This is an interesting proposal, and as always, we appreciate hearing new proposals which attempt to solve governance pain points. We don’t think this proposal as is is in the best interest of governance as a whole, since it centralizes decision making significantly. We recognize (and have felt) several of the pain points described in Guide to Season 3: Course Correcting and think Delegate Overload & Proposer Frustration are especially relevant here. We also believe an elected committee could be highly beneficial in the grants process.
We feel that to reduce these two pain points, it would be more beneficial to have the committee be one phase of the grant approval process. The process could look like this:
- Grants Committee does first pass on grant requests and provides sufficient feedback on a tight feedback loop for proposers.
- A proposal passes this phase by Grants Committee approval (by a vote or having specific members endorse the proposal)
- At the point the proposal becomes final and is up for general governance vote.
We believe this would significantly reduce Delegate Overload by requiring delegates to read through a reduced number of high quality proposals. It could also reduce Proposer Frustration because proposers will be engaged with and receive feedback early from a small, credible group of folks.