Developer Advisory Board - Season 7 Retrospective

[wildmolasses]

Developer Advisory Board Season 7 Retrospective

1. What is your assessment of the impact KPIs that were set in your Budget Proposal at the start of the Season? Have you made progress towards, or achieved, these milestones or KPIs? If not, why?

Our Season 7 KPIs were set with the best intentions based on previous seasons, but the strategic shift towards TVL-based missions rendered several of them either obsolete or difficult to measure meaningfully. Here’s a direct assessment:

• KPI 1: 100% of Protocol Upgrades have a non-technical summary posted.

  • Status: Not Met.
  • Reason: This initiative was discontinued by the Collective, but it may have been a mistake. Because it was discontinued, this KPI became irrelevant, and the DAB adapted accordingly. However, we’ve heard feedback (launamu, the CFC, Pumbi, delphine, Jrocki, who am I missing?) that our summaries are sorely missed. Since then, we posted summaries for upgrade 14 and 15 (h/t jepsen). We’re collaborating with Labs to make the post for U16 more palatable to non-technical stakeholders, and want to play a much bigger role here in S8.

• KPI 2: An NPS score of >= 8 from Grants Council reviewers.

  • Status: In Progress.
  • Reason: Please hold: we are actively collecting this feedback, sourcing this from all Grants Council members.

• KPI 3: An NPS score of >= 8 from the Foundation.

  • Status: Declined to score.
  • Reason: We heard from the Foundation that some members didn’t have enough context on the DAB to weigh in here. In future seasons, we’ll improve visibility into our work and achievements!

• KPI 4: Number of mission applicants increasing in S7 vs S6.

  • Status: Not a relevant metric for S7.
  • Reason: The shift to a single, high-quality TVL mission reduced the quantity of applications but increased their quality and alignment. As noted in some internal discussions, focusing on this metric would be misleading, as our impact came from deeper engagement with fewer, more strategic applicants.

• KPI 5: Number of milestones missed by grant recipients decreasing on DAB-approved grants.

  • Status: Not a relevant metric for S7.
  • Reason: The DAB’s primary role in S7 was not milestone tracking for TVL grants; this is handled by the Milestones and Metrics Council. Our involvement was front-loaded on technical and strategic assessment.

• KPI 6: Positive feedback on missions authored by the DAB.

  • Status: In Progress.
  • Reason: We’ve reached out to Labs to get their score here. The collaboration with Foundation representatives (@zainbacchus!!!) has been smooth and productive, representing a significant expansion of the DAB’s capabilities and a help in externalizing core work. 5 grants are underway for 3 different Foundation missions, and it’s awesome work so far. Special thanks to @skeletor for a great job shepherding these missions.

2. Impact assessment – how well did your team perform in relation to success metrics, impact per OP allocated, or other pre-defined measures that are relevant for your Council or Board?

While some of our initial KPIs proved a little mismatched w/ the season’s direction, the DAB’s performance and impact were significant. Our primary value came from successfully adapting to the Collective’s needs. One significant new impact area was authoring and reviewing the Foundation Missions. This collaboration has been highly effective, allowing us to source and vet high-quality teams for strategic initiatives, demonstrating the DAB’s capacity to handle more than just grant application reviews.

Another area we performed really well in was our audit review. We provided the necessary technical diligence and hardened the application review process. Our ownership of the process increased thanks to the stewardship of @noah.eth and constant support from @Gonna.eth + bunnic. After receiving blessing from Gonna and the Foundation, we’re set to take over this process in S8.

Finally, the DAB demonstrated its ability to pivot. When it became clear that broad mission scouting was less critical than deep technical expertise and serving the Foundation’s needs, we shifted our focus and resources effectively. We also responded to some unforeseen requests, protocol-upgrade related as well as S8 related, to which we’re super happy to contribute.

3. What are the major problems you ran into over the course of the Season?

• Change in Leadership: @obront, who was a phenomenal DAB lead in S6 and half of S7, stepped down per his commitment to Etherealize (go Zach!)

• Somewhat irrelevant KPIs: As detailed above, our initial KPIs did not really reflect the reality of the season. This created a disconnect between our stated goals and our actual, impactful work, making our performance harder to assess.

• Conflict of Interest (COI) Ambiguity: The lack of a formal, defined COI policy for our audit reviewers was a little difficult. Finding top-tier auditors completely unaffiliated with leading firms is unrealistic; the problem was the absence of a clear framework to manage these affiliations transparently. That being said, @gjaldon and @noah.eth flew past any issues here. @Gonna.eth helped us a bunch as always.

• Obsolete Role Definitions: The “Mission Scout” role, as defined in our charter, was made obsolete by the season’s focus on a single TVL mission. This required us to pivot mid-season, creating a temporary lack of clarity before we repurposed the function into a more relevant “Office Hours” format.

• The DAB is a bit invisible: Besides the office hours initiative from @wbnns (thanks Will!) which serves anyone who joins, the rest of our work is done directly with specific stakeholders (e.g. grants council, @zainbacchus from Labs, etc.). The Foundation gave the feedback that we should be more visible, to more stakeholders.

4. What are possible solutions that could be explored next Season?

• Develop Adaptive KPIs: For Season 8, it could help define KPIs that measure what matters: the quality of technical diligence, the success of Foundation collaborations, transparency in our work, and the health of our internal processes.

• Formalize a Conflict of Interest Policy: We have already done some work with @GonnaEth, @gjaldon, and @noah.eth to establish a clear, documented COI policy. This should be finalized and integrated into our internal operating procedures before the next season begins, so reviewers can operate with confidence and transparency.

• Formalize Role Flexibility: The pivot from “Mission Scout” to “Office Hours” was a success. We should consider building this flexibility into our charter, allowing roles to adapt to the Collective’s evolving needs without requiring formal amendments.

• Deepen the Connection w/ OP Labs: The S7 syncs with OP Labs (Mark Tyneway and @smartcontracts) were highly valuable. We’d love to establish a recurring sync. Future sessions could focus on upcoming technical roadmaps (e.g., planned upgrades) and how the DAB can proactively prepare and support them. We are really looking forward to increased collab with Labs next season.

5. What improvements to the team’s mandate would you suggest for next Season?

The DAB is ready to assume greater responsibility in securing and scaling the Superchain. We recommend evolving our mandate in two key areas:

1. Formalize the DAB’s Role in Protocol Upgrades: As discussed with the Foundation, some token holders lack the deep technical expertise to vet protocol upgrades. The DAB is uniquely positioned to fill this gap. We propose that the DAB take on a formal role in the upgrade process. This would leverage our core competency to provide a multifaceted critical service to the Collective.

2. Solidify the Foundation Mission Process: The S7 Foundation Missions were in our eyes a successful experiment. For S8, this should become a core, defined function of the DAB. We should refine the process for ideation, scoping, and reviewing these missions to make it a lasting, efficient pipeline for executing strategic initiatives.

6. (Optional) If you don’t believe the team’s operations should continue next Season, please explain why here.

The Developer Advisory Board is, with the evolution of the Superchain and the proliferation of diverse stakeholders, perhaps more critical than ever. As the Optimism ecosystem grows in technical complexity, the need for a dedicated, expert body to advise on security, upgrades, and technical grants will only increase. We are confident in our ability to continue providing this value to the Collective.

Thanks for all your work this season jepsen skeletor noah.eth gjaldon @blockdev wbnns smartcontracts!

[lavande]

Thanks for this thorough and reflective retrospective, it’s a great example for others!