Roadmaps and Pathways
Constructive criticism is essential for any project, and it's crucial to address concerns raised by the community. The recent Lesson from the Oak Tree blog post sparked a response on Twitter, which highlighted a frequent critique of ETC – it's lack of a roadmap.
ETC is NOT growing like an oak tree and you know that. And if it does then it’s too slow. ETC doesn’t even have a roadmap that you should have written an article about [it. ...]
In this post, we will address this common criticism of Ethereum Classic not having a traditional roadmap, and explore the alternative decentralized approach that ETC takes towards its development.
Slow and Steady
The point of the Oak Tree article was that ETC's growth is intentionally slow and steady, trading off explosive growth for long term success. The "Move Fast and Break Things" mentality is not suitable for cryptocurrencies that wish to survive long term, as it adds unnecessary risk in an already risky environment.
The ETC website's Future section explains the project's approach to future development, including a Move Slowly and Don't Break Things subsection. To summarize briefly:
- ETC's approach to development is distinct from a typical company or crypto project due to its decentralized nature, following the footsteps of Bitcoin.
- The project's development strategy emphasizes a meritocratic, organic process rather than a top-down, centralized roadmap.
- ETC follows the Ethereum Classic Improvement Proposal (ECIP) process for discussing and vetting potential upgrades.
Decentralized Projects Can't Have Roadmaps
Traditional roadmaps, rooted in corporate and centralized approaches to project development, are ill-suited to decentralized projects like Ethereum Classic. The very nature of ETC's social organization sets it apart from typical companies or crypto projects, making the imposition of a roadmap incongruous with its core principles.
For a roadmap to be possible, a central organizing committee would be necessary, inevitably introducing the centralization risk that Ethereum Classic strives to avoid. This risk is elaborated upon in the Decentralism section. As such, it becomes clear that the conventional roadmap model is incompatible with the vision and values of a truly decentralized project like Ethereum Classic.
Instead, ETC has a "Decentralized Roadmap", which is continuously open to debate, question, and inevitably changing over time. By rejecting the idea of having a conventional roadmap, the project simply embraces the truth that having a fixed plan is incompatible with this decentralized context.
Evolutionary Pathways
In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrencies, predicting the future is a difficult task. Traditional roadmaps often fail to meet their goals or adapt to the rapid changes in the landscape and become outdated or inaccurate. Acknowledging this reality, it's not only principal-compatible, but more pragmatic to focus on a general sense of direction rather than pretending to know the destination.
This is where the concept of a "pathway" comes into play, capturing the spirit of Ethereum Classic's decentralized, emergent development approach. Unlike top-down decision-making imposed by centralized roadmaps, an evolutionary pathway allows for innovative ideas to emerge organically from anywhere within the community and be implemented if they gain consensus.
This flexibility was exemplified by the Thanos fork, which successfully reduced the size of the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) by taking advantage of a win-win time-sensitive opportunity that increased the security and value of ETC. Such opportunistic pivots are less likely to be implemented if they deviate from a strict top-down development plan.
Navigating Unknown Territory
Navigating the future of the cryptocurrency space is much like venturing through unknown territory, such as a dense jungle. In these uncertain landscapes, traditional roadmaps can be unreliable and may lead us astray. Instead, it's essential to adopt a more flexible and adaptive approach: the pathway.
While a roadmap attempts to dictate a rigid route with predetermined milestones, a pathway focuses on following core principles and values that guide the project's development. Like a skilled explorer in the jungle, we must remain open to adapting our path, trailblazing new directions when necessary, and embracing opportunities that arise along the way.
By prioritizing our principles over a fixed destination, we ensure that Ethereum Classic remains true to its values and vision, even as the landscape around us shifts and changes. Emphasizing flexibility, adaptability, and community-driven innovation, the pathway approach allows us to traverse the unknown terrain with confidence. Trusting in our ability to forge a pathway that honors the spirit of our project, we can successfully navigate a dynamic and competitive environment while staying true to ETC's decentralized principles.
The ECIP Machete
The Ethereum Classic Improvement Proposal (ECIP) process, which can be considered as the machete guiding our journey through the jungle, is a key component of Ethereum Classic's (ETC) approach. Inspired by Bitcoin's (BTC) Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) process, the ECIP process enables ETC to make decentralized decisions while emphasizing caution, adaptability and community-driven innovation.
Both ETC and BTC share a commitment to decentralized social organization without a central committee, consensus-driven development, and prioritizing core principles. By embracing a flexible, community-oriented approach, ETC is well-positioned to follow in the footsteps of Bitcoin, ensuring long-term sustainability and growth.
The intricacies of how decisions are actually implemented within both ETC and BTC are a deep topic that warrants further exploration. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post that delves into the decentralized, meritocratic, and emergent processes at the heart of these cryptocurrency ecosystems.
Real-World Advantages
When evaluating the merits of traditional roadmaps versus the more decentralized pathways, several factors come into play. Stacking up the pros and cons of each approach, it becomes apparent that not only is the pathway approach necessary for decentralization, but more is advantageous when compared to having a fixed roadmap in the context of cryptocurrencies.
- Greater flexibility and adaptability: With no rigid milestones, pathways allow projects to pivot and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the crypto world, ensuring they remain relevant and responsive to emerging trends and technologies.
- Community-driven decision-making: Emphasizing the collective wisdom of the community, pathways enable the best ideas to emerge organically and gain consensus, ensuring that development is genuinely representative of the project's stakeholders.
- Reduced risk of centralization and resilience to social attacks: the community-driven decision-making process safeguards the project's core values and principles by preventing undue central authority influence. Furthermore, the decentralized nature of pathways protects projects from social engineering, collusion, or other tactics that might compromise their integrity. ETC's pathway approach has enabled it to survive numerous such attacks.
