Hi all, thanks for the comments and questions over the last few days. Lots of support in here which is great to see.
Responding to the main points below:
@kilout and @Titan-Node - the demand side:
when does the demand focused SPE land, and what does it cover?
During the last roadmap session on the treasury reward cut, it was pretty clear that the consensus was to to unlock that funding as fast as possible to fuel demand growth.
We therefore want to make sure that demand is the full focus of a separate, upcoming SPE. The exact shape and resources will be decided after a new roadmap session held later this month.
The sequencing is deliberate though. My view is we need the network engineering resourced before we start onboarding demand and loading the network. Bringing demand onto a network that isn’t ready - both technically and for it is a worse outcome than being a few weeks behind on GTM. Ive seen us do the former before with the Transformation SPE and it didn’t work.
@hthillman - failure and recourse:
If a 3hr task fails at the 2.5hr, I’m out of luck and out of money.
Agreed, and flagged to Mike for the Build track. It’s on the radar already, the open question is the exact implementation rather than whether we do it. Once we have a first draft of the milestones in place, I would request that you speak directly to Mike.
@brad-ad-astra-video - pricing:
I would like to see the live-runners export pricing in USD in addition to or rather than wei
Yes. Live Runner sits with Josh so Ill flag it to him to work into the final milestones. Please feel free to follow up with Josh directly on this too.
@dob - the 2.0 link:
the proposal actually understates the connection to Livepeer 2.0
Thanks Doug, appreciate you laying out the connection to 2.0. It is designed to be 100% aligned with this SPE driving the adoption of the new protocol upgrades at the network level. Many of the milestones wont be finalised until mid September, once the litepaper requirements are clear.
@Authority_Null - on organisation
Livepeer feels more split and disorganized now more than ever, with a lack of one identity and goal
At this stage of our developement (pre-PMF), I would argue we cannot afford to be fully decentralised. Without the firm foundations and a unified vision, a decentralised organisation can become fragmented and the network can easily become difficult to participate in.
As Livepeer Inc has become increasingly focused on demand bets (and rightly so!), I think the network stack has suffered a crisis of ownership / stewardship. This SPE is aiming to bring back the unity and organisation around the network, providing a Schelling point for all discussions on what should be included in the core network stack - and what shouldn’t.
@lpt.moudi.eth - on budget:
Kind of thinking its a fairly substantial budget
Yes this is a significant step up from the previous budget for the pilot SPE. This is intended, as this SPE aims to take on a broader amount with a higher degree of accountability for some of the key engineering leaders within the ecosystem. Per track: one owner, one outcome, one budget is a direct attempt at fixing it.
The SPE also aims to fund much of the core contributor community to ensure that we can both: (a) retain key long-term engineers for the project; and (b) attract new talent wherever possible.
A final note: any funds which are not used from the SPE will either be carried over to the future SPEs or delivered back to the treasury / other public goods initiatives.
Where this goes next
The thing I care most about at this stage is getting this right directionally. Over the coming weeks, the track owners will then firm up and publish the key milestones based on the requirements that come out of the Livepeer 2.0 Litepaper.
Ill be moving ahead with the formal proposal in the coming days. A first draft of milestones will go with. Those milestones will then be finalised over the coming weeks as the Livepeer 2.0 is published. This SPE has to adapt to it, and the litepaper requirements will change what some of these tracks deliver.
The most important thing right now is having the funds available so the work can start. Scope and milestones will keep moving. Capital thats not there when the tracks are ready to spend it is the harder problem to fix.
Thanks again, and happy to answer any more questions at the Water Cooler this eveing 