https://gov.optimism.io/t/season-6-mission-request-voting-guide/8122
What’s a Mission?
To understand Missions, you first need to understand Intents. Intents are directional goals that allow the Collective to align on near term targets. At the start of each Season, delegates approve a budget to support work under each Intent.
Missions are specific initiatives aimed at achieving one of the Intents. They are tightly scoped and can be accomplished start-to-finish in less than 12 months.
Mission Requests outline specific initiatives delegates want to see built for the Collective. Teams can apply for a grant to fulfill a Mission Request and the Grants Council evaluates which applicants will receive grants.
In Season 6, Delegates will be asked to approve Mission Requests proposed by the Grants Council and the Collective Feedback Commission.
Mission Requests will be proposed under each Intent in a suggested rank order. Delegates may either follow this suggested order, by voting down the line, or they may chose to override these suggestions and vote in their own preferred order. Below is an example of how ranking works.
How Does Approval Ranking Work?
Mission Requests will be approval ranked based on the number of “Yes” votes they receive. Approval ranking is a voting mechanism that allows each delegate to cast a vote with their full voting power, on as many options as desired.
Each Mission proposal must receive a minimum number of “yes” votes, equal to 51% of the 30% quorum. Any Mission Request that does not receive > required number of “yes” votes will not be approved.
The top ranked Mission Requests, above the minimum number of “yes” votes, will be accepted in rank order until the Intent Budget is fully allocated. If a Mission Request would push the Intent Budget over the approved amount, it will not be included and neither will any of the budget requests ranked beneath it.
The main point of approval ranking is to prioritize work, not to optimize for complete allocation of the budget. Prioritization is a larger challenge for DAOs than fully allocating budgets as DAOs typically struggle to allocate budgets sustainably, allocating insufficient resources to core work and allocating too many resources to non-core work.
Intent Budgets will be calculated based on the total amount of OP that could be allocated via the Request. Any Intent Budgets left over will be returned to the Governance Fund.
Example: Imagine the following scenario:
- Votable supply = 20M OP
- Quorum = 6M OP (30% votable supply)
- Minimum yes vote requirement = 3.1M OP (51% of quorum)
- Total budget for Intent #10 = 200k OP
- Mission Request 1: Ask for 50k OP, 5M OP votes (all are Yes votes)
- Mission Request 2: Ask for 50k OP, 2M OP votes (all are Yes votes)
- Mission Request 3: Ask for 50k OP, 3.4M OP votes (all are Yes votes)
- Mission Request 4: Ask for 75k OP, 3.3M OP votes (all are Yes votes)
- Mission Request 5: Ask for 35k OP, 3.2M OP votes (all are Yes votes)
- Mission Request 6: Ask for 25k OP, 3.1M OP votes (all are Yes votes.)
Outcome: Mission Request 1, 3, and 4 would move forward, as they were all above quorum and within the 200k OP budget. Mission Request 2 did not meet the quorum requirement. Mission Request 5 met quorum but was over the budget allocated to this Intent (including Mission Request 5 would have pushed the total to 210k OP rather than the approved 200k OP). Mission Request 6 wasn’t ranked high enough to qualify.
Note: If an Intent Budget is over/underallocated, it should be viewed as an opportunity to assess several potential factors to improve future decision making, such as:
- Whether or not reasonable/appropriate budgets were proposed for each Intent
- Whether or not the Governance Fund is the optimal mechanism through which to support the initiatives proposed under each Intent
- Whether or not there were quality Mission Requests proposed under each Intent
- Whether or not any high impact initiatives did not move forward as a result of under/over allocation
How Should Delegates Think About Casting Votes?
This vote utilizes approval ranking. You may place a vote to approve any number of Missions Requests you would like to approve with your full voting power. That means, in the above example, if I am a delegate with 1M OP voting power, I could cast votes as follows:
- Mission Request 1: 1M OP (approve)
- Mission Request 2: Abstain (don’t approve)
- Mission Request 3: 1M OP (approve)
- Mission Request 4: Abstain (don’t approve)
- Mission Request 5: 1M OP (approve)
As a voter, you should vote “Yes” on the Mission Requests you think most deserve to move forward, and you should abstain from voting on Mission Requests you do not think deserve to move forward. Delegates should not vote on their own proposals, including Mission Requests they have authored and/or sponsored.
When evaluating Mission Requests, please keep in mind they:
should describe a start-to-finish initiative, not ongoing services
shouldn’t specify the team that should complete the Request
shouldn’t rely on any Foundation action or support - should not propose metagovernance changes and/or structures (such as the creation of committees and/or Councils). Please see the Path to Open Metagovernance to understand how and when those proposal rights will come online.
When Does Voting Take Place?
- Delegates are no longer required to provide approvals on Mission Request drafts!
- Delegates will approve Intent Budgets in Special Voting Cycle #23a
- Delegates will rank Mission Requests in Voting Cycle #24
- The Grants Council will do the rest! You can assist in this process by directing builders to apply for a grant [link to applicant guide]
- See the Season 6 Reflection Period Guide for additional voting details.