- Learning from other projects' experiences: having not committed to a long term development plan, pathways allow projects to more freely observe and analyze the successes and failures of other initiatives, incorporating valuable lessons into their own development processes without having to take on the associated risks.
Perceived Disadvantages
It's prudent to consider the perceived negatives that the absence of a traditional roadmap may create, which may include:
- Uncertainty for stakeholders: The lack of a clear roadmap can create uncertainty and confusion for users and developers, making it challenging to plan for the project's future or gauge its progress.
- Unfamiliar process to outsiders: Those accustomed to traditional roadmaps may find the pathway approach unfamiliar and difficult to grasp, potentially hindering the project's ability to attract new talent or gain support from the wider community.
- Slower pace of innovation: With a more cautious and consensus-driven development process, pathways may result in less risk taking and a slower overall rate of innovation compared to projects that have aggressive roadmaps and ambitious timelines.
Tackling perception issues can be tough, but over time, the hard wood truth of ETC's persistence will demonstrate that these perceived disadvantages result from misunderstandings or misplaced priorities.
Participants with a high time preference or lack of philosophical commitment may naturally prioritize short-term gains over long-term success and stability. However, as time passes and other projects struggle to meet their roadmap milestones, it will become clear that the perceived drawbacks above stem from applying conventional thinking to the necessary trade-offs for ensuring the longevity of decentralized cryptocurrency projects in this unconventional paradigm.
Potential Paths for the Future
While there is no traditional roadmap for Ethereum Classic (ETC), there are several ideas and proposals that seem likely to be adopted in the short to medium term. These clear wins on the horizon appear to have virtually no disadvantages, making it easy for the community to reach consensus and adopt them.
These ideas are like landmarks in the distance, and our journey towards them might lead to new discoveries or inspire a change of course. The beauty of the emergent evolutionary pathway development approach is that it allows for adaptability and innovation along the way.
Erigon Client Adoption
One potential path for Ethereum Classic is the adoption of the Erigon client, which would make the network more secure and accessible. Erigon allows for faster syncing and validation on cheaper hardware, making it an attractive option for a wider range of users and strengthening the ETC network.
Upgradability and EVM Object Format
Another possible direction for ETC is the implementation of the EVM Object Format (EOF), which would enable upgradability of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). EOF is particularly useful for ETC as it opens the door to backwards-incompatible updates while maintaining the "Code is Law" principle. This also paves the way for more easily adopting EVM innovations made by other projects.
Cryptographic Primitives for L2 and Privacy
ETC may also benefit from adding cryptographic primitives similar to those planned for in Ethereum mainnet to support Layer 2 (L2) protocols and enhance privacy features. These additions would provide a solid foundation for scaling and improving the overall functionality of the network.
L2 Scaling and Compatibility
While Ethereum mainnet has long-term goals for layer-1 level sharding, much effort is currently focused on L2 protocols, such as rollups. ETC can take advantage of these technologies and adopt them for compatibility and scaling. This would allow Ethereum Classic to grow in tandem with the broader Ethereum ecosystem.
Harvesting dApps and Funding New Projects
Ethereum Classic, thanks to its EVM compatibility, can benefit from the migration of select projects from other EVM chains, inheriting the cream of the crop. ETC Grants DAO is currently providing funding for such migrations and the development of new projects. Through the adoption and cultivation of exceptional projects, the community can capitalize on innovations developed at home and elsewhere, ensuring the continuous evolution and prosperity of the ecosystem.
Conclusion
Why cling to a multi-year development plan with deadlines when such goals are unenforceable in a decentralized project? Traditional roadmaps often serve either as mere marketing gimmicks to appeal to corporate-style thinkers and financiers, or signal a project's excessive centralization.
Both within and beyond the realm of cryptocurrencies, truly decentralized projects like Ethereum Classic must adopt a development approach that transcends the conventional concept of a roadmap. Free from top-down dictates, an evolutionary pathway is not only necessary for decentralization but also fosters a more adaptable and sustainable progression. By adhering to the ECIP process and championing a permissionless, meritocratic, and measured approach to development and direction, Ethereum Classic ensures its status as a robust and reliable platform for the future.
Feedback: What about dApps?
A comment regarding this article was shared on the ETC Community Discord Server, and a response to it is provided below.
[...] I understand that ETC itself does not have and does not need a roadmap, but projects looking to grow an economy on ETC would still benefit from one. For example, the roadmap on ClassicDAO.one is not one that is necessary a fixed and specific outcome to which we are looking to complete, other than the general advancement of defi on ETC, but as stated in your article, any traditional style roadmap makes its given project not decentralized. How should I interpret that?
- Wedergarten
ETC, as a mature network, has different goals and requirements than individual projects built on it. It provides a neutral and decentralized platform, while projects built on top have the freedom to choose their level of decentralization. This means that although ETC may not be compatible with a traditional roadmap, individual projects might still find one beneficial in guiding their initial development.
New projects often start with a degree of centralization and, as they mature and gain adoption, they naturally become more decentralized. Once a truly decentralized project reaches a certain level of adoption, traditional roadmaps become unfeasible, with development guided more by community-driven consensus, technology, and evolving market dynamics.
The question isn't whether a project should have a roadmap, but whether it can feasibly continue to employ one as it becomes increasingly decentralized. Both Ethereum (Classic) and Bitcoin were initially developed with fixed development milestones in mind, but once these projects were brought to life, it became crucial for their creators to "do a Satoshi": relinquish control, and allow them to evolve and flourish autonomously.
