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A Development Roadmap in Context

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A roadmap in open source development communities, such as those that drive permissionless blockchain software and networks, is a discussion among active contributors. The discussion asks of the contributors:

1. What are you working on?
2. When do you expect to have that completed?
3. What do you hope to work on?
4. When do you hope to have that started or completed?
5. What are you considering for the future?
6. How would you rank your personal development priorities for the project?
7. How would you rank development priorities for the project at large?
8. Where is more contribution sought and in what ways?

The discussion is then distilled and organized into a document.

Gridcoin's roadmap discussion has taken place over the past several weeks and I am thrilled to present the resulting document:

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The Development Roadmap of the Gridcoin Network

Taking stock and looking forward

September 2019

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Since the Release of the Previous Roadmap

Previous Roadmap

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Before we look to the future, I believe it is important to acknowledge software and network developments of the past. Below is a breakdown of these developments both planned in the previous roadmap and in addition.

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Milestones

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Autotools - Closed on Jun 3, 2018
Annie Sue - Closed on Jul 24, 2018
Betsy - Closed on Oct 19, 2018
Camilla - Closed on Apr 3, 2019
Denise - Closed on May 10, 2019
Elizabeth - Closed on Aug 23, 2019

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Developers With Commits

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denravonska
iFoggz
James Cowens
Tomas Brod
The Charlatan
skcin
Cy Rossignol
caraka
Pythonix
Peppernrino
barton2526
a123b
personthingman2
michalkania
laanwj
letol
confuest
chrstphrchvz
RoboticMind
G-UK
smoe
scribblemaniac
rsparlin
linnaea

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Major Developments

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Stability
All Milestones

• Steady superblock creation (ravon, jim owens)
• Mitigate forking and reorganization issues (ravon)
• Increased Syncing Speeds (ravon)
• Bug fixes (ravon, jim owens, ifoggz, cycy)

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CBR (jim owens, jringo)
GitHub Issue
Poll
Betsy Milestone

• Develop an economic system that
  • Incentivizes block creation
  • Increases network security and stability
  • Creates an intentional economic model to expand on in the future

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The Gridcoin Oracle System (jim owens, ifoggz, tomasbrod, ravon)
Release Post
Denise Milestone

• Develop an earned research reward distribution mechanism that scales to tens of thousands of beacons
• NN Renamed and Ported to C++
• Develop a neural net that can operate on both Linux and Windows clients
• Rename the neural net to something more appropriate, at least outside of the codebase.
• Develop an efficient superblock creation mechanism that ensures we do not DoS BOINC project servers.

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Outreach (jringo, whoisterencelee, roboticmind, nateonthenet, Jim Owens)

• Introduction Documents (ongoing)
  Updated Gridcoin Whitepaper
• Marketing Documents and Resources (ongoing)
  Gridcoin Highlights
• Blue Paper (ongoing)
  GRC V8 Bluepaper
• Gridcoin.us v2.0 (ongoing)
  Gridcoin.world proposal

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Miscellaneous

• Polling definitions and parameters (jringo)
  Polling Definitions and Parameters Proposal
  • Develop clearly defined types of polls
  • Develop clearly defined requirements for a proposal for each poll type to be valid
  • Develop clearly define validation parameters that make a poll valid

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Major Developments Not Found On The Previous Roadmap

• UTXO Optimization (jim owens)
  PR 1244

• Side-Staking (jim owens, jringo, Pinkcoin)
  Issue 202
  PR 1265

• Syncing Optimization (ravon)
  Release Post

• Preparation for Team Requirement Removal (jim owens, cycy)
  Elizabeth Milestone

• Infrastructure Development (jringo)
  • Define the network and critical aspects
  • Establish and focus channels of communication
  • Define and develop a brand
  • Lay foundation for outreach and marketing

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Looking Forward

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Below are expected software and non-software developments. Developments are not limited to those described, and not all described developments may see completion.

If you believe that you can contribute to any of the listed developments, please reach out to a developer or the community via GitHub, Slack, or Discord. Links have been provided.

