A Guide to Consideration Advisory Boards (CABs)
by Stacks Foundation team on October 22, 2022
What is a CAB?
Consideration Advisory Boards (CABs) are part of an ongoing effort to further expand and refine the Stacks Improvement Proposal (SIP) process (a SIP is a formal document that is utilized to propose a change to the Stacks blockchain. Any user can submit a SIP, and every SIP will be subject to the same criteria).
For every SIP consideration, there is a CAB. The duty of the CAB is to utilize their expertise to judge the merit of a SIP. A CAB is a group of people from the Stacks community that provides expert feedback on any accepted-status SIP relevant to their field. CABs offer up feedback to the whole community, and to the Steering Committee (the Steering Committee acts as a steward of the Stacks blockchain. It is primarily concerned with overseeing the Stacks blockchain evolving design, operation, and governance).
CABs help to vet SIPs and bring vetting to the community at large. This ensures that there is a decentralized process that is more robust with more voices. CABs help to bring people from the broader Stacks community into the feedback process.
For every SIP consideration, there is a CAB. The duty of the CAB is to utilize their expertise to judge the merit of a SIP. A CAB is a group of people from the Stacks community that provides expert feedback on any accepted-status SIP relevant to their field. CABs offer up feedback to the whole community, and to the Steering Committee (the Steering Committee acts as a steward of the Stacks blockchain. It is primarily concerned with overseeing the Stacks blockchain evolving design, operation, and governance).
CABs help to vet SIPs and bring vetting to the community at large. This ensures that there is a decentralized process that is more robust with more voices. CABs help to bring people from the broader Stacks community into the feedback process.
CABs + Stacks 2.1
As one example, the upcoming Stacks 2.1 upgrade (SIP-015) is reviewed and vetted by these groups of experts. After the SIP-015 documentation is written up on Github, CABs will carry out the official review and then publish their public commentary, logged on Github. CABs will inform the community of their review via various public channels such as Twitter, Stacks Forum. Between October 22nd and October 31st, CABs will be reviewing SIP-015.
Who is currently in a CAB?
Currently, there are three activated CABs as part of the Stacks SIP process. Below is a breakdown of each CAB group.
Technical CAB
Governance CAB
Economics CAB
Technical CAB
- Aaron @AaronBlankstein
- Brice @obycode (Chairperson)
- Dan @dantrevino
- Daniel @plutus_nft
- Jamil @jamilbtc
- Jesse @mrjwiley
- Mike @radicleart
- Terje @MCLIDE
- Thomas @aulneau_
Governance CAB
- Harold @CentralValleyGJ
- Jason @whoabuddydev (Chairperson)
- Juliet @JulietOberding
- Orlando @Orlando_btc
- Zero.btc @0ZeroAuthority
Economics CAB
- Dr. Chiente Hsu @RuleBasedInvest
- MattySTX @MattySTX (Chairperson)
- Pieter @aertspx
- Xan @XanDitkoff
Overview of CAB responsibilities
- On a regular basis, CAB members are giving feedback and advice to small to medium SIPs in addition to the Stacks 2.1 (SIP-015), these all happen on the Github and Stacks Forum platform.
- Chairpersons from each CAB are facilitating in gathering the CAB members to review the SIPs asynchronously or on a call, with the goal of publishing official commentary as a board.
- Maintain a list of members: Each Consideration Advisory Board shall appoint a chairperson. The chairperson shall be responsible for maintaining the Board’s public list of members’ names and contact information as a supplementary document to the SIP that the Steering Committee ratified to recognize the Board
- Point of contact: serve as the point of contact between the rest of the Board and the Steering Committee
- Copies of discussion: For transparency, maintaining copies of all CAB discussion and feedback on the SIPs under consideration, whether it be video recording of a meeting, group messages or other accepted documentation
- Feedback: Each Consideration Advisory Board shall provide a full, fair, public, and timely evaluation of any Accepted-status SIP that lists the Board’s consideration in its preamble. The Board may decide to move each SIP to a Recommended status or a Rejected status based on whether or not the Board believes that the SIP is feasible, practical, and beneficial to the greater Stacks ecosystem. Any feedback created shall be made public. It is the responsibility of the Board to store and publish all feedback for the SIPs it reviews. It shall forward copies of this feedback to both the SIP authors
- Consultation with the Steering Committee: The Steering Committee may need to follow up with the Consideration Advisory Board in order to clarify its position or solicit its advice on a particular SIP. For example, the Steering Committee may determine that a Recommended SIP needs to be considered by one or more additional Boards that have not yet been consulted by the SIP authors. The Board shall respond to the Steering Committee’s request for advice in a timely manner, and shall prioritize feedback on SIPs that are under consideration for ratification
- SIP conversation engagement: actively engaging in relevant SIP conversations on Stacks Forum, SIP Github, Twitter, Discord’s #governance channel, etc, whether it be early stage SIP or later stage SIP
- Weekly SIP Call attendance: One member from each CAB to attend SIP call, based on the CABs agreed upon process
- Monthly Steering Committee update: All CAB members from all boards to attend monthly Steering Committee update call, scheduled for the last Friday end of each month
Who should consider joining a CAB?
- Established and trusted member of Stacks community who has been active in Stacks for at least 6 months+
- Sufficient domain expertise: sufficient domain expertise to provide the Steering Committee with feedback pertaining to a SIP's consideration
- Understands Stacks: sufficient understanding of Stacks community and technologies at least at an intermediate level
- Communication Skills: excellent written communication skills
- Code of Conduct: good standing with the SIP Code of Conduct and in accordance with the individual Board’s bylaws
- Understands Bitcoin: sufficient understanding of Bitcoin and how it relates to Stacks at an intermediate level
Get involved
- You can read more about the complete SIP process in SIP-000 doc here
- Read more about CAB roles and responsibilities here
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