LONDON (Bywire News) - With the new Chief Delegates getting their feet well and truly under the table, it’s a chance to look back at the first session to see how Eden has changed since its earliest days. It’s fair to say things have changed. During their time as Chief Delegates, Eden has evolved in scope, and so has the ENF. We’ve seen the arrival of Helios, Fractally and Mandel. We’ve seen two seasons of Pomelo crowdfunding grants and more support pumped into the system than ever before. As such the landscape which they pass on is very different from six months ago.
One last time, the first list of Chief Delegates is:
- Aaron Cox: Co-Founder Greymass.
- Chris Barnes: 1st Eden Mock Election winner.
- Jesse Jaffe: EOS Bees Queen.
- John Williamson: Founder Violet Garden.
- Brandon Lovejoy: Multimedia Creator.
- Randall Roland: Founder of EOS Support
For the most part, this was a meeting to look back on what had gone before and consider future plans. Although a few of the delegates did participate in the election, most feel the time had come to hand over. They all have additional responsibilities which are taking up their time.
One good thing about having a leadership role, as Aaron Cox says, is that it gives you a soapbox. Relationship building wise it has been valuable, but in terms of rewards, they could be higher.
Charles Barnes said he had most enjoyed the relationships they have formed. It’s a community. It’s an attempt at a decentralised real human community. Unlike much in the world of blockchain, they are real people who are visible on camera, broadcasting from their homes every week. The fact that you can be yourself is something which is not always present in the crypto sector and another thing that makes Eden unique.
What will the next group of chief delegates be like? Will they be there to take part in the governance structure or will they have projects for which they want funding?
How rewarding is taking part as a Chief Delegate
One of the questions they fielded was how rewarding should the role of Chief Delegate be. One of the proposals they’ve suggested is flattening the distribution of the pay which means there may be more funding available at the delegate level.
However, there remain questions over whether the Chief Delegates should be allowed to become full time with their own wages. It’s a demanding job and having people focus on this while balancing another role can be difficult. Giving them the funds to be able to focus completely on Eden – at least in these early days of Eden – could be worthwhile.
Charles Barnes suggested that while things remained high level, with the chief delegates their work could be done within their current time constraints. “Right now,” he said, “it’s high level where our purpose is to increase the value of EOS.” If it was more direct then you could increase the time you need to devote to it.
The question would also depend on what kind of people you want to be Chief Delegates. As Randal Rolland said, if you want the biggest names to be Chief Delegates, such as Dan Larimer, you’d have to consider how much their time would be worth. His question would be answered to an extent when Brock Pierce, one of the biggest hitters of all in the EOS ecosystem was elected as a Chief Delegate.
How much time does it take?
Much of these discussions will revolve around how much time this takes. Including these calls, they say it takes between four and eight hours each week. Even when you are working on your projects you are still doing your chief delegate duty because you are doing the project you were elected to do. There is also an element in which you are always on call, checking Telegram and Discord channels to engage with the community. It’s a big job and a major undertaking for anyone who puts their name forward.
Growing Eden or EOS?
Another question for the next set of Chief Delegates will be how much they should focus on growing Eden and how much on EOS. The answer would appear to lie in the mission statement in which they say the purpose of Eden is specifically to create value for EOS.
As such, the two should be linked. Any work done to improve Eden should be done with a view to building the EOS ecosystem as a whole. With questions surrounding whether or not Eden should branch out and become its own entity, it will need to maintain focus on that original purpose if it is to fulfil its vision.
One to the next set
Looking to the future, therefore, there is much to be done. Issues remain such as the problems surrounding the block producers – something Chris Barnes has been working on. The sheer number of block producers who cannot be contacted will be a problem that may get worse as Eden grows. This, and other issues, will be front and centre of the agenda for the second set of Chief Delegates.
(Writing by Tom Cropper, editing by Klaudia Fior)