[Foundation-l] Welcome Sue !

Wed Dec 19 17:39:36 UTC 2007

Sue Gardner wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> As week one draws to a close, I just wanted to say thanks for all the very
> kind welcomes I've gotten from you all, both here & off this list. Many
> people have jumped in to help me get acclimated, which I really appreciate
> (as you all know, there's a truly dizzying amount of stuff to soak up :-)
> So please consider this a collective thanks to everyone I haven't gotten
> back to individually.
> 
> And - I want to offer my apologies in advance to anyone or any issue I'm
> going to overlook in this first little while. A) I'm still getting my head
> around many of the internal systems (e.g., the wikis, mailing lists, etc.),
> and B) I'm wanting to focus on making first connections with a few people,
> particularly the office staff. Those are my modest goals for this past week
> and next; then, I've got a prior commitment that will take me completely
> offline from July 7-25. That means my work won't really begin until
> post-Wikimania.
> 
> I think you probably all have an idea of what I'm here to do. But to recap -
> I'm a big fan of the projects, and I'm delighted to be able to come and work
> with you all.  And I am hoping and expecting I can help. In general: it's
> clear to me, and also to the Board, that the Foundation is at a pretty
> significant transition point. The bad news is, it's got some problems (lack
> of administrative policies, some communications issues, some skills gaps,
> etc.). The good news is, the problems are unsurprising, and for the most
> part typical of young organizations, and completely fixable. Upshot: I've
> seen -and grappled with- this kind of thing elsewhere, and I have a pretty
> good general grasp of the kinds of things that need to happen in order for
> the Foundation to get through this phase, and come out the other side
> stronger and better.  (The other good news, by the way, is that the projects
> are -obviously- remarkably, phenomenally successful. So the core work of the
> organization is in good shape.)
> 
> Of course there's an added wrinkle here, which is that Wikimedia is truly
> culturally unique; it is not a 'typical' organization. Trust me - I
> recognize that, and I'll respect it :-)
> 
> So again - I just wanted to thank you all for your early support.  If anyone
> needs to reach me over the next week or so, I'd suggest using
> susanpgardner[at]gmail.com - I'm a Blackberry person, and that's the account
> that travels with me.
> 
> Thanks,
> Sue
> 

In the interest of transparency alone, would you care to comment on this:

...anyone who does come forward will be immediately struck from Jimbo's
"trustworthy" list, which means that he or she will not be invited to
join the "really internal" list that Sue has already proposed creating;
this list would contain only "really trustworthy" people and formally
require nondisclosure of its participants.

from
http://nonbovine-ruminations.blogspot.com/2007/12/kicked-out-of-wikicult.html

Thank you