Glossary
This provides definitions and references for commonly used terms or acronyms.
Title - Section
Term: Definition:
Author: Date: Source: Verified by:
Cardano - Intersect
Term: Core Infrastructure
Date: 30/5/2024
Cardano - Intersect
Term: Roadmap Definition: A Roadmap depicts the list of approved work funded by the Intersect community via the Cardano Treasury throughout a development cycle.
Date: 30/5/2024
Intersect - CIR
Term: Process Map Definition:
This image is a flowchart depicting the process for managing and delivering a Core Infrastructure Roadmap. The 4 stages starts from and includes Drafting, Refining, Approving then Delivering.
Drafting: This stage involves submission of proposals for inbound items through the creation of necessary documents. These include:
- CIP (Cardano Improvement Proposals)
- CPS (Cardano Problem Statement)
- Business Case Document
- Security Case
Triage: Once the initial documents are prepared, they undergo triage. During this phase:
- A champion is assigned to lead the initiative.
- The documents are reviewed and evaluated by the Core Infrastructure Roadmap working group (CIR-WG).
Note: At least two of the three documents marked with an asterisk (*) are required to proceed to the next phase.
Refining: In this stage, the proposal undergoes further refinement through several stakeholders:
- TWG (Technical Working Group): Provides technical insights and recommendations.
- Focus Research SIG (Special Interest Group): Provides the “customer perspective” Focuses on business benefit and clarifies the scope required for development.
In this stage, the list of items are evaluated based on partitions & feasibility. The items has to be well-defined to proceed into Cycle Planning
Maturity Check / Cycle Planning
Before approval, the list of items undergoes a maturity check to ensure it is ready for planning and execution and will be the Roadmap for approval.
Approving: This phase involves several steps:
- TSC (Technical Steering Committee): Reviews and approves the proposal.
- Vendor Selection: The TSC will review the RFP and appoint appropriate vendors for execution.
- Budgeting: The Budget Committee will ensure the appropriate allocation of necessary budget to complete the development of the item.
- Final Approval & Public Proposal: Community endorsement will be required for a public proposal and to secure the final approval.
- Onchain Vote: An onchain vote will be conducted to approve the Roadmap.
- Kickoff: Once approved, the project moves to the kickoff phase, where execution planning begins.
Delivering: This final stage involves the actual execution and delivery of the project:
- Execution: The Roadmap is implemented according to the milestones and deliverables agreed.
- Delivered / Not Delivered: TSC tracks whether the project was successfully delivered.
- Ship/Chain Upgrade: Successful projects lead to upgrades or improvements onto the Cardano blockchain.
Feedback Loop: If a project is not delivered or requires further work, it loops back to the refinement stage for reassessment.
Date: 5/8/2024
CIR - Drafting
Term: Drafting (Phase) Definition: Initial project proposals and documents (including Community Improvement Proposals, Business Case Documents, and Security Cases) are prepared, requiring at least two out of three for the process to proceed.
Date: 30/5/2024
Drafting - CIP
Date: 30/5/2024
Drafting - CPS
Date: 30/5/2024
Drafting - Business Case
Date: 30/5/2024
Drafting - Security Case
Term: Security Case Definition: An expedited route could result from a perceived threat, a behaviour observed and accelerated through a security or performance benchmark. Such an item will be fast-tracked to ensure timely resolution.
Date: 30/5/2024
Drafting - Triage
Date: 30/5/2024
Drafting - Triage
Date:
Drafting - Technical Debt
Term: Technical Debt Definition: work required to maintain speed-of-development rather than feature, this may include code quality refactors, re-architecting certain features that are already implemented, resolving low performance, or simplifying software build issues.
