Topic: [PRE-ANN] Freelance Marketplace based on a blockchain (Read 662 times)
really like the concept
Anyone? : )
Hi guys!
Will very much appreciate more feedback. Hop in to discuss the concept. Thanks
Will very much appreciate more feedback. Hop in to discuss the concept. Thanks
re: Time smart contract: For sure it's not an ultra final solution of the current freelance marketplaces problems. But while it has no more problems than regular time contracts based on a 3rd party, they have more benefits because of a blockchain. So it seems to be a step forward anyway.
Depends. On one hand blockchain-based time tracking is immutable and smart contracts allow for more automation, both of which are nice. On the other hand there's a lot of tools out there that will be able to do time and process tracking a lot better due to being specialized products in that area. Nonetheless I can very well imagine there being a market for the former.
re: Scope contracts: I agree that it'd be complicated to setup the tests in the way to be sure that if they are passed, requirements were met. But if one will start with defining user stories (for future selenium-based tests), define performance metrics, that can work automatically.
Thank you for a good point about iteration loops. I guess milestones or more Agile approach will make the things there and we'll think of how to integrate this.
Thank you for a good point about iteration loops. I guess milestones or more Agile approach will make the things there and we'll think of how to integrate this.
This will depend heavily on what kind of clients the market place attracts.
For clients that already have a software development workflow in place and are merely outsourcing modules it sounds viable enough; assuming they are able to define the user stories and success metrics themselves.
For clients that have nothing to do with software development it's going to be the freelancer that has to define the user stories and success metrics. Checking whether these are correctly defined can't be automated (lest you write tests for your tests and so on).
If the market place only serves the first type of client that's fine as well, but you'd leave a huge part of the market unserved. Thoughts?
re: Arbitration: I can't agree with your point there because its's kind of a self-regulatory thing. Freelancer risks with his reputation, which one of the most important actives there, so would try to avoid arbitrations. As well customer, as nobody will work with you if will see that you run into a lot of disputes. So first of all it will motivate them to solve the miscommunication by themselves. I'm telling so because had a lot of freelance experience before and that's how it worked for me.
Ah, I misunderstood you then. I thought arbitration would take place by default in case a scope contract is not fullfilled using the automated measures mentioned above. In that case I fully agree.
Thank you for raising a question of a customer's technical background. I guess it might be another service of the platform to provide you with a technical specialist (Project Manager), who will be helping you to setup the user stories and the whole contract going. It might make sense to pay for it if you receive a guaranty that the project's budget won't be wasted.
re: Time smart contract: For sure it's not an ultra final solution of the current freelance marketplaces problems. But while it has no more problems than regular time contracts based on a 3rd party, they have more benefits because of a blockchain. So it seems to be a step forward anyway.
Depends. On one hand blockchain-based time tracking is immutable and smart contracts allow for more automation, both of which are nice. On the other hand there's a lot of tools out there that will be able to do time and process tracking a lot better due to being specialized products in that area. Nonetheless I can very well imagine there being a market for the former.
re: Scope contracts: I agree that it'd be complicated to setup the tests in the way to be sure that if they are passed, requirements were met. But if one will start with defining user stories (for future selenium-based tests), define performance metrics, that can work automatically.
Thank you for a good point about iteration loops. I guess milestones or more Agile approach will make the things there and we'll think of how to integrate this.
Thank you for a good point about iteration loops. I guess milestones or more Agile approach will make the things there and we'll think of how to integrate this.
This will depend heavily on what kind of clients the market place attracts.
For clients that already have a software development workflow in place and are merely outsourcing modules it sounds viable enough; assuming they are able to define the user stories and success metrics themselves.
For clients that have nothing to do with software development it's going to be the freelancer that has to define the user stories and success metrics. Checking whether these are correctly defined can't be automated (lest you write tests for your tests and so on).
If the market place only serves the first type of client that's fine as well, but you'd leave a huge part of the market unserved. Thoughts?
re: Arbitration: I can't agree with your point there because its's kind of a self-regulatory thing. Freelancer risks with his reputation, which one of the most important actives there, so would try to avoid arbitrations. As well customer, as nobody will work with you if will see that you run into a lot of disputes. So first of all it will motivate them to solve the miscommunication by themselves. I'm telling so because had a lot of freelance experience before and that's how it worked for me.
