(continued from first post above, the forum doesn’t support so many characters in a single post)
4. Scope of Work & Budget
The budget for our “basic” scope of work is: $1.1M.
We take the responsibilities in this proposal with great care. This budget aligns with our team taking a significant load of responsibility for ENS infrastructure development. This includes substantial engineering projects that are not only critical to the successful launch of ENSv2 and Namechain, but also deliver fundamental innovations for how future applications integrate with ENS and perform ENS lookups and resolution.
The budget for this scope of work represents the ENS DAO making an important investment into advancing valuable ENS infrastructure. Several of our ENS infrastructure projects are working to restoratively boost ENS DAO revenues and contribute back to the long-term financial sustainability of ENS. We hope that for every $1 the DAO invests in our team, we return multiples of that as direct revenue back to the DAO in the future.
100% of this budget is devoted to supporting our mission to help ENS grow. Outside of relatively minor overhead costs and hosting expenses, all of this budget goes to supporting the salaries of our 14 existing team members and the recruitment of additional super talented full-time engineers who will dedicate themselves to building up the ENS protocol and ENS infrastructure.
This budget will enable us to further expand our engineering capacity, adding more full-time engineers to tackle the substantial infrastructure responsibilities outlined in this proposal.
Our KPIs for each quarter are to deliver a minimum of 90%+ of that quarter’s total Target Deliverables within the quarter.
At the conclusion of each quarter, we will publish a quarterly report summarizing our delivery for the quarter to the ENS DAO.
We want to ensure we’re always doing our best to maximize value creation for ENS. The ENS Ecosystem evolves quickly. A quarter, and especially a year is a long time in the web3 world. If opportunities are identified for higher-value Target Deliverables over the duration of this proposal, we reserve the right to replace a Target Deliverable with an alternate of approximately equal or greater scope.
Additionally, some Target Deliverables may have dependencies on external parties that are not fully under our control. For example, some of our Target Deliverables are dependent on the launch of ENSv2. We cannot fully control when ENSv2 launches. If Target Deliverables become blocked due to external parties, we reserve the right to replace an impacted Target Deliverable with an alternate of approximately equal or greater scope.
We have a discussion open with ENS Labs about the possibility of an ENS Referral Program launching as part of ENSv1, rather than ENSv2. In the event the ENS DAO votes to approve and fund alternate ENS Referral Program strategies from those we have proposed, we reserve the right to replace impacted Target Deliverables with alternates of approximately equal or greater scope. If the situation described in this clause is triggered, we will coordinate with Metagov Stewards on a responsible solution, such as us transferring the $50k in guaranteed ENSv2 Referral Programs funding into whatever pool of funds is servicing the alternate ENS Referral Program strategy, such that the broader intentions motivating the approval of our extended budget are followed as best as possible.
The following tables identify a quarterly breakdown of Target Deliverables for each of the ENS Infrastructure Solutions in our “basic” scope.
Each quarter listed in these tables is relative to (the commencement date of SPP2 funding streams) + (3 months * quarter) ~ ending day of that calendar month.
Each quarterly report will be delivered within 10 days of the conclusion of the quarter.