Date:
Drafting - Hopper 1
Term: Maintenance Definition:
This category equates to services which are necessary to keep Cardano in a good state
This includes readiness for upcoming releases
This includes mandatory security patching
This includes provisioning for benchmarking for an upcoming release
An agreement on how these items are spread as cost to the overall ecosystem which benefits could be proposed
Tickets related to this need to be determined and categorized to allow qualified and qualification levels for the work item to be determined
Date:
Drafting - Hopper 2
Term: Core Definition:
This category contains ready-to-implement items
Items here will be initiated subject to budget and suitable delivery capability being available
Research has been completed to allow progression to discovery or development
Status-wise, some items in this category are already progressing and have been socialized by CIR-WG to community
Value-wise, items in this category align to the 3 pillars of Decentralisation, Ecosystem and Scalability
Whilst ready-to-implement, it is possible that some items need to be aligned with the Intersect's inclusion as Cardano Ecosystem critical
Date:
Drafting - Hopper 3
Term: Analysis Complete Definition:
This category contains where analysis is complete but these are not yet prioritized items in this category are not in progress through Intersect but could be progressing through an innovation stream
Items in this category align to the 3 pillars of Decentralisation, Ecosystem and Scalability
Some items need to be aligned with the evolving product direction and should be re-assessed as reference implementations and equally their current validity assessed
Date:
Drafting - Hopper 4
Term: Research Complete Definition:
This category contains items which were raised as items requiring wider discussion at TWG or SIGs as appropriate
Whilst items are self contained, assessment in terms of what the 'Problem Statement' really is, need to be completed
Some of these items may already be defunct for the following reason:
the community may have solved this problem
the original proposed technology has been superceded by a new approach (e.g. Aiken, BlockFrost, others)
there is a better proposal and the Problem Statement is now changed substantially
we are better to focus on an item with more return-on-investment of effort
a different forum (e.g. Catalyst has solved this)
Date:
Drafting - Hopper 5
Term: New Ideas Definition:
This category contains items requiring research
Approach to items requiring research needs definition
Items in the aforementioned Hoppers(1..3) could require ad-hoc research to support their progress, this could be added as priority research items
More longer terms research items are currently being reviewed in terms of how Intersect can have visibility, input and support
Date:
Roadmap - Refining
Term: Refining (Phase) Definition: This refers to any period between triage and cycle planning where a TWG may be asked to provide further documentation or specification for a work package.
Date:
Refining - TWG
Date:
Refining - SIG
Date:
Refining - Prioritization
Date:
Refining - Partitions
Term: Partitions and Feasibility Definition: Detailed analysis and partitioning of the project to assess feasibility and scope.
Date:
Refining - Scope
Term: Well-defined Scope Definition: A set of well-scoped deliverables (whether for research or for production software) ready to be made into a work-package (which may define future phases/partitions as well as feasibility)
Date:
Refining - Cycle Plan
Term: Cycle Planning Definition: Items taken from triage placed in an ordered list. See Prioritization for explanation. The process by which a roadmap committee or working group provides a specific set of projects and related budgetary recommendations to other Intersect bodies as needed, such as to the Budget Committee.
Date:
Roadmap - Approval
Term: Approving (Phase) Definition:
Date:
Approval -
Term: Technical Steering Committee Definition: The committee reviews the project for vendor selection and budgeting
Date:
Approval -
Term: Vendor Selection Definition: Selection of appropriate vendors conducted by the TSC.
Date:
Approval -
Term: Budgeting Definition: The Budget Committee ensures proper budget is allocated for the items
Date:
Approval -
Term: Public Approval & On-chain Voting Definition: The project receives final approval and is presented publicly, including an onchain vote (CIP-1694).
Date:
Approval -
Term: Kickoff
Definition: Once a project has received approval and all needed contracts are in place, formally starting a work package and initiating all timelines related to delivery.
Date:
Roadmap - Delivery
Term: Delivery (Phase) Definition: The project is carried out, with outcomes tracked as either Delivered or Not Delivered.
Date:
Delivery -
Term: Execution Definition: TBC
Date:
Delivery -
Term: Ship/Chain Upgrade Definition: Successful projects lead to upgrades or improvements onto the Cardano blockchain.
Date:
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