Zel, the Evolution
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky
Some of you may have noticed an unfamiliar name in a few places, particularly as the organizers of the conference and you will see that name in several other places; Kairos Collective Inc.
Who are they and why are they sorting out stuff for Zel?
Zel has been growing rapidly and that is not without its issues, particularly when it comes to fast-paced decision cycles and being able to seize opportunities as and when they arise. So, to counterbalance that problem of scaling, Kairos Collective Inc. was born. It was to quote their letter to the community which you may find at the end of this article “Daniel, Parker, Tadeas, and Jeremy have formed a new company to attack some of the initiatives and opportunities they have identified!” I might even have a role in at least one of them.
More on all this as the details become available over the next few weeks.
What does this mean for Zel as a project?
Mainly organizational restructuring from the current format which everyone knows fairly well.
Becoming:
Ummm, but why do this?
To evolve the organization towards a more flexible and fast-paced decision cycle so Flux can be fed business and applications at a pace in tune with its development.
What other changes does it bring?
The Zel Foundation is going to be handed over to the community. Again quoting from the “Letter to the community”
“The foundational handoff is imperative to ensure the community also has a deep level of control of the project, the selection of a board will happen soon, recommendations can be submitted soon”
More on this over the next few weeks.
What does this all mean for the current management/core team?
Change, as is always the case can be misinterpreted or misrepresented. People in general deal badly with change, so I shall attempt to break it down for you. Quoting from the Letter to the Community:
Miles and Lumi will not be part of the newly formed company, Kairos Collective Inc., but Miles and Lumi will still continue to support the development of Zel as founders. Miles and Lumi both want to thank the community for all their support and belief over the last two and a half years and look forward to future developments and potential collaborations around and within the Zel project. As Daniel, Parker, Tadeas, and Jeremy have formed their own new company to carry on the development of the open-source side of the Zel project, Miles and Lumi will continue to support the development of ZelCore through Zel Technologies along with the other Core Team members. This also means that Miles will be stepping back from his leadership role in both Zel Technologies and the wider Zel project. He wants to especially thank the core team, wider team, and community for their support and belief in the original fledgling idea and continued support for the project that grew from it. It would not have been possible if it was not for the support of all those around him.
As you can clearly see, no one is “ousted” or “rage quitting”. This is a well thought out structure that A gets the foundation ready for a community handover and B increases the pace of the decision cycle. The last part B is vital to be able to both generate business for FLux as well as develop it fully.
So, to answer my own question about what it means for project management, it means that decision making has become a lot more decentralized in tune with overall blockchain ethos and the community is going to get a more prominent voice in it.
I’m not too sure what the last sentence in section 8 of the letter means?
Nobody is going anywhere, we are all still here in the same community and as such same Discord! We are still developing on the Zel Network, and we are all still pushing the boundaries of what blockchain and decentralized technologies are and can be. Each member of the team has a directive, and like so many times before, we will be following them.
It is really quite straightforward, this change allows the members of the core team to focus on the areas they are good at. To me, it means “Everyone has their own strengths and this way, we can all work towards them and bring it back together as a whole!” As opposed to having team members who live and breathe for software development tied down with business decision making.
So, overall what does this mean for me as a miner/node operator/investor?
That Zel’s overall project management structure is being brought into line with the exciting tech Zel has developed so far.
- Zel’s topnotch chain is now backed by a decentralized team in tune with both overall blockchain ethos and lean operating principles.
- The new, lean, and decentralized structure will ensure that no opportunity gets missed. In the blockchain space, “here today, gone tomorrow” is a much too common occurrence that requires actual speed to address.
- ZelFlux now has a fast-paced and capable team ready and willing to feed it to its fullest potential.
- You will have direct influence on the decision-making process being able to nominate and or vote for foundation candidates.
As always, please do due diligence before investing in a project, measure your own risk tolerance, and visit the community discord to confirm what I have written here.
Thank you for your time!
On behalf of the Zel team, Bigpiggy01
