Hello Optimism Community!
As the Season 7 govNERD Lead, I’m excited to share our progress since the beginning of the season and introduce a new cadence of regular govNERD updates.
For those unfamiliar with our team, the govNERDs serve as operational support for Optimism’s governance system. They help ensure the execution of critical governance processes while reducing the Foundation’s direct involvement in day-to-day operations. You can learn more about our group at the link below:
Season 7 govNERD Program Overview
The govNERD program operates as a contribution path with different tiers:
Lead: Sov
Core govNERDs:
- @alexsotodigital - Community education & documentation
- @Bunnic - Citizens House
- @fujiar - Citizens House processes & Retro Funding Support
- @Jrocki - Token House communications
- @Marcus01 - Forum engagement & moderation
- @Pumbi - Token House voting cycles
govNERDs-in-training: These contributors work alongside Core govNERDs to learn specialized governance operations while taking on increasingly important responsibilities.
wannabe-govNERDs: This tier includes dozens of community members beginning their governance journey. They contribute through forum participation, documentation assistance, and other valuable tasks while developing governance knowledge and skills.
Key Responsibilities
The govNERDs program is focused on four primary areas:
- Governance Content: Producing voting cycle guides, roundups, announcements, summaries and communications for voting periods across Token House and Citizens’ House.
- Community Education & Support: Organizing Retro Funding applicant calls, mentoring new govNERDs, and ensuring delegates and citizens can access the necessary information.
- Documentation: Maintaining and improving governance documentation, implementing community feedback, and collaborating on best practices.
- Onboarding: Creating structured pathways for new govNERDs, delegates, and guest voters while providing ongoing guidance.
Progress to Date (Weeks 1-9)
Since the beginning of Season 7, we’ve successfully:
- Improved Process Structure: Established specialized roles for core govNERDs based on skills and interests, pairing experienced team members with newer contributors.
- Enhanced Notion: Revamped our Notion workspace with better task tracking and clearer contribution paths for wannabe-govNERDs and govNERDs-in-training. You can find it at the link below:
- Supported Voting Cycles: Successfully facilitated multiple Token House voting cycles and Citizens’ House veto periods, ensuring timely communication and smooth execution.
- Streamlined Support: Provided support for Retro Funding Season 7
- Improved Contribution Path: Developed an action plan for optimizing the govNERDs contribution path with clearer progression steps and better task matching to contributor strengths. This is linked here:
Week 10 Update (March 2-8, 2025)
Here are the highlights from our recent work:
- Voting Cycle #34 is in Review Period (ends March 19th)
- Citizens’ House voting on the Sequencer ETH proposal is active
- Retro Funding voting closes March 7th at 6 PM UTC
- Launched our new Bounty System for contributors
- Created three Working Groups to optimize our contribution path
- Held our first govNERDs Community Check-in
- Held our first Delegates Onboarding Monthly Call
For our complete weekly update with all governance details and initiatives, check out the link below:
Regular Updates Going Forward
Starting today, the govNERDs team will share regular updates on the forum to provide transparency into our work and progress. These updates will include:
- Key governance deadlines and status
- Recent accomplishments and initiatives
- Upcoming priorities
- Ways the community can engage with our work
Join Our Community Check-ins!
We host regular govNERDs Community Check-in calls every other Tuesday at 19:00 GMT (60 minutes). These calls are open to everyone in the community and provide an opportunity to:
- Learn more about the governance system and how govNERDs support it
- Ask questions about contribution paths and how to get involved
- Meet the govNERD team and current contributors
- Share feedback and suggestions for improvement
You can find these calls on the Optimism Governance Public Calendar - we’d love to see you there!
Feedback & Questions
We’re always looking to improve how we support the Optimism governance ecosystem. If you have questions, suggestions, or feedback about our work, please share them in the comments below!
You can also reach out to the govNERDs team at:
- Discord: #gov-general channel
- Forum: Tag me (@sov) in governance-related threads
- Bi-weekly Community Check-ins (details above)
Stay Optimistic!
Sov
govNERDs Lead