4.1. Basic Scope of Work
4.1.1 ENSNode
| Quarter | Target Deliverables |
|---|---|
| Q1 | 1. Transition ens-test-env from the ENS Subgraph to ENSNode in preparation for ENSv2 release. 2. Coordinate with the ENS Labs team to identify and document the key requirements for transitioning the official ENS manager app and ENSjs to ENSNode and for supporting their ENSv2 requirements. 3. Release “v1” of tokenized DNS name indexing. 4. Complete audit of ENSv2 contracts and submit suggestions for optimized ENSv2 indexing. 5. Expand multichain indexing support to 1-2 additional chains. 6. Release L2 Primary Names indexing. 7. Ship optional prevention of unnormalized ENS name values from being returned in API requests (returning “encoded labelhashes” instead, improving security and reducing ENS developer complexity). |
| Q2 | 1. Release “v1” of ENSNode to ensure the ENS ecosystem has an indexed data solution available prior to the ENSv2 release. 2. Preview release of “ENS Resolution Accelerator” technology. 3. Deploy hosted instances of ENSNode with optimized uptime availability free for the ENS community to use. 4. Ship “v1” of ENSNode developer docs. 5. Expand multichain indexing support to 1-2 additional chains. 6. Support the transition of 1-3 apps in the ENS ecosystem from the ENS Subgraph to ENSNode. 7. R&D for React hooks and UI component libraries building on ENSNode’s accelerated loading strategy. |
| Q3 | 1. Ship “v1” of “ENS Resolution Accelerator” technology. 2. Optimized self-hosting and DevOps to support stronger ENS protocol decentralization. 3. Preview release of Offchain ENS Name indexing. 4. Release “v2” of tokenized DNS name indexing. 5. Expand multichain indexing support to 1-2 additional chains. 6. Support the transition of 1-3 apps in the ENS ecosystem from the ENS Subgraph to ENSNode. 7. Ship preview React Hooks and UI component library for accelerated ENS social profiles. 8. Ship 1-3 integrations of preview React hooks and UI component library for accelerated ENS social profiles. 9. Release “health check” capabilities to identify improperly configured resolver records. |
| Q4 | 1. Ship “v1” of Offchain ENS Name indexing. 2. Ship “v2” of “ENS Resolution Accelerator” technology. 3. Optimized scalability and maximised uptime enhancements. 4. Ship “v2” of ENSNode developer docs. 5. Expand multichain indexing support to 1-2 additional chains. 6. Support the transition of 1-3 apps in the ENS ecosystem from the ENS Subgraph to ENSNode. 7. Ship “v1” React Hooks and UI component library for accelerated ENS social profiles. 8. Ship 3-6 integrations of React hooks and UI component library for accelerated ENS social profiles. 9. Release native “health check” capability to identify dangerous ENS name configurations, such as the case that a name’s ownership has changed in a manner where the deposit addresses likely should be updated to avoid irreversible loss of funds. |
4.1.2. ENSRainbow
| Quarter | Target Deliverables |
|---|---|
| Q1 | 1. Release “.ensrainbow” file type format for improved portability of ENSRainbow data sets. |
| Q2 | 1. Release “Intelligent Data Set Versioning” capability, enabling a single ENSRainbow instance to grow its set of healed labels across time while maintaining stable behaviour for each connected ENSNode instance. |
| Q3 | 1. Release “ENSRainbow Searchlight Server”, which will continuously use a variety of strategies to heal otherwise unknown labels. |
| Q4 | 1. Release “ENSRainbow Searchlight Protocol”, which will enable anyone in the ENS community to submit healed labels they discovered for broader ENS community use. |
4.1.3. ENSAdmin
| Quarter | Target Deliverables |
|---|---|
| Q1 | 1. Ship “ENS Protocol Inspector” support for 2 additional ENS resolution scenarios. 2. Expand the ENS integrator library of important ENS resolution test cases by 2 or more. 3. Ship optimized ENSNode indexing status dashboard. |
| Q2 | 1. Ship “ENS Protocol Inspector” support for 2 additional ENS resolution scenarios. 2. Expand the ENS integrator library of important ENS resolution test cases by 2 or more. 3. Ship ENSv2 Protocol Inspector (specialized for ENSv2 contracts). |
| Q3 | 1. Ship “ENS Protocol Inspector” support for 2 additional ENS resolution scenarios. 2. Expand the ENS integrator library of important ENS resolution test cases by 2 or more. 3. Ship “ENS Protocol Inspector” for “ENS Resolution Accelerator”. |
| Q4 | 1. Ship “ENS Protocol Inspector” support for 2 additional ENS resolution scenarios. 2. Expand the ENS integrator library of important ENS resolution test cases by 2 or more. 3. Ship ENSNode DevOps dashboard for improved ENSNode operations, monitoring, and maintenance. |
4.1.4. ENSv2 Referral Programs (Technical Deployment + Guaranteed $50,000 Funding)
| Quarter | Target Deliverables |
|---|---|