Software Repo, for code development
Community Repo, for all non-code development

Slack Invite

Discord

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Expected Software Developments

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Team Requirement Removal
Most required mechanisms implemented. Expected with Fern release
Fern Milestone

• Open GRC rewards to all BOINC participants by removing the Gridcoin team requirement

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Whitelist/Greylist Automation
Most required mechanisms implemented. Final implementation required

• Remove the need for a whitelist administrator by translating the whitelist/greylist rules into a code-is-law algorithm run by the Gridcoin software

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Manual Reward Claims
In early architecture development. Design input sought
An Introduction to MRC
The Gridcoin Fireside #14 - MRC

• Develop a way for crunchers to receive their earned research rewards without being required to stake
• Utilize MRC-Fees to bootstrap a treasury system

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UX/UI Improvements
512,000 GRC bounty for implementation of the new GUI. Ongoing development
New GUI Assets Ready to Go
Issue 847

• Improve the overall user experience for new Gridcoin participants
• Implement the new GUI assets

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Magnitude Mechanism Improvements
In early design exploration. Input sought

• Explore and possibly redefine how magnitude is distributed among BOINC projects and crunchers

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GRC Distribution Mechanism Improvements
In early design exploration. Input sought

• Explore and possibly redefine how GRC is minted and distributed

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Treasury System
Basic skeleton outlined. Design and implementation input sought
Issue 202
The Gridcoin Fireside #17 - Building a Treasury

• Develop a protocol-based mechanism to fund future developments, BOINC projects, initiatives, and scientific endeavors

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Simplified Multi-Sig

• Develop a simplified UX for multi-sig wallet creation and use

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Code Rebase (continuing work with progressive developments)

• Upgrade the codebase with the most recent Bitcoin/Peercoin/Blackcoin/etc. developments and reintegrate GRC specific mechanisms

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Software Priorities

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Priority illustrates how current developers are allocating their time and energy. An item's priority alone does not indicated an estimated time to completion.

High Priority

• Team Requirement Removal
• Manual Reward Claims
• UX/UI Improvements

Medium Priority

• Whitelist/Greylist Automation
• Treasury System
• Simplify Multi-Sig

Exploration Priority

• Magnitude Mechanism Improvements
• GRC Distribution Mechanism Improvements

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Timing Expected Software Developments

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It is impossible to time the release of a development that is not already complete. As such, developments have been ranked based on a combination of their estimated difficulty and priority ranking.

Short Term

• Team Requirement Removal
• Whitelist/Greylist Automation

Mid Term

• Manual Reward Claims
• UX/UI Improvements

Long Term

• Magnitude Mechanism Improvements
• GRC Distribution Mechanism Improvements
• Treasury System

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Expected Non-software Developments

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All expected non-software developments will benefit from any community participation. Please do not hesitate to step forward to volunteer or, if you have provable reputation, reasonable requests for funding.

Short Term

• Increased Marketing and Engagement

Mid Term

• Increased Advertising
• Increased Outreach
• Increased Documentation
• Tutorials and Visual Resources

Long Term

• Further Bluepaper Development

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Development Discussions

Development discussions are recurring topics in conversations among active contributors. Their basic principles are still being worked out.

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Dynamic Block Rewards

• Develop an economic model and algorithm that can control a monetary-fiscal-economic network through a permissionless blockchain-based protocol

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Additional Superblocks/Abstraction Layer for Additional Computations

• Develop distribution economics and technology for multiple incentive layers

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Conclusion

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It is always a pleasure to collect and organize the visions, musings, and developments of the folks working on Gridcoin. Whether it's for the science, for the future of crypto, for the challenge, or for the hell of it, everyone seems excited for the future and to thoroughly enjoy developing the project.

Personally, I can't wait to begin a new phase of growth with a steady base infrastructure, no BOINC team requirement, and a greater focus on marketing, outreach, and long-term infrastructure, game/network theory, and economic development.

For science!
j