Catalyst vs Infrastructure vs Cardano Contributors

Defining the differences between Catalyst, Infrastructure and Cardano contributors

The following compares Catalyst contributors, Infrastructure contributors and Cardano contributors against their focus areas, responsibilities, roles, stewardship & delegated authority and contributor budgets.

Focus areas

  • Catalyst contributors - Catalyst contributors focus on the support and improvement of the Catalyst ecosystem which means tools and processes used for the governance and distribution of the Cardano treasury funding.

  • Infrastructure contributors - Infrastructure contributors focuses on supporting the Cardano ecosystem such as the developer ecosystem, stake pool node operation, CIP process and governance moderation efforts around parameter changes.

  • Cardano contributors - Cardano contributors can focus on any area of the ecosystem. They could also support Catalyst and Infrastructure contributor efforts if help was most needed there.

Responsibilities

  • Catalyst contributors - Responsible for the support and improvement of the Catalyst ecosystem. These responsibilities include supporting, coordinating, governing, building, maintaining and delegating tasks around the Catalyst ecosystem.

  • Infrastructure contributors - Responsible for the support and improvement of the Cardano ecosystem which can mean supporting the developer ecosystem, stake pool operation, CIP process and helping moderate governance efforts for parameter changes. These responsibilities include supporting, coordinating, governing, building, maintaining and delegating tasks around the Cardano ecosystem.

  • Cardano contributors - Responsible for supporting the wider ecosystem and helping with whichever initiatives and projects that would produce the most impact. These responsibilities include supporting, coordinating and building in the wider Cardano ecosystem.

Roles

  • Catalyst contributors - There are 7 roles including development, coordination, analysis, QA & auditing, marketing, product and design.

  • Infrastructure contributors - There are 3 roles including development, coordination and analysis.

  • Cardano contributors - There are 11 roles added as suggestions that contributors could focus on including development, coordination, analysis, design, product, content creation, education, QA & auditing and marketing. Using the suggested roles is optional, the contributor could fully self determine and outline what they intend to do as a contributor.

Stewardship & delegated authority

  • Catalyst contributors - Over time Catalyst contributors can be delegated more authority to manage ecosystem processes and systems instead of IOG to move control closer to the community.

  • Infrastructure contributors - Over time Infrastructure contributors can be delegated more authority to support and moderate the CIP process and governance organisation efforts for parameter changes where that is useful.

  • Cardano contributors - Cardano contributors would not be delegated stewardship and authority over ecosystem systems and processes. They focus on just being elected to contribute to the ecosystem. Stewardship and delegated authority options could however be likely as an area of exploration in the future.

Contributor budgets

  • Catalyst contributors - Catalyst contributors can be given an increasing responsibility to moderate and support the ecosystem. Both the value of someones contributions as well as the amount of responsibility a contributor takes on can both influence the budget that is fair for these contributors.

  • Infrastructure contributors - Infrastructure contributors can be given an increasing responsibility to moderate and support the Cardano CIP process and parameters. Both the value of someones contributions as well as the amount of responsibility a contributor takes on can both influence the budget that is fair for these contributors.

  • Cardano contributors - Community contributors initially aren't given increasing responsibility like Catalyst and Infrastructure contributors. This means their budget value is only determined based on the value of their contributions.

Summary

  • Catalyst and Infrastructure contributors have a higher level of responsibility and focus on supporting key parts of the ecosystem. Certain responsibilities will increasingly emerge. With increasing responsibility the budgets attached to these contributors will likely need to reflect that effort and commitment to those areas. Efforts and roles are more guided for Catalyst and Infrastructure contributors so that the ecosystem has the right skills to push the ecosystem forward in these core areas.

  • Cardano contributors is much more fluid and puts little responsibility onto the contributor. The value of the contributor is fully influenced by the decisions they make on where to support the ecosystem.

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