The DAO Workbook

The Kambria DAOs Framework handles a DAO's money on-chain. The DAO Workbook handles everything around it — off-chain, in one spreadsheet. Where the framework is the source of truth for value received and paid, the Workbook is where a DAO plans its work, tracks who did what, keeps its books, and runs its recognition. One file, per DAO, for the whole cohort.

This is the second half of Operations Excellence. These pages explain what the Workbook is and how to use it, tab by tab.

Overview: One Workbook per DAO

In earlier cohorts a DAO kept its records across many separate files — a roster here, a cashbook there, a payment tracker, a weekly report, a recognition sheet. Things drifted out of sync, and a number in one file rarely matched the same number in another. DEP 3 replaces all of that with one Workbook per DAO: every tab lives in the same file and they join up through two shared keys.

DAO Workbook Template

Two keys hold it together:

• person_id — one id per human, issued by the Hub, used everywhere a person appears.
• task_id — one id per paid task, used to tie a contribution to its payment and its cash line.

A few principles make the Workbook trustworthy, and they're worth knowing before you touch it:

• The Hub issues person_id — the DAO never invents one. If someone is missing from the Roster, ask Kambria Ops. Don't add a row by hand.
• One cashbook, in one place. The Cashbook tab is the only ledger. There is no separate cashbook file; if someone sends you one, it's out of date.
• Contribution is not payment. Every contribution is recorded, including unpaid work. Payment is a separate thing that only some contributions carry.
• Rules live in a catalog, not in a column. Events, credit rules, tiers — each is a row you can add to, not a formula you have to rewrite.
• The Hub only reads. Scripts (maintained by the team) read the Workbook and append to the Hub; nothing writes back into your file. Your Workbook is yours.

The colour key runs through every tab, and it's the one thing to learn first:

If a number looks wrong, fix the blue cell it depends on — never the black one. A black cell typed over is the commonest way a tracking sheet goes quietly wrong.

Screenshot: the README tab (principles + colour key). Source: the DAO Workbook template.