Ah, I misunderstood you then. I thought arbitration would take place by default in case a scope contract is not fullfilled using the automated measures mentioned above. In that case I fully agree.
Depending on the project type, I'm not sure whether smart contracts are really sufficient.
A time smart contract could easily be cheated on hours tracked, but then again that's a risk you have with traditional hourly pay as well.
A scope smart contract seems like a case of trying to solve a human problem with a technical solution. Performance, unit and integration testing are hardly sufficient metrics on whether a project has been successfully developed or not. Sure, it can work if both client and freelancer are already know each other pretty well and have a proper workflow worked out. It can also work for smaller projects ( < 5 working days). But for anything beyond that it's already difficult to properly define requirements in writing, let alone in quantifiable code.
At least from my experience getting the requirements right is often harder than writing the code itself. This means two things:
1) Think about how to allow for iteration loops, every step along the process, including the adjustment, redefinition and extension of requirements -- which will require both sides to come to an agreement.
2) You mentioned arbitration in your other post. Be prepared for lots of it. Depending on the kind of projects and people this market place attracts, you'll either have a huge quantity of minor disputes, or a handful of really complex cases. Probably a mix of both. And it's not even about people trying to scam each other. Everyday miscommunication is absolutely sufficient for that.
Hi! Thanks for your input.
re: Time smart contract: For sure it's not an ultra final solution of the current freelance marketplaces problems. But while it has no more problems than regular time contracts based on a 3rd party, they have more benefits because of a blockchain. So it seems to be a step forward anyway.
re: Scope contracts: I agree that it'd be complicated to setup the tests in the way to be sure that if they are passed, requirements were met. But if one will start with defining user stories (for future selenium-based tests), define performance metrics, that can work automatically.
Thank you for a good point about iteration loops. I guess milestones or more Agile approach will make the things there and we'll think of how to integrate this.
re: Arbitration: I can't agree with your point there because its's kind of a self-regulatory thing. Freelancer risks with his reputation, which one of the most important actives there, so would try to avoid arbitrations. As well customer, as nobody will work with you if will see that you run into a lot of disputes. So first of all it will motivate them to solve the miscommunication by themselves. I'm telling so because had a lot of freelance experience before and that's how it worked for me.
Will wait to hear more from you.
1) Smart-contracts based. Be protected with various types of smart contracts:
a) Time smart contract: is based on a simple fact that that for every worked hour freelancer will be payed. At the same time, checks the freelancer work logs to make sure he was actively working.
b) Scope smart contract: after the job is delivered automatic tests are being runned to make sure the system is developed according to the requirements. This will include performance testing, unit testing and selenium-based scenarios.
For freelancers: Be sure that you'll be payed with blockchain.
For customers: Finally you can make sure that work will be done as expected.
a) Time smart contract: is based on a simple fact that that for every worked hour freelancer will be payed. At the same time, checks the freelancer work logs to make sure he was actively working.
b) Scope smart contract: after the job is delivered automatic tests are being runned to make sure the system is developed according to the requirements. This will include performance testing, unit testing and selenium-based scenarios.
For freelancers: Be sure that you'll be payed with blockchain.
For customers: Finally you can make sure that work will be done as expected.
Depending on the project type, I'm not sure whether smart contracts are really sufficient.
A time smart contract could easily be cheated on hours tracked, but then again that's a risk you have with traditional hourly pay as well.
A scope smart contract seems like a case of trying to solve a human problem with a technical solution. Performance, unit and integration testing are hardly sufficient metrics on whether a project has been successfully developed or not. Sure, it can work if both client and freelancer are already know each other pretty well and have a proper workflow worked out. It can also work for smaller projects ( < 5 working days). But for anything beyond that it's already difficult to properly define requirements in writing, let alone in quantifiable code.
At least from my experience getting the requirements right is often harder than writing the code itself. This means two things:
1) Think about how to allow for iteration loops, every step along the process, including the adjustment, redefinition and extension of requirements -- which will require both sides to come to an agreement.
