I think micromanagement can lead to very undesirable results. We have to be clear about the type of work we'd like to see. To my mind, we want to see work that considers the long-term benefit of the community and ecosystem. This type of work usually requires a lot of thinking and rethinking. It also often requires doing things that don't yield immediate results or that most people wouldn't necessarily understand, like setting up foundations.
With that said, I have made some suggestions myself here. And lots more suggestions and discussion are needed so I'm really glad to see you and others creating this discussion. I think it's exactly what we need, and a lot more of. Not pointing fingers but creating standards, guidelines and systems that work as intended.
Thanks for your input. Having done my share of billable hourly IT work, documentation of activity is not beyond the realm of common expectation. I don't think it needs to be excessive, but enough to instill more confidence. Bearing in mind that the entire process does not make any distinction between business days, and non business days, I don't think carving out some time to update your customers is too much to ask.
Certainly, dedicating some time for updates is needed. I am not suggesting that we drop the updates. I am however suggesting that we be more flexible with their frequency. Some types of projects may call for daily updates, while others may call for weekly or bi-weekly. Monthly may be appropriate for others. It's not dependent on the amount of funding asked but on the type of project.
Ultimately, I think the community wants project creators to treat the community as the boss that they report to. This is not necessarily happening currently since there is communication of some major stakeholders happening behind closed doors, which potentially (I am not sure about it since I am not privy to those conversations) gives them advantage over other proposal creators. Through the types of communication we are having now, I think the community is making its voice be heard, and making it known that it wants proposal creators to be transparent and accountable to the community. Exactly how that accountability happens can be flexible.