Mission, Vision, and Values at district0x

Defining and solidifying our project’s culture

Between the middle of July and the end of September, the district0x team has grown from a team of 2 to a team of 7. Full-time employees bring not only skills, knowledge, and effort to the project, but also the unique qualities and perspective that make them themselves. Whether it be their hobbies, humor, or families, it’s inevitable that as a group spending so much time together, we find ways to share more than just the workload, despite being distributed across different locations and timezones.

Successful teams cherish this aspect as a vital part of their organization. As the organization grows, it’s crucial we foster an environment that not only supports contributors doing their best work here, but continues to motivate productivity and supports their happiness and success when the workday is done. As the saying goes, if we don’t define a culture, it defines itself.

What makes a team’s “culture”, and how can we “define” it? How can we provide the support structure team members need to stay on track both on and off the job? Lucky for us, there are well known answers to these question in the world of software startups and open source projects - a mission, a vision, and values.

Mission

What is a mission? Simply put, it’s our objective and purpose. It’s what we’re motivated to accomplish. A strong and direct mission provides a guiding light for the organization’s progress at every turn.

Our mission: Decentralize the ownership structures of the world’s marketplaces.

We imagine a world where user owned and operated peer-to-peer marketplaces have replaced traditional, centralized ones. We envision an economy of service providers, where the people supplying and consuming those services can freely govern the platform without paying deference or rent to a third-party, rendering services at the lowest marginal cost. We envisage a time when participants in a network reap the benefits of the positive effects they bring to that network.

We believe the technology that enables us to accomplish this mission in the future is here today, and that’s why the district0x project came to life.

Vision

What is a vision? A vision describes the steps we will take to accomplish our mission. It’s how we’re going to get ourselves to the future we’ve imagined.

Our vision: Deploy a platform for the creation and operation of communal marketplaces as decentralized entities, build network effects around the platform via a suite of ancillary services and by fostering a third-party developer ecosystem, and leverage these network effects to supplant privately controlled marketplaces with districts that allow for open participation in the governance of markets.

By launching a platform that enables business creators and community builders to utilize this new technology, we are providing the tools necessary for more users than ever to cross the bridge between traditional models and new ones.

It’s imperative that we strike an appropriate balance between integrating with the rest of the ecosystem, making avenues for users to experience all of the benefits other projects have to offer, whilst still creating a unique platform that tokenizes decision making and governance at every turn. It’s in our best interest to avoid shoehorning the district0x Network Token into use cases that already exist or are better accomplished by other specialized coins and tokens when we can simply give them a platform to operate on.

Values

What are values? Values represent the unifying beliefs that bind the team together with one another and with the community. Being derived directly from the mission and vision, every action we take is with the belief of these values held in reverence. They can be phrased in each instance with “We believe in [value]”, and apply truthfully to every member across the organization.

Our Values:

Transparency - Transparency is a topic we’ve already written on at length. In short, without open and honest communication, we rob the community and each other from opportunities to contribute in the most meaningful way. Autonomy - Autonomy is a key value for maintaining an efficient distributed workplace. It means we supply the tools and information to do the job, but trust one another to get that job done. We seek to remove bottlenecks, and automate any repetition. We grow together and set each other up for success by focusing on an individual’s strengths. Inclusion - Leveraging a vast and powerful network can only be accomplished when we cast the widest net possible. We welcome participation from all colors and creeds, across all borders and nationalities. We are empowered by the diversity of our ideas because competition breeds strength. Decentralization - Decentralization might be the buzzword of the year, but it’s hard to imagine anyone understanding why we want to build what we’re building without believing in its transformative power. We see untapped potential in the will of the masses, and believe in a brighter future when individuals and collectives can self-determine. We seek the path of broadest consensus, and work to align motivations through incentives, not instigation.

With the above mission, vision, and values serving as the foundation and pillars of our project, we are setting ourselves up to continue to grow both as a global project of contributors as well as a community of engaged participants.

The support the district0x Network has received thus far from all corners of Earth has been overwhelming. Together, we can build the future we’re all eagerly imagining.