Learn how to govern better money yourself
Understand Our Process
The complete decentralization of the DAO depends on a self-sustaining system in which the community governs all processes and frameworks. From choosing new collateral types, to electing paid contributors - including risk, governance, integration, accounting, and marketing teams - MKR holders are the final decision-makers.
Such decisions are arrived at through MakerDAO Improvement Proposals, which are the preferred mechanism for improving both Maker Governance and the Maker Protocol. Through an open and documented process, community feedback is collected to reach the broadest possible consensus on how the Maker Protocol should evolve.
- MIPs provide a mechanism for any community member to define key issues and suggest changes and additions to the system.
- MIPs allow for a high level of transparency, rigor, and community input in order to minimize undesirable results.
- In most cases, MIPs are arranged in sets (multiple MIPs that are interdependent but together solve a single problem, risk, or opportunity through one or more processes).
Click here to understand the different statuses a MIP goes through in its lifecycle.
General and Technical MIPs
There are two distinct kinds of Improvement Proposals - those aimed at better general improvements, and those aimed at technical improvements to our protocol. These changes require slightly different approaches and applications. You can find templates for both kinds in the Submit section, which details the different kinds of possible submissions and provides the templates you will need.
Sub-proposals
MIPs are built up out of lower-level components in order to make them modular, flexible, and easier to understand and update. Some of these components specify processes which occur often enough in the course of governing the proposal that they are worth defining as sub-proposals. For instance, MIP6 defines an end-to-end framework for scalable collateral onboarding. This requires a few inter-related components, one of which - c2 - defines the process for submitting your own collateral application.
We expect that most regular governance work will occur through process sub-proposals, rather than the rarer case of entirely new MIPs, or the even rarer case of new MIP sets.
Visual Overview
MIPs are designed to interoperate with our governance cycle, so specific things happen at specific times each month. You can get a sense of the overall flow of work by looking over the diagram below. It's important to understand when to submit your new MIP or Sub-proposal so that you don't end up waiting until the following month for anything to happen.
