Rewrite some sections and add conclusion

docs/monthly/2023-03-monthly.md

@@ -1,49 +1,71 @@
 ---
 title: March 2023
 slug: 2023-03
-authors: [Franco, v0d1ch]
+authors: [Franco, v0d1ch, ch1bo]
 tags: [monthly]
 ---
 
 This report summarizes the work on Hydra since February 2023. It serves as
-preparation for the monthly review meeting, where the teams update major project
-stakeholders on recent developments to gather their feedback on proposed plans.
+preparation for the monthly review meeting
+[slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yZ4AqUQ8OBMG9ARMYvj3IOjaIAqglf7kZei4vsLMrbs/edit#slide=id.g1f87a7454a5_0_1392)/[recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA9lMV0tKN8)
+, where the teams update major project stakeholders on recent developments to
+gather their feedback on proposed plans.
 
 ## Roadmap
 
-Lets start with our roadmap as usual [roadmap](https://github.com/orgs/input-output-hk/projects/21).
+We had one release this month and also updated several things on our
+[roadmap](https://github.com/orgs/input-output-hk/projects/21).
 
-- Released the new version [0.9.0](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/releases/tag/0.9.0) :tada:
+#### Released version 0.9.0
 
-- Our current roadmap changes are directed towards creating something that users actually need.
-  That is why we converted some issues to ideas and/or discussions to gauge the community interest in them
-  and allow for a nice back and forth on features users need.
-
-- This release brought in on-chain and off-chain changes that are fully reflected in our specification.
+- This release brought in on-chain and off-chain changes that are now also fully
+  reflected in our specification.
 
 - We managed to decrease costs of our plutus scripts by using new error code
   framework.
 
 - Our mutation test suite is now complete and we made sure it checks our tests
   are failing for the right reason.
 
-- It is worthwhile mentioning we had some external contributions.
+- The contestation deadline is now pushed out by each contesting party, so the
+  contestation period parameter can be chosen irrespective of number of parties.
+
+- We have added a tutorial contributed by [@perturbing](https://github.com/perturbing/).
+
+- [Full release notes](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/releases/tag/0.9.0) and list of [delivered features](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/milestone/9?closed=1)
+
+![](./img/2023-03-roadmap.png) <small><center>The latest roadmap many items marked as idea.</center></small>
+
+#### Notable roadmap updates
+
+- With 0.9.0 released, we continue focusing on mainnet compatiblity. And the
+  next, planned version **0.10.0** will be the first `hydra-node` which is
+  mainnet compatible.
+
+- Also prioritized [API configurability
+  #380](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/issues/380) higher and planned
+  into 0.10.0 as more users were requesting this.
 
-- Next version **0.10.0** is almost ready. This will be the first mainnet
-  compatible release and we are close to publishing it.
+- We aim for several more **0.x.0** versions to incorporate user-wished features
+  before reaching a 1.0.0, which would represent a fully maintained release
+  where features can be considered stable and won't be removed without
+  appropriate deprecation cycles.
 
-- We opened a head on mainnet already! Community welcomed this nicely and a lot of people were drawing
-on the Hydraw mainnet instance and managed to take it down in the process!
-<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST IN: We have a Hydra Head live on the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cardano?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cardano</a> Mainnet 🚀 <a href="https://t.co/6kDKq7T7no">pic.twitter.com/6kDKq7T7no</a></p>&mdash; Emmanuel 𓂀 🍕 𓅓🇬🇭🦄🟣⚡️ (@thepizzaknight_) <a href="https://twitter.com/thepizzaknight_/status/1638572527789252608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
+- Labelled many features as 💭 _idea_ to re-discuss them. Many have been on the
+  roadmap for long time without actual user input, while others are incubating
+  as [github idea
+  discussion](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/discussions/categories/ideas).
+  We are planning to convert these idea issues to discussions to provide more
+  room for popular ideas from discussions instead.
 
-- Gathered the team this time in Feldkirch Austria for some nice sessions and
-  discussions on future plans for Hydra.
+- In short, if you want to see some feature added, **show your support** on the
+  corresponding [idea
+  discussion](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/discussions/categories/ideas).
 
-- Monthly review meeting
-  [slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yZ4AqUQ8OBMG9ARMYvj3IOjaIAqglf7kZei4vsLMrbs/edit#slide=id.g1f87a7454a5_0_1392)/[recording](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1krzM8VN-gpKTtpVdC2JQx-lGti-4gKQS/view?ts=641b3c1c)
+- The 💬 _feature_ items remaining are the currently identifed "must-haves" or
+  too vague to remove 🔴 _red_ items.
 
-![](./img/2023-03-roadmap.png) <small><center> The latest roadmap with multiple
-new items and starting to reflect Hydra objectives of 2023.</center></small>
+![](./img/2023-03-roadmap-ex-ideas.png) <small><center>The roadmap without idea items.</center></small>
 
 ## Development
 
@@ -52,50 +74,79 @@ report](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/issues?q=is%3Aclosed+sort%3Aupd
 
 This month, the team worked on the following:
 
