participate in the decision making process.
Community Engagement and Collaboration
We focus on contribution diversity, especially among maintainers, establish communication channels for collaboration, and empower community-led projects.
Goals & Actions
Goal 1 - By Q4, 2024, all Intersect-maintained Cardano projects will have been audited and made decisions, based on the Project Lifecycle Framework, about their sustainability, risk mitigation strategy, and possible post-mortem actions (if applicable).
Metrics:
100% of the projects will audited
50% of projects will have a diversified funding model
Actions:
Establish the project lifecycle framework This framework will include guidelines for project stages, key milestones, success metrics, risk indicators, intervention strategies, and post-mortem actions. Also a plan for continuously monitoring projects.
Evaluate projects according to the Lifecycle Framework Through this assessment we want to understand projects’ current phase, health, and sustainability.
Implement project support items Project support actions will be established in association with framework and escalations for project health identified by assessment
Goal 2 - By Q4 2024 70% of Intersect-maintained projects will be aligned with the published Intersect Project Governance Policy by using open communications channels for discussions and meetings.
Metric:
No of projects meeting the criteria → 70%
Actions:
Stabilize the Governance Policy We’ll conclude pilot testing the implementation of the Governance Policy, ensuring it's clear, comprehensive, and ready to be fully deployed across projects
Work with projects to help them implement the Governance Policy Assist Intersect-maintained projects in adopting and integrating the governance policy, providing support for seamless implementation
Monitor implementation progress Track and assess the adoption rate and application of the governance policy across projects, identifying areas of improvement
G3 - By the end of 2024, 50% of Intersect-maintained Cardano projects will be supported by paid maintainers from at least two companies.
Strategy: We’ll prioritize contracted maintainers from other organizations to ensure project diversity and sustained contribution. We’ll utilize and promote existing tooling and internal resources to support their involvement.
Metric:
% of projects supported by paid maintainers from at least two companies → 50%
Actions:
Define the Pathway to Maintainership → what is a maintainer Outline criteria and steps for becoming a maintainer, detailing the responsibilities, skills, and commitment required. This initiative will establish a transparent process for onboarding new maintainers, ensuring clarity on the role and expectations.
Engage past collaborators, identify possible maintainers Conduct a survey among core Cardano project teams to identify companies and professionals they've successfully collaborated with in the past. Compile a list of potential maintainers with proven track of records.
Engage TSC Present a formal request to the TSC, emphasizing the strategic importance of diversifying project maintainers
Facilitate maintenance engagements Initiate a matchmaking process between core Cardano projects and potential maintainers identified in action # 1
G4 - By Q4,2024, establish a security framework for all Intersect-maintained Cardano projects. Ensure at least 80% of projects adhere to standardized security policies.
Metric:
% of Cardano projects implement the standardized security policy → 80%
Actions
Develop and standardize security policies Collaborate with security experts within / outside the Cardano ecosystem to create comprehensive security policies that cover aspects of open-source project development and maintenance
Implement a security issue reporting process Establish a process for the community to report security vulnerabilities, and outline steps for response / resolution by teams
Adoption of the security policy to Intersect-maintained Cardano projects Ensure that all Intersect-maintained Cardano projects incorporate and follow the newly developed standardized security policies
Conclusions
As a conclusion, we consider the strategy plan for Intersect-maintained Cardano projects well aligned with our mission, vision, core values and the pillars of Technical Sustainability, Governance and Decision-Making, and Community Engagement and Collaboration. The emerged goals and their associated actions are designed to set the ground for long-term success of these projects in the context of a diverse, transparent, and collaborative ecosystem.
By implementing the Project Lifecycle Framework and conducting comprehensive audits, Intersect OSC aims to ensure that all maintained projects are properly identified into a lifecycle scale, where support and sustainability measures can be taken to ensure the project's success.. This proactive approach to risk mitigation and sustainability planning will help maintain Cardano's reputation for technical excellence.
The focus on aligning projects with the Governance Policy and establishing open communication channels shows a strong commitment to a transparent and inclusive governance. By empowering the Cardano community to actively participate in decision-making processes, Intersect’s OSC empowers ownership and collaboration among stakeholders.
At the same time, diversifying project maintainers and encouraging paid contributions from multiple companies ensures the long-term health and resilience of the Cardano ecosystem. By that, OSC actively promotes contribution diversity and reduces reliance on any single entity.
In conclusion, the successful execution of this strategic plan will position Intersect-maintained Cardano projects for long-term success, and reinforcing its core values. The well defined metrics and actions associated with each goal enable OSC to track progress and make data-driven decisions to ensure the continuous growth and resilience of the Cardano ecosystem.
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