Drayker dfmp.drayker.org
Protocol

DFMP

The distributed function modularization / modeling protocol — the paradigm Drayker's projects and motions for resolution are built with.

DFM is the paradigm Drayker’s projects and motions for resolution are built with. It exists to answer one question: how do thousands of people who have never met work on the same problem without a manager standing between them?

The answer is to stop distributing tasks and start distributing functions — pieces small enough that one person can finish one, and defined enough that the result composes with the rest.

The method

  1. Model — the issue is modelled and modularized, with the initial strategy expressed as a Bayesian model. Before any code, what is known, what is assumed, and what would change the strategy are written down.
  2. Fragment — the problem is partitioned into small functions.
  3. Distribute — functions are distributed among collaborators through decentralized peer review. Nobody is assigned work; contributors claim what matches their skill.
  4. Review — ideas are discussed with communities and councils and turned into a comprehensive, widely revised paper. Validation runs alongside development, not after it.
  5. Legitimate — once legitimated, a pull request goes through the community review branch to be legitimized for master. Updates to a paper travel first through the branch of that paper’s validation status.

The protocol adapts to different kinds of project, but the logic does not change.

Principles

DFMP — the proposal process

DFMP is the path a proposal takes from an idea to a legitimated paper. The protocol has to ensure that papers created from it are self-assessed, validated and re-evaluated. Before entering the approval process, a paper must have been presented to the community through the issues and widely discussed. All goals and purposes must be in line with Drayker.

dfmpp/ holds the proposals themselves.

State of this documentation

The method and the proposal path are written down. DFMP-000, the paper that should specify the proposal process itself, is currently a title and nothing more. Writing it is the most useful thing anyone could contribute here, and it does not require permission — open an issue with the draft.

Contributing

Open an issue in this repository. Issues small enough for one person to finish carry the open-function label and appear on the board at drayker.org.

Related: dfmpproject (proposing a project through DFM) · metadfmp (modeling the method itself) · dknowledge (papers and roadmap).

Other languages: Português · Español — both currently behind this English version.


Drayker is organized through DFMP and its resources are governed by the non-profit DAF. The work is primarily voluntary. Content licensed CC BY 4.0.