| Q1 | 1. Ship contracts and documentation with proposed referral program revenue sharing strategy in preparation for ENSv2 launch. |
| Q2 | 1. Ship promotional landing page microsite in preparation for ENSv2 Referral Programs launch. 2. Ship 5-10 targeted outreach campaigns to prospective ENSv2 Referral Program apps and wallets, promoting the recurring revenue model opportunity for promoting the registration and renewal of .eth names. |
| Q3 | 1. Ship indexer and live reward tracking dashboards for ENSv2 Referral Programs launch. 2. Deliver ENS integration support to apps and wallets expressing interest to participate in ENSv2 Referral Programs. 3. Ship 5-10 additional targeted outreach campaigns to prospective ENSv2 Referral Program apps and wallets, promoting the recurring revenue model opportunity for promoting the registration and renewal of .eth names. |
| Q4 | 1. Launch ENSv2 Referral Programs in coordination with the launch of ENSv2. 2. Fund ENSv2 Referral Programs contracts with guaranteed $50,000. 3. Deliver ENS integration support to apps and wallets expressing interest to participate in ENSv2 Referral Programs. 4. Ship 5-10 additional targeted outreach campaigns to prospective ENSv2 Referral Program apps and wallets, promoting the recurring revenue model opportunity for promoting the registration and renewal of .eth names. 5. Report on outcomes, lessons learned, and suggestions for the future for ENS Referral Programs. |
4.1.5. ENS TokenScope
| Quarter | Target Deliverables |
|---|---|
| Q1 | 1. R&D for protocol implementation strategies to map from ENS names to their ownership controlling tokens. 2. Ship support for name sales history. |
| Q2 | 1. Ship support for aggregation of onchain and offchain buy and sell order data for tokenized ENS names. 2. Ship support for querying the top buy and sell orders for tokenized ENS names. 3. Ship support for creating new buy and sell orders for tokenized ENS names. 4. Ship support for unified queries of primary and secondary market state for tokenized ENS names. |
| Q3 | 1. Ship support for updating the status of buy orders based on wallet balance changes. 2. Ship 1-3 integrations of ENS TokenScope. |
| Q4 | 1. Ship 1-3 integrations with ENS TokenScope. |
4.1.6. ENSAwards
| Quarter | Target Deliverables |
|---|---|
| Q1 | 1. Ship initial ENSAwards landing page, featuring key metrics and tests that will be used to evaluate and award ENS integrations. |
| Q2 | 1. Complete detailed benchmarks of 2-4 ENS integrations. Produce detailed reports. Promote issued awards on social media. 2. Refine key metrics and tests used to evaluate and award ENS integrations. |
| Q3 | 1. Complete detailed benchmarks of 2-4 ENS integrations. Produce detailed reports. Promote issued awards on social media. 2. Refine key metrics and tests used to evaluate and award ENS integrations. |
| Q4 | 1. Complete detailed benchmarks of 2-4 ENS integrations. Produce detailed reports. Promote issued awards on social media. 2. Refine key metrics and tests used to evaluate and award ENS integrations. |
4.1.7. NameGraph, NameAI, NameGuard, and NameKit
As much as we love these products and see the opportunity they bring to ENS (a lot!!), we also recognize the importance of optimizing our focus on even higher value opportunities listed in 4.1.1 - 4.1.6.
Therefore, we propose to allocate these projects into “Standby Mode” where they will remain available in a minimal maintenance mode through the duration of SPP2. This approach allows us to preserve their availability while concentrating resources on higher-priority initiatives.
4.2. Extended Scope of Work
UPDATE: We have revised our proposal to consolidate (and expand!) all the highest value opportunities inside our “basic” proposal. This removes a proposed “extended” scope of work.
See the “Strategy Overview” in section 0.3 and “NameGraph, NameAI, NameGuard, and NameKit” in section 4.1.7 above for related details.
4.3. Second-Year Stream Scope of Work
The ENS ecosystem changes fast. The details of specifically what may be the most impactful Target Deliverables to create value for ENS more than a year from now are likely to change.
What doesn’t change is our team’s “north star” of identifying key high-value needs in ENS and then working to solve them. We follow an opportunistic and pragmatic approach to optimise for value creation.
The scope for the second-year of our budget would include an equal or greater scope of work as the first-year. On a rolling basis, upon the delivery of our quarterly reports, we will maintain a roadmap of Target Deliverables extending at least 2 quarters into the future for each quarter in the second-year.
Target Deliverables in a second-year can confidently be assumed to include continued high-value enhancements to each of our 8 ENS Infrastructure projects in addition to new valuable ENS infrastructure project opportunities that emerge over time.