Verwendung von Blockchain und Custom Tokens zur Projektkoordination – Ein Pilotversuch

Abstract

Use of Blockchain and Custom Tokens for Project Coordination-A Pilot ExperimentAbstract One of the most important aspects of the blockchain technology is trustless communication among participants in a peer-to-peer network. Since the invention of smart contracts and custom tokens, the use of this property for applications apart from cryptocurrencies is getting more and more interesting. Until now, use cases have been discussed primarily for market-based transactions. In this article, we focus on control and management processes within organizations, which can be designed in a novel way using blockchain technology. Examples are the distribution and supervision of project activities, the design of internal incentive systems or forms of employee participation. For a concrete test case in project organization, we use Waves that offers a user-friendly way of creating and transferring custom tokens based on a public blockchain. A project group consisting of students of the Johannes Kepler University Linz shall be able to organize by itself independently using custom tokens. Different project tasks have different values, which can be represented by "Kepler" tokens. The valuation of the activities is determined by the project team itself or by the customer depending on the used model. Hybrid variants are possible as well. For example, the customer can send an amount of tokens depending on the project progress or project results to the team members, who distribute them among each other. The distribution happens though transactions on the public blockchain. These transactions are transparent, comprehensible, and instantly viewable. Transactions can indirectly be reversed, but this process remains visible. On a larger scale, an economic system can evolve, where tokens develop a real value and get exchangeable against normal currencies. We will establish criteria for the creation of custom tokens or cryptocurrencies for organizational needs and test a selected platform in the context of student project coordination. Experiences and lessons learned will be provided about the possibility to control projects with custom tokens and to reduce opportunistic behavior.