Help us write Grin's Mission statement!

Governance
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@midipoet Ok… so if I quote you quoting me quoting you this thread is going to devolve into nonsense lol. Therefor, here’s my $0.02…

  • Whatever the intent or purpose of Grin is, it should be stated clearly.
  • Whatever the motivations and incentives are for Grin (current and ongoing development/support), it should be stated clearly so that everyone can be on the same page with aligned incentives and expectations rather than drama and confusion.
  • The process for voicing ideas and coming to consensus needs to be clear for anyone who wants to participate.

@lehnberg in the Grin governance meeting last week it sounded like you had a plan to help herd the ideas in this thread? During that meeting I also volunteered to help with that effort to create a clearer process for anyone who wants to participate in brainstorming and decision making and add such to the docs and forums. Did you have a plan for how that looks, and/or, do you want to start a thread to sketch out a process to aggregate ideas (so that everyone’s voice is heard), determine what the top few ideas are (signal > noise), and then attaching to each idea an agenda item in the bi-monthly meetings so that people can show up to share their ideas or delegate someone else to do so?

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One of the first things worth discussing is the purposes of a mission statement, which are two-fold:

  1. To effectively communicate to new adopters, in a succinct fashion what the project hopes to achieve.
  2. To act as a litmus test/guiding light, for decisions within the project.

To this end, it’s important for us to have a well defined mission statement, that is not only actionable, but, measurable and achievable.

We need to be able to ask questions like:

  • Does this align with our goals?
  • Is this a priority?
  • Have we advanced the mission in a tangible way?
  • Can we define that our goal is reached.

To create open electronic cash for all, without censorship or restrictions.

I think some of the challenges in the current statement include:

  • “To Create” - I don’t think this is the mission. At least from what I’ve read it doesn’t feel like the mission. Creating this crypto is a tool to achieve that mission, but, is not in and of itself a mission.

  • Cash: Cash is by definition the physical manifestation of a monetary system of wealth, also cash is technically has only partial fungibility as it is possible for me to return you the exact same $20 bill you gave me, and for them to have different values due to serial numbers, years, wear and tear etc. Since these unique properties do not exist for Grin, there is no collectable sub-component too it.

  • For all: The phrase seems a little weak and perhaps utopian. I don’t think it can drive any mission. Plus, it would be unachievable. Not even cash reaches all people. Is there a subset of people we care more about? Is there a way to express that the ecosystem is open to anyone but doesn’t need to reach everyone?

  • Without censorship: I like this mantra, but once again I’m not sure it is captured here. It’s also hard for us to measure, and something that only applies to a subset of individuals who currently feel censored.

  • Restrictions: It’s not true that there are no restrictions, there will be some technical ones. I also worry that the phrase “without censorship and restriction” has negative connotations in the mainstream.

To that end, here are two different phrases I’ve been playing around with.

Grin’s goal:

“To raise the standards of freedom through a lightweight, private, and simple medium of exchange.”

“To empower financial self-sovereignty, through a private, simple and open medium of exchange.”

We can:

  • Measure how self-sovereign people are, or how free they feel.
  • It moves away from the messaging of cash.
  • We can clearly ask questions of “does this advance our mission to improve freedom” “does it improve our mission of financial self-sovereignty” and have yes or no questions that drive product priorities.
  • The goal is not completed by the simple creation of the tool, but requires out communities long term investment in adoption, and ecosystem growth.
  • It communicates the key values of the mission, without being too political, emotional or counter-culture, allowing a wider audience reach.

I’d love to hear any feedback, or what people like/don’t like in the word choices so I can continue to propose some more ideas.

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This is much better. Will edit this comment later with more thoughts.

Great criteria.

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I agree with your points, a mission statement should be clear and practical, and I see it as a public “utility function” so to speak. Here is some feedback:

I think “raise the standards” is too vague, not sure what word is most appropriate. In my opinion, your second suggestion is much better:

The only thing I would replace is medium of exchange for currency. MoE is at least a subset of “currency”, some would argue it’s an exact synonym. Regardless, Grin will be whatever its users make it out to be and the term “currency” is broader, simpler, and smoother to the ear (at least to mine!).

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Coming back to this thread now!

Decision process

With this discussion having been open for ~6 weeks, and as a follow up from last week’s Governance meeting, I’d like to see if we can boil down proposals into a couple of concrete suggestions. With an emphasis on the Mission statement.

These could then be discussed at the Dec 18 Governance meeting and see if we could achieve some sort of rough consensus around one. If we don’t manage to conclude in that meeting, we take it back to the drawing board work a bit more on it, and float it at a future meeting. After the 18th, there are another 2-3 governance meetings before mainnet.

