Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
Looks fine by me Sue. I also agree that restructuration is good,if only to avoid getting stuck in habits :) @Mathieu You argued that "if it work's, do not break it". Indeed, but precisely, the prior very wide focus of the WMF was not working so well. And some time ago, the board decided that WMF should change by narrowing its focus. Accordingly, it was mandatory that changes in the structure be made to fit the new narrowed goals of the WMF. It would have been very strange to changed goals and not adapt the structure to fit the goal. You better read these pages http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Sue_Gardner/Narrowing_focus http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC 12/7/12 1:04 AM, Sue Gardner wrote: Hello folks, On-passing this FYI --- I hope the formatting doesn't break too much. If people want to discuss this, maybe the first person could put it on a wiki page (attached to Narrowing Focus, maybe?) so the discussion is recorded for other interested parties and can be revisited later, rather than just being ephemeral. Thanks, Sue -- Forwarded message -- From: "Sue Gardner" Date: Dec 5, 2012 7:05 PM Subject: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering) To: "Staff All" hey folks, The purpose of this note is to lay out some changes to the structure of the Wikimedia Foundation. Some will take place immediately, and others will play out over the next six months. I’m announcing it in a single big note rather than bits & pieces because I want everyone to have the overview: where we’re headed and why. This will be long --- please bear with me. First, some context. Why are we restructuring? Basically: if an organization’s going to function well, it needs to reorg every now and then. As an organization grows and changes and learns, its organizational structure gradually gets out-of-date --- it needs to be refreshed based on our experiences and our ambitions, or else it’ll eventually stop working. And structure should follow strategy: as strategy evolves, structure needs to evolve as well. With the Narrowing Focus emphasis on engineering and grantmaking, we’ve revised our strategy, and so we need to refresh our structure too. So what’s the purpose of this restructure? What are the problems it’s aiming to solve, and what coming changes do we want to be ready for? The whole purpose of this restructure is to support increased emphasis on engineering and grantmaking. Some specific issues: * The FDC is off to a good start: it’s proved it’s able to make tough choices, and its decisions are being respected by the chapters and the community. For the FDC to do a really good job for us next year though, it's going to need to be able to assess the impact of the funding it’s given out --- not just “is this organization capable of spending this much money competently” but “to what extent is this spending helping the movement achieve its goals.” The FDC won't be able do that without support from us, and so we need and want to invest in support for programmatic evaluation. At this point the movement has very little ability to say “x kind of activity is having a good effect” and “Y kind of activity is not” -- we need to help equip it to do that. * Currently more than half the organization’s staffing and spending is concentrated in engineering. That’s great and it fits with our strategy, but it doesn’t necessarily make sense to have half the organization reflected at the C-level by a single person. I would like the C-team to be less admin-heavy and more weighted towards programmatic activities. * Currently, as Erik has said in an earlier note, he personally makes any trade-offs that need to be made in terms of where to focus engineering/product resources. He believes, and so do I, that we could get better decision quality if there were more debate at the executive level about tradeoffs. * After a couple of years of developing the foundations of the engineering department, we’re ready now to upwards-prioritize user experience, analytics, and high-level strategic planning and assessment. We want to add more resources to those areas. So, what are we going to do? First, we’re going to revamp Global Development. Starting now, that department will be called Grantmaking and Programs. