Intro:
Octant has taken upon itself beginning the process of progressively decentralizing aspects of the project. In due time, if a governance structure can be battle tested and the team is confident, we see the community taking more and more ownership over key aspects of Octant, maybe everything in total minus ownership of staking… But 1 step at a time 
So we started out with that intention, to design a governance framework that would empower our community to initially govern the recent Community Fund. What began as a simple experiment to give more power to our community has lead to a lot of learnings for the Octant core team in how we can improve the next version of this moving forward.
Chronology
This first started with bringing together the contributors in January, where we had our first call mid February, & with calls taking place every 2 weeks to 1 month. Organization over the first rounds operation began to formalize in March, with key pieces coming together (roles, Charmverse setup etc) in April. In May, we opened up applications to the public for 3 key directives (Marketing, Tooling, & Public Goods ecosystem collaboration), and in early June the final votes were approved for 11 applicants. 47.99 ETH has been awarded, and all projects are moving forward with their work.
Group
Before this process began, we had a tremendous amount of support from key allies in the space, and naturally, inviting many of them to join us in the development of this framework made sense. Their expertise in different areas cannot be understated, which further cemented my feelings in what is the superpower of web3, ‘diversity’. One of the problems from managing this, was that we didn’t have a clear idea in what the optimal group size would be. So the group grew to almost 20 people! Whenever you have a large group like this, coordination can be quite tricky, so participation within the monthly or bi monthly calls began to fluctuate. But nevertheless, with a largely committed group. it ended up working out well.
Timing & Scope
I as the core team member putting all of this together, was a bit naive in how long some of these processes can ultimately take. Taking a step back, it was not the initial intention to have this group of individuals being the driving force behind decision-making over how the first round of funds would be distributed. Instead, this group was brought together to design a broader community governance framework so that the Octant community (at least at a larger scale than this group) could participate in some capacity in the first round.
This work takes a while, and definitely not something that you can whip up quickly, without potential problems rearing their faces. So in March, with the realization that staking rewards coming in and ready to allocate May 1st, we pivoted from the longer term design, to this group being that decision-making body.
Ultimately, this went as well as it possibly could have. But that isn’t to say there weren’t some drawbacks. Naturally, when you bring a group in for a different intention, there are going to be issues with what some of the members had committed to, both in timing, and requirements. With that in mind, I cannot express my gratitude enough for the flexibility, and the work, that each of these members had contributed. They made for a very productive first round.
Evolution Moving Forward
The easiest way to understand where we are now is that Octant governance is moving on two separate tracks.
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We are going to continue running Octant Community Fund rounds, with the next taking place in October/November. Changes with this upcoming round will include: holding an open process for community members to participate in being on the next council, while getting really clear on expectations for those who participate next round. Additionally, we’ll be refining what will be the directives of intent for proposals. Some of that will be based upon early learnings in what was effective from this first round. Lastly it’s worth noting that the treasury for this next round will be ~2x what it was this first round.
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Separately, Hats Protocol a recent grantee, will collaborate with key stakeholders and the core team to resume the initial efforts of designing a long-term governance structure for the Octant community. Their work will focus on supporting Octant’s journey towards progressive decentralization.
There is much more I can share about this process, but this may be a good stopping point for now. I want to emphasize that we are looking interested community members to consider applying to be a part of this upcoming round. More details will be shared on this soon!