In terms of short-listing proposals, let’s see if we can keep discussion in this thread, and I can move proposals over to this GitHub issue where we can try to keep things a bit more tidy. Keep the long elaborations in this thread, and let’s do clean proposals in the issue.

Personal comments / my own summary

Going in chronological order on what’s been raised.

Key thing to keep in mind

We’re going to have to agree on the minimal common denominator here. We’re not all going to get exactly what we want from this statement. Rather it’s something most of us can agree is something we should strive towards. So let’s all keep our minds open. :slight_smile:

Important concepts

Call-outs that have been repeated by commenters:

  • Privacy.

  • Minimalism. In design, in security assumptions, in transactions left on the blockchain. :wink:

  • Scalability.

  • Fairness. In its launch. In its mining. In its reward schedule. In its organisation.

  • Neutrality. Grin can be used for good, can be used for bad. Just like a hammer, or a kitchen knife. Grin is a tool, that comes to life in the hands of the user.

  • Freedom.

Sensitive words

Words that have loaded meaning, that we may want to stay away from as part of the statement:

  • “cash” was used in my original suggestion because it’s easy to understand what cash is for the non-technical. It also implies fungibility and privacy, but not perfectly so, and has its own limitations. But cash is also outdated as others have pointed out. And are we really “only” trying to build an electronic form of cash? Or are we more ambitious than that?

  • “democratic” implies certain political values and beliefs, which we probably will struggle to agree on.

  • “anarchic” same as above.

  • “private” can be easy to misinterpret. I.e. “we’re building private cash”. Is the cash privacy preserving, or is it private as in something made by the private sector?

  • “for all” will it really be for all? Or is it just another of saying that it’s open for anyone to participate in?

  • ”restrictions” As been pointed out there are restrictions, in particular technical ones.

  • “create” As others point out, it’s not in and of itself a mission.

Questions

  • Are we more than “just” a currency? Are we beyond transactions?

  • Does it matter if we touch on the same things as other projects like bitcoin, Monero, etc?

Proposals I would like to highlight

With my comments, and in no order of preference:

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Wasn’t really a proposal, but should be, as ‘change’ is almost a pun here (!). :slight_smile:
“Grin is the change we want to receive when we’re at the store.” haha.

Grin is net neutrality for money.

Short, concise, and really powerful. If only ‘net neutrality’ was a word that more people knew what it meant. Perhaps that doesn’t matter?

Grin: private, trustless digital currency. Minimal by design, open to all.

Reads nice. Not really a mission perhaps, but more a statement. Maybe it can be rewritten so it becomes one?

To empower financial self-sovereignty, through a private, simple and open medium of exchange.

Very nice. Is there a way to make “financial self-sovereignty” sound less “stiff” and less like it came out of my political science text book at uni? If so, it could become even more powerful I think. How could we simplify?

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as sensitive words, i would advice against the use of terms like “currency” and “white paper” too. Stay away from adjectives and superlatives as well.

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Grin: private, trustless digital currency. Minimal by design, open to all.

can become:

Grin is a private, trustless medium of exchange; minimal in design and inclusive of all.

To empower financial self-sovereignty, through a private, simple and open medium of exchange.

could become:

To empower financial autonomy through a private, minimal, open medium of exchange.

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I had considered “financial autonomy” instead of financial self-sovereignty, but it doesn’t sound quite as emotionally weighted that way.

I could see what you mean about it sounding stiff, but I think it also sounds weighted, as if “hey its a big deal that I be self sovereign”

I think when we use the word autonomy currently, it’s diluted by all the “autonomous cars” etc in the startup world right now.

The other challenge, is technically you can be autonomous without being self-sovereign which most people are as they are in systems where they make decisions as autonomous moral agents, but, are not the sole sovereign in their system due to systems of government.

That’s not to say that’s a bad thing, just, that autonomy isn’t quite the same level.

Autonomy is a cool thing robots have.

Self-sovereignty is a little bit stiff, but, it is stiff because it is important, worth fighting for, and worthy mission.

That’s my two cents anyway.

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Maybe freedom is a simpler choice of word instead of sovereignty or autonomy?

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Also privacy-focused instead of private. Less ambiguous.

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@AdamSC1 some thoughts.

To empower financial self-sovereignty, through a private, simple and open medium of exchange.

  1. Is there a difference between self-sovereignty and just sovereignty? Either you are sovereign, or you are not. And doesn’t being sovereign, imply that you are self-sovereign?
  2. There are other words that can replace sovereignty beyond autonomous. How about “independence” for example, or “freedom”?
  3. I agree with @midipoet, “minimal” or “minimalistic” might be better than simple.
  4. Medium of exchange? Or transaction system. Or maybe just transactions?

Alternative take:

Enable financial sovereignty through minimal and open transactions that protect your privacy.