-- **The Hydra had a team workshop** and conducted the monthly review meeting for
-  March. They demonstrated a Hydra Head on mainnet, which was running the hydraw
-  demo application. While this marks an important milestone, they also
-  emphasized that more features are still to be added as needed for applications
-  to run on Hydra. Besides this, the roadmap is getting cleaned up to encourage
-  discussions and provide more space for user requests.
-
-- **Making Hydra Mainnet compatible**. In the process we decided we want to safe
-  guard our users and prevent them from shooting themselves in the foot with a
-  mainnet gun. That is why we
+- **Making Hydra mainnet compatible.** Besides making it technically possible to
+  run on mainnet, this is about safe guard our users and prevent them from
+  shooting themselves in the foot with a mainnet gun. That is why we
   [limited](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/issues/762) the amount of
-  ADA you can commit to a head on mainnet. Our smoke-tests should be running on
+  ADA you can commit to a head on mainnet. Our smoke tests should be running on
   mainnet also so we made sure to
   [return](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/770) the leftover funds
-  back to out faucet. There was also
+  back to our faucet. There was also
   [work](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/775) on our CI that
-  accomodates actually running the tests on mainnet. We also realized we will need a
-  custom github runner for this.
-
-- **Improving the Hydra UX**. We noticed a possible pitfall for the users where
-  you could restart your node using different parameters which would conflict
-  with the existing state. Now, hydra-node would
-  [prevent](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/issues/764) this kind of
-  misconfiguration. Since we also want to make sure Hydra is safe to use in a
-  sense that you users can always fanout what they commited we
-  [prevent](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/issues/698) committing the
-  output with reference scripts inside since that can easily lead to a stuck
-  Hydra Head.
-
-- **Optimize the on-chain scripts** Reduced the cost of opening/closing a Head
-  (error codes [#748](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/748) + head
-  reference script [#701](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/701)).
-  Related to handling our plutus scripts we
-  [added](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/772) them to our golden
-  tests so we can detect accidental changes.
+  actually enables running the tests on mainnet using a dedicated github runner.
+
+- **Improving the Hydra UX.** We noticed a possible pitfall when restarting the
+  `hydra-node` using different parameters than in the persisted state. Now, the
+  node would [prevent](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/issues/764) this
+  kind of misconfiguration.
+
+- **Optimize the on-chain scripts.** Reduced the cost of opening/closing a Head
+  by reducing size of scripts via error codes
+  [#748](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/748) and also having the
+  head script as a reference only
+  [#701](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/701)).
+
+  The mutation test also got improved by making all cases expect the
+  corresponding error codes
+  [#705](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/issues/705) and new [golden
+  test suite ](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/772) ensures the
+  scripts hashes don't change accidentially.
+
+  Furthermore, we addressed a problem discovered in our property tests
+  [#724](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/724) by prevent
+  committing outputs with reference scripts to a Head
+  [#766](https://github.com/input-output-hk/hydra/pull/766). This is still a
+  documented known issue, but a workaround is available.
 
 ## Community
 
-=== Mention our community members wanting to help out with the website here ===
-=== Mention CBIA meeting here ===
+- **Team workshop in Austria.** Meetup of core contributors in Feldkirch,
+  Austria for retrospective, grooming and discussions on future plans for
+  Hydra. Part of the agenda was also a presentation of Hydra to members of the
+  Cardano Foundation and a meeting with builders from the Cardano community.
+
+  The highlight, though was the common effort of going the last mile to open a
+  head on mainnet for the monthly review meeting! 🎉
+
+    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST IN: We have a Hydra Head live on the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cardano?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cardano</a> Mainnet 🚀 <a href="https://t.co/6kDKq7T7no">pic.twitter.com/6kDKq7T7no</a></p>&mdash; Emmanuel 𓂀 🍕 𓅓🇬🇭🦄🟣⚡️ (@thepizzaknight_) <a href="https://twitter.com/thepizzaknight_/status/1638572527789252608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
+
+  We demonstrated our good old `hydraw` application on that Hydra head and we
+  saw thousands of pixels painted by hundreds of users (no detailed metrics).
+
+- **Next step in Hydra for Payments.** Also announced in the monthly meeting was
+  the next phase on the Hydra for Payments project. The scope of this will be to
+  extend hydra-pay and build a mobile payment channels app that makes direct use
+  of it - working title: HydraNow.
 
 ## Conclusion
 
 The monthly review meeting for March was conducted on 2023-03-27 via Google
-Meet -
-
-[slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yZ4AqUQ8OBMG9ARMYvj3IOjaIAqglf7kZei4vsLMrbs/edit#slide=id.g1f87a7454a5_0_1392)/[recording](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1krzM8VN-gpKTtpVdC2JQx-lGti-4gKQS/view?ts=641b3c1c)
+Meet - [slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yZ4AqUQ8OBMG9ARMYvj3IOjaIAqglf7kZei4vsLMrbs/edit#slide=id.g1f87a7454a5_0_1392)/[recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA9lMV0tKN8).
+
+This month was very important for the project and culminated in the first
+demonstration of a Hydra Head on mainnet! The demo was well received and we in
+the meeting, on following twitter announcements and the published recording on
+youtube. Inspired by this, we saw multiple people reach out how they could help
+and collaborate on communicating, educating and ultimately spreading the love.
+The invitation via the new discord category worked well - we had about 40
+community members in the call - and we will continue with this workflow. Make
+sure to follow the Hydra [#announcements](discord.gg/Bwdy2jNdm2) on the IOG
+Technical discord server.
+
+While being mainnet compatible is a major milestone for the project, there are
+still many known issues, short-coming and requested features. The roadmap
+changes of this month should make it clear that we are serious about the
+latter - Hydra will only reach 1.0.0 if it is used by an application on mainnet.
+Hence, we will focus on adding features required for payments, voting, auctions, .. and your use case.
+
+Hydra Head is ready to be used on mainnet .. are you?