What makes blocks valuable: (A) Quality: What the TXs we can pack into the block are worth. (B) Capacity: How many we can pack into the block. These depend on many factors, but there are two universal principles: (1) Maximize choice. (2) Minimize variance. Free-form explanation: Quality- Improves when the block can be selected from more transactions, and when the typical transaction is worth more. Transaction worth is roughly determined by how predictable inclusion is ("risk"), and how valuable inclusion is ("reward"). By minimizing unpredictable risks like builder discretion or delivery failures, traders are exposed to less variance and can bid more. The value of inclusion is largely down to how popular the chain is, which can be improved by a better tx pipeline. I'm bullish on multi-party block construction, because it allows multiple builders to contribute (choice), reducing risks through additional inclusion paths (variance). Capacity- Improves when blocks can be propagated fast and with low variance. It depends on how efficiently the transaction pipeline interacts, and how large the network distance between nodes is. There's some low-hanging fruit, such as: - Block propagation can be improved by adding nodes (choice of paths) - Bid provision could use a warm connection (variance) - The auction could be held closer to the proposer (variance) Because improving capacity is beneficial for the network, this is a natural place for the transaction pipeline to cooperate. This already happens, via public goods such as sidecars. One example of cooperation is joint payload propagation, an outcome of the last blockspace forum. TL;DR Add choice, reduce variance.