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@kargakis we think alike! :slight_smile:

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I wouldn’t reduce Grin to transactions. I like medium of exchange but I am wondering if that is still reducing Grin from what it aspires to be: money.

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  1. Is there a difference between self-sovereignty and just sovereignty? Either you are sovereign, or you are not. And doesn’t being sovereign, imply that you are self-sovereign?

The challenge is there are two dictionary definitions for sovereignty.

One being self-rule, the other being “a supreme power or authority” - this makes them ambiguous, which is why I had suggested self-sovereignty to denote that the individual is free and in control.

  1. There are other words that can replace sovereignty beyond autonomous. How about “independence” for example, or “freedom”?

I think those words are more complicated, consider that “financial freedom” is often used to communicate being free of debt, rather than being free to engaging in a financial system.

  1. I agree with @midipoet, “minimal” or “minimalistic” might be better than simple.

I would almost go back to the word “lightweight” instead of ‘minimal’ - I think the challenge here becomes colloquial.

While in this context we know we are referring to the complexity and weight of the technical system, to the average individual it may instead be communicated as we are doing the “minimum” or that it is a minimum guard against these things.

  1. Medium of exchange? Or transaction system. Or maybe just transactions?

Transactions are the trades themselves, a transaction system could be something as simple as an auction house, a medium of exchange is money as it facilitates the exchange without the counter-party needing goods.

The Grin blockchain is technically a transaction system, the the trades are transactions, and the Grin currency is therefore a medium of exchange.

The one other thing worth noting is the switch from “Empower” to “Enable”. I think they are both not right the word choice because they are binary.

Technically in launching Grin we would have enabled financial sovereignty. There is nothing to improve, grow or change.

All of this leads me to a new take:

“Improve financial self-sovereignty through an open and lightweight medium of exchange, that protects your privacy.”

Now it is:

  • We aim to improve financial self-sovereignty, we acknowledge it already exists but it is complicated and not full-proof.
  • We are going to do that by creating a lightweight and open medium of exchange.
  • It will also protect your privacy.

We are doing X, through clauses Y and Z. It is measurable, deliverable and clear enough to define product decisions against.

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I wouldn’t reduce Grin to transactions. I like medium of exchange but I am wondering if that is still reducing Grin from what it aspires to be: money.

That’s not so much a reduction as a promotion.

Money is one thing, money. It is is also a type of medium of exchange.

However, there are many mediums of exchange.

“Money” assumes that you will never have any other type of financial transaction or trade, or credit or debt within a system.

A medium of exchange retains flexibility for individuals to decide how to utilize the value of that system.

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@AdamSC1 much better!

  • Like “lightweight” as well.
  • “Improve” good as well. “Strengthen”, or maybe even “Reclaim”, to hint that we once had this, but lost it as the economy transitioned into digital?
  • Understand self-sovereignty, but feels still too difficult for my taste.
  • The problem with medium of exchange is that nobody knows what that means. We can’t attach an investopedia link alongside our mission statement. :confused:

It needs to be so simple that I can say it to my mum and she gets it!

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I don’t think I agree. Money includes all types of transactions and all mediums of exchange partially or fully function as money. Money is more than a medium of exchange. The standard textbook functions include store of value and unit of account and the definition sociologists have come up with is that money is what is used for denominating debt. Medium of exchange leaves out all of the rest but it probably doesn’t matter because most people don’t really come close to understand money.

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It needs to be so simple that I can say it to my mum and she gets it!

It’s worth discerning the difference here between a mission statement and a tagline.

A tagline needs to be simple enough for your Mum.

A mission statement needs to be precise and clear enough that it can clearly settle the question of “is this within our mission?”

Perhaps its worth splitting it out.

Our mission statement being something more precise and appearing in ‘About Pages’ and whitepapers, but a simple tagline such as:

“Digital Finance; Made Private.”

Something of that sort.

I wouldn’t want to dilute the value of the mission statement by trying to shoehorn it into fitting both goals.

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I don’t think I agree. Money includes all types of transactions and all mediums of exchange partially or fully function as money. Money is more than a medium of exchange. The standard textbook functions include store of value and unit of account and the definition sociologists have come up with is that money is what is used for denominating debt. Medium of exchange leaves out all of the rest but it probably doesn’t matter because most people don’t really come close to understand money.

I’m not sure I understand the argument here?

Money is fully a medium of exchange, but only one possible medium of exchange.

But, you are saying we should limit and dilute the mission statement, because most people don’t understand money?

They also don’t fully understand the nuance of privacy, freedom, or probably digital assets, but, we wouldn’t throw those out too?

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I’m not talking about a tagline. But yeah, simple is always better. And harder to write. :slight_smile:

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