Summary
The Obol Collective SQUAD Goals Framework fosters decentralized decision-making through strategic, quantifiable, unified, achievable, and decentralized goals. This adaptable framework guides governance token holders in aligning short and medium-term goals with the Collective’s long-term mission.
The SQUAD framework ensures community-driven decision-making remains at the heart of Obol’s growth by leveraging a transparent and iterative process. Success is measured by establishing publicly available one-year goals that guide Obol’s contributors and ecosystem participants.
What does SQUAD stand for?
In the Obol Collective, governance is more than just a system—it’s a coordinated movement driven by contributors working together toward a decentralized future. The term SQUAD embodies this spirit, reflecting the core principles that define Obol’s governance framework:
Strategic: Every decision is guided by a clear, long-term vision.
Quantifiable: Progress is measured through transparent, data-driven objectives.
Unified: Governance aligns diverse stakeholders under shared goals.
Achievable: Goals are designed to be actionable and realistic.
Decentralized: Power is distributed, ensuring a governance model shaped by the community.
By adopting the SQUAD framework, Obol reinforces its commitment to collaborative, transparent, and decentralized governance, ensuring that every member of the Collective plays a meaningful role in shaping its future.
Motivation
Every governance system begins with a foundational structure—an adaptable framework that evolves through Collective participation. This framework introduces a model for open, decentralized goal-setting that is dynamic, inclusive, and iterative. Designed to align diverse stakeholders, it provides a structured yet flexible approach to establishing shared objectives, fostering long-term alignment while allowing for adaptation over time.
At its core, this framework operates as a decentralized decision-making model that enables transparent goal-setting and consent-based governance. It establishes an open submission and selection process where contributors propose one-year objectives that align with the mission of the Collective. This process follows a structured cycle—beginning with a notice period, followed by submissions, discussions, and ultimately, a community-driven selection mechanism. Through this iterative model, goal-setting remains an ongoing, evolving process rather than a static directive.
The framework is inspired by decentralized network principles, drawing parallels to consensus mechanisms where proposals act as modular data blocks and token holders serve as validators, determining collective direction. While the initial focus is on establishing goals, future iterations can expand to include mechanisms for tracking progress, assessing outcomes, and refining the governance process itself.
This framework is not a rigid prescription but a dynamic governance model that empowers the community to shape the Collective’s direction while maintaining alignment with its long-term mission. Through iterative refinement and collective consensus, it provides a scalable and resilient approach to decentralized governance, ensuring that objectives remain relevant, actionable, and aligned with the evolving needs of the ecosystem.
In the long term, the Obol Collective aims to operate on its own so that no individual member can interfere with or control the decision-making process. It can only operate based on the contents of the smart contracts, which all members vote on. That makes a Collective more democratic and, in theory, less likely to be corrupted than a conventional, centralized organization. Without centralized management structures, Collectives face unique challenges in setting goals, allocating resources, and assessing progress. Collectives in particular, cannot rely on conventional corporate hierarchies or managerial frameworks to drive alignment among contributors. Instead, they must develop alternative models that facilitate coordination without imposing rigid control.
A key challenge is ensuring that a diverse, decentralized network of contributors can act autonomously while remaining aligned with the broader mission, vision, and purpose of the Obol Collective. The goal is not to enforce top-down directives but to create a shared directional framework—one that allows different actors to “swim in their own lane” while still moving toward a common destination with minimal friction.
One approach to achieving this is to establish a framework for SQUAD goals, making them transparent and accessible to all contributors. By setting one-year goals tied directly to the Collective’s mission, this framework provides an easy-to-follow reference for decision-making without requiring centralized intervention. Participants can independently align their contributions with the DAO’s direction, ensuring coherence across the ecosystem while preserving autonomy.
This model creates a low-friction mechanism for consensus, where contributors who align with the reference goals may find it easier to justify funding requests from the Collective treasury. While the reference framework serves as a strong guide, it does not preclude the submission of proposals outside of it, allowing flexibility to respond to emergent opportunities and unforeseen challenges. That said, well-defined, adaptable goals should naturally be resilient to dynamic changes.
This framework does not prescribe how progress should be measured or how resources should be allocated—those decisions can emerge organically through separate governance processes and proposals aligned with voted SQUAD Goals. However, by serving as a structured yet adaptable coordination mechanism, this framework offers a scalable solution for decentralized goal alignment, helping Collectives navigate complexity while preserving their core values of openness, autonomy, and collective decision-making.
Benefits
For the Collective
- Reduces decision-making paralysis and streamlines governance processes.
- Attracts high-quality developers and contributors by providing a clear and structured framework for participation.
- Aligns funding decisions with well-defined goals and principles, minimizing resource waste on misaligned initiatives.
- Enhances talent acquisition by signaling a well-organized and purpose-driven ecosystem.
- Encourages open debate, thought leadership, and a culture of merit-based idea evaluation.
- Maintains focus on the most impactful priorities, ensuring sustained progress toward the Collective’s mission.
For Contributors
- Simplifies decision-making in decentralized, non-hierarchical environments.
- Provides a structured yet flexible framework that fosters innovation, feature development, and continuous improvement.
- Strengthens the Collective’s reputation as an open, transparent, and reliable collaborator.
- Empowers independent contributor groups with clearer guidance for decision-making.
- Cultivates a thriving, supportive community around new ideas and inventions.