Entering a decentralized organization can be overwhelming. While crowdfunds and airdrops help create instant entrances for its supporters and members, such patterns don't often account for one's actual journey into and through the community. This can result in confusion, frustration, and disinterest.
To address this lack, decentralized organizations should tailor their onboarding practices to the dynamic affordances of web3. This means ensuring practices complement the org's projected speed of growth and level of openness (e.g. a DAO that adds new members in curated batches should have a different approach than a DAO that launches with a large crowdfund). And unlike traditional organizations, it also means potentially accommodating a 24/7, cross-jurisdictional membership with different timezones, learning styles, skillsets, and education levels.
Onboarding patterns might include:
- building a context for engagement with spaces to learn about the organization
- identifying fixed locations for community rules and guidelines
- creating channels to ask questions, both in and outside community spaces
- offering aysnc and non-async opportunities (group sessions, 1:1 chats, buddy systems)
- separating evergreen information from non-evergreen information
- creating clear pathways to contributing
