[Foundation-l] A first Board retrospective

Tue Dec 12 12:38:25 UTC 2006

--- Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
.
> 
> - QA / stable version. This is a short term process
> where the Board
> needs to have some involvement to ensure that we're
> not quietly
> becoming Nupedia. ;-) We've reached agreement now
> that this will be
> done by an outside developer if at all possible, to
> allow Brion and
> Tim to focus on day-to-day operations and the big
> single login
> transition. It will probably be implemented in such
> a way that
> individual projects have a reasonable amount of
> flexibility in the
> configuration.
> - Better process for outside parties to use
> Wikimedia trademarks,
> including non-commercial entities. Perhaps develop a
> free content
> approach to trademarks/logos.
> - Establish mid term and long term strategy with
> regard to project and
> business development. Project charters.
> - Make processes multilingual. There are some good
> technical
> developments here (both Multilingual MW and
> LiquidThreads are under
> active dev.), but we really need to factor this into
> our core
> organizational strategy.
> - Better event strategy. The EventsCom is still
> dysfunctional.
> - Systematic approach to spam/SEO/self-promotion.
> Will hopefully
> relate to whatever new QA tools we develop.
> - Help establish community structures for developing
> sound
> project-level legal policies.
> - Better speaker/contacts coordination. This is
> really needed both for
> conferences and for our developing efforts to
> involve schools,
> libraries and universities.
> - Research. It's on my to-do list to redefine the
> CRO role and propose
> a candidate, hopefully before the end of the year.
> - Volunteer coordination. We need to do a much
> better job telling
> people how they can help, i.e. a kind of open task
> database with clear
> instructions for participating.
> - Awareness. In general, there are a million things
> we can do to make
> people aware of what WMF is, what chapters are, etc.
> We should start
> doing a few of them soon. ;-)
> 
> Again, Board role is to make sure that these things
> (can) happen, not
> to implement them directly in most cases.
> 
> 5) Final thoughts. I do believe we're on track to
> becoming a mature
> and scalable organization. The expanded Board, Tim
> Shell's resignation
> and Jimmy's choice to nominate Florence as Chair
> reflect our
> commitment to not being a "one man show," but a
> community-driven
> effort. Jimmy deserves our gratitude for taking
> things into this
> direction, and for his continued commitment and
> leadership. I remember
> well when Wikipedia was at wikipedia.com and it was
> very much an open
> question for me whether there was an IPO in its
> future. Now we're one
> of the most fascinating charitable organizations on
> the planet.
> 
> The WMF does not exist in "Internet time", and it
> has taken years for
> it to grow up (and will still take a few more). This
> can be
> frustrating given the exponential growth of WP in
> particular.  But I
> think we will be able to keep up eventually, as long
> as we don't
> suffer the illusion that all it takes is to expand
> the Board to 7, 9,
> 11 members -- it's the organization itself which
> needs to become
> scalable. On the positive side, we've been
> incredibly efficient with
> our finances so far.
> 
> I personally hope that the WMF can become a model
> how non-profits of
> this type _should_ be run, and that more essential
> Internet
> infrastructure will move into the non-profit sector
> in the long run.
> It is my conviction that society will be better off
> if we can
> emphasize cooperation over competition, and the
> needs of the many over
> the wants of the few.
> 
> The free content and open source movements reflect
> this cooperative
> model. While they allow competitive forking, such
> forking is generally
> considered unproductive and discouraged unless
> absolutely necessary.
> While the needs of individuals are resolved (by
> acting on them),
> social structures and funding models evolve to
> address the needs of
> the many with priority. I long for a world which
> follows these ideals
> consistently, and hope that we can be leaders to
> show that it is
> possible.
> 
> Lastly, and importantly, in spite of frequent and
> generally
> constructive disagreement, I believe the Board is
> becoming a solid
> team that can "get stuff done." The word "community"
> is becoming a lot
> more real to us as the years go by.  When it counts,
> we will be there
> for each other, and for you.
> -- 
> Peace & Love,
> Erik
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> foundation-l at wikimedia.org
>
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> 

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