Hi Phoebe, You're right about the overlap -- there isn't a sharp clear line between the two roles, which I may live to regret :-)
But basically, blur is unavoidable in our context. When I worked in an organization that was very large and very stable, the right way to approach hiring was (frankly) to be quite rigid about roles-and-responsibilities. You needed to be, because the organization was so complex, and needed to operate at scale -- so clarity mattered, a lot. The Wikimedia Foundation, by contrast, is young and growing, and what we require most strongly is intellectual curiosity and flexibility. We know that roles-and-responsibilities will change over time -- they'll have to, we are evolving. And so in that context you want to hire people who are smart and adaptable and comfortable with ambiguity. So yes, there's quite a bit of blur. But I think both Zack and Barry are game for that, and I think they will each bring real value in quite different ways. And we'll evolve the roles as we go :-) Thanks, Sue ------Original Message------ From: phoebe ayers Sender: [email protected] To: [email protected] ReplyTo: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Fwd: Announcing new Chief Global DevelopmentOfficer and new Chief Community Officer Sent: 2 Jun 2010 10:40 PM > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Sue Gardner <[email protected]> > Date: 2 June 2010 19:08 > Subject: Announcing new Chief Global Development Officer and new Chief > Community Officer > To: [email protected] > > > Hi folks, > > I am really happy to announce two important new Wikimedia Foundation > hires. Zack Exley will be Wikimedia's new Chief Community Officer, > and Barry Newstead will be our Chief Global Development Officer. Both > will start just before Wikimania, and will join us in Gdansk. Congratulations to both Zack and Barry! Exciting indeed. I realize these roles will be formed as they are taken on, but it seems that there is quite a bit of (intentional?) overlap. I am curious how you see that working... both roles seem to involve supporting & growing the communit(ies), perhaps in new ways. There are lots of questions that I have regarding these job descriptions too -- what does supporting the chapters mean? What does supporting the reader community mean? And so on :) Also as I'm sure you're aware it's definitely time to update http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:Org_Chart_Without_Names.png ! (from [[wmf:staff]] -- Phoebe _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