2) You mentioned arbitration in your other post. Be prepared for lots of it. Depending on the kind of projects and people this market place attracts, you'll either have a huge quantity of minor disputes, or a handful of really complex cases. Probably a mix of both. And it's not even about people trying to scam each other. Everyday miscommunication is absolutely sufficient for that.
2) Exclude man in a middle. You don't need to pay huge commissions anymore just to make sure you won't be deceived.
3) Fault tolerance. Forget about freezing the project progress because of a marketplace downtimes. With blockchain you will always have a possibility to continue working.
4) Pay anywhere anytime, no more restrictions with cryptocurrencies.
5) Make sure that funds for your job are reserved.
Let me know what you think about it, any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.
3) Fault tolerance. Forget about freezing the project progress because of a marketplace downtimes. With blockchain you will always have a possibility to continue working.
4) Pay anywhere anytime, no more restrictions with cryptocurrencies.
5) Make sure that funds for your job are reserved.
Let me know what you think about it, any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.
Not much to add here
Looking forward to see what comes of it. I hope my input was of some use to you.Apparently it sound very appealing but the biggest obstacle in freelancing will be, as there will be varied jobs on different things to fulfil, what will be the mechanism to resolve disputes amongst the freelancers and the job providers. We cannot rule out the possibility there will always be a group of people who will try to abuse the system and either get paid for job not done, or refuse to pay for jobs done. Any idea on situations like this?
Hi, thanks for your reply! I guess one of the functions of the smart contracts is to avoid a situation when some of the parties is unsatisfied, but the contract was executed. Though we're only human and cannot predict all the possible cases, so still would want to use the regular tools to solve disputes. Currently it's being done with a so called arbitration when some responsible person checks the requirements, the job done and makes a decision. This is to be a plan B and if this will be used by a minority of users in extraordinary cases this should not harm the eco-system. What do you think about it?
Apparently it sound very appealing but the biggest obstacle in freelancing will be, as there will be varied jobs on different things to fulfil, what will be the mechanism to resolve disputes amongst the freelancers and the job providers. We cannot rule out the possibility there will always be a group of people who will try to abuse the system and either get paid for job not done, or refuse to pay for jobs done. Any idea on situations like this?
Hi all,
I want to share with you the idea of a project me and our team are currently working on. This'll be a freelance marketplace based on a blockchain and using all advantages of it. The bullet points are below:
1) Smart-contracts based. Be protected with various types of smart contracts:
a) Time smart contract: is based on a simple fact that that for every worked hour freelancer will be payed. At the same time, checks the freelancer work logs to make sure he was actively working.
b) Scope smart contract: after the job is delivered automatic tests are being runned to make sure the system is developed according to the requirements. This will include performance testing, unit testing and selenium-based scenarios.
For freelancers: Be sure that you'll be payed with blockchain.
For customers: Finally you can make sure that work will be done as expected.
2) Exclude man in a middle. You don't need to pay huge commissions anymore just to make sure you won't be deceived.
3) Fault tolerance. Forget about freezing the project progress because of a marketplace downtimes. With blockchain you will always have a possibility to continue working.
4) Pay anywhere anytime, no more restrictions with cryptocurrencies.
5) Make sure that funds for your job are reserved.
Let me know what you think about it, any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.
I want to share with you the idea of a project me and our team are currently working on. This'll be a freelance marketplace based on a blockchain and using all advantages of it. The bullet points are below:
1) Smart-contracts based. Be protected with various types of smart contracts:
a) Time smart contract: is based on a simple fact that that for every worked hour freelancer will be payed. At the same time, checks the freelancer work logs to make sure he was actively working.
b) Scope smart contract: after the job is delivered automatic tests are being runned to make sure the system is developed according to the requirements. This will include performance testing, unit testing and selenium-based scenarios.
For freelancers: Be sure that you'll be payed with blockchain.
For customers: Finally you can make sure that work will be done as expected.
2) Exclude man in a middle. You don't need to pay huge commissions anymore just to make sure you won't be deceived.
3) Fault tolerance. Forget about freezing the project progress because of a marketplace downtimes. With blockchain you will always have a possibility to continue working.
4) Pay anywhere anytime, no more restrictions with cryptocurrencies.
5) Make sure that funds for your job are reserved.
Let me know what you think about it, any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.
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