[Foundation-l] Information flow

Thu Aug 18 06:54:15 UTC 2005

Michael Snow wrote:

> I normally try to avoid "me too" posts, but I feel I should speak up to 
> say that I agree with virtually everything Erik Zachte wrote, and thank 
> him immensely for taking the time to compose that thoughtful message.
> 
> I want to add some thoughts on the transparency issue he raised. A very 
> critical part of managing any organization, especially one as committed 
> to ideals of openness as Wikimedia, is reporting back to everyone about 
> your activities. Given the transparency of most actions on a wiki, 
> producing such reports is especially important for off-wiki activity.
> 
> In particular this applies to the board, the officers (including those 
> of local chapters), and the developers. I trust all of these people and 
> the processes by which they were chosen, but we still need to hear from 
> all of them regularly about their work. The proliferation of non-public 
> mailing lists and wikis adds to the concern. I understand that some 
> matters cannot be announced at the outset, and that deliberation and 
> delay may allow for a more thorough report. But on the other hand, 
> disappearing behind closed doors, not to be heard from again, is not an 
> acceptable option.
> 
> With the developers this is a longstanding problem, and they struggle 
> constantly with more pressing issues, like a simple lack of manpower 
> (womanpower would certainly do as well if we can recruit some female 
> developers). I'm guessing we could use three or four times as many 
> developers before we'd have enough of them to spare one to spend much 
> time reporting. I think most people are willing to give a lot of slack 
> here as long as the sites keep running.
> 
> For the rest, because the issues they deal with are more frequently 
> "political", people will be more uncomfortable with a lack of 
> transparency. I see some effort to deal with this, but I'm afraid that 
> even among those of us who are deeply interested enough to be on this 
> list, people frequently feel out of the loop on issues of concern to 
> them. I have tried to contribute a little myself toward more thorough 
> reporting (and hope to help more in the future), but the overall task is 
> a full-time job and I already have one of those.
> 
> Keeping people informed is essential to sustaining trust, and makes a 
> tremendous difference in whether they will accept the decisions you make.
> 
> --Michael Snow

Right

Now that several people have expressed their feeling we are non 
transparent, I would like that they go further than just stating a 
situation, and make suggestions to improve.

Michael is mentionning that "with the developers, they struggle 
constantly with more pressing issues". And that "we could use three or 
four times as many developers".

Well, this is also one of our problems. We are also struggling with more 
pressing issues. We would also benefit of help, because we also lack 
wo-man power. And as you mention, taking care of communication could 
also be a full-time job and aside from Jimbo, both Angela and I also 
have one of those.

I have a problem with the equation

board : amount of time spent answering personal mails + amount of time 
spend on OTRS + amount of time spent writing board meeting reports + 
amount of time spent writing to this list + amount of time spent on 
setting up a wikimedia foundation website + amount of time spent writing 
Quarto

With

Wikipedians : we are not informed.

It does not fit :-)

So my questions are

* exactly on which topic do you feel you are not informed ? Please cite 
some examples of issues where we have been failing ? Was the information 
missing related to legal issues ? To partnership ? To budget ?

* please cite some examples of how we could inform you. Please not "I 
want to be more informed", but HOW, WHERE, WHEN and under WHICH form.

Example : some french editors complained during the year that I did not 
inform them enough on the village pump. But there are more than 300 
projects. Do you expect us to go ourselves to possibly 50 of the biggest 
ones to inform people ? It is just impossible. So, is the solution to 
find human relays *appointed* to do that, or should we make a big 
communication campaign to explain to people where to go ? I intend to 
try to write a FAQ on the Foundation website, do you think it can help ? 
Will it if no one goes there to read it ?
The Quarto takes a lot of time and is distributing information very 
slowly. But at least, it ensure translation in major languages. Do you 
think we need to add an intermediate level (such as a weekly or a monthly ?)

Since you make the sign post, it may be that you feel like suggesting 
the Foundation make a sign post itself. But then, you need to help us 
find sustainable ways to do it. Because as you mentionned it, it takes a 
LOT of time. I know I can not alone add in my own timetable the 
necessarily time to do 4-5 articles per week alone. Not without help. 
Not in a language which is not my mother language. And as you might very 
well be aware yourself, most articles do not come all by themselves. 
Most will be written by yourself.
In the case of Quarto, I know we have to hunt for authors each time, or 
write ourselves.

* are you yourself ready to help distribute the information ? How many 
times did you yourself copied an information mentionned on that list on 
your own village pump ? How many times did you help translate the 
foundation website or the Quarto ? How many times did you yourself 
provide us information that might be useful ?

It is good to point out to a problem, but it is even better to try to 
help find some solutions. I also think that most of the time, when you 
think "I am not informed", it is only that you heard nothing, so feel 
some stuff is going undersground and you are kept away of it. But most 
of the time, it is that there is just nothing very special to report.

What are my memories of the big stuff of the past two months ?
Well, from the financial perspective
	* trying to find ways so that Mav get hand on all financial papers, so 
that we can get a decent budget to work on.
	* setting  up the budget (this has been published here)
	* starting a fundraising (this is openly discussed here)
Grant perspective
	* major points reported here in the board report
	* discussion of the european grant by chapters coordinated by Danny 
(reported here)
Technical perspective
	* yahoo servers soon to be on (it was reported here)
	* the recent downtime (asked to developers to explain why to the 
community, no report was done here. Well, I am not the police.
Business perspective
	* mostly reported in the board meeting
Wikimania
	* took us most of the past 2 months in truth. Anyone could report on 
what happened. Pictures are on Flickr. Presentations available as well.
	* incidently, sponsorship by OSI was announced here.
Officers and co
	* I announced myself we were heading toward having a new officer and 
new mailing list (prematuraly dead in the server crash)
	* new chapters (pl, announced here)
Quarto
	* no quarto because Sj has been very very busy with Wikimania, and 
myself quite busy with my presentation and my real life and all related 
issues.
Legal considerations
	* well, since you are on the legal list, do you think anything needs 
reporting here ? I do not.

On which topics do you think things are missing ?

Do you guys realise that the Foundation is basically 10 people while the 
editors are basically thousands ???? In any reasonable organisation, 
there would already be a PR person whose job is 100% communication work. 
We do not have this, but any of you can help. So, it would be nice that 
you just explain where things are failing exactly, where energy should 
be put and best that you yourself help.

-------

Now, since I said it would be nice to explain exactly where things are 
failing, please also consider MY own perspective.

Yesterday, several people here, and on irc said
"the german money is not spent. It should be. Why is it not ?"

Some german answer
"how can we make a budget if the foundation
isn't able or willing to work with us on reasonable ways to spend the
money?
We asked several times, what is needed and
never got an answer. the answer "give us the money" is not appropriate"

With my perception
look at my mail 
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2005-August/003915.html

Look at answers given to it.
There are none whatsoever.
 From my perspective, not only did I lose time writting the mail, but I 
do not have the slightest beginning of more information. *I* also feel 
not informed at all.

So... what will I do ? Probably nothing :-)

Similarly, I would love that officers get used to making a weekly or 
monthly reporting. A summary of all stuff taking care of (or not taking 
care of) during a certain amount of time. It would both inform us and 
make it easier to inform you. But again, I am not their boss and if they 
do not feel like doing it... I only know these are some of the stuff we 
did in firms I have been working in, and that help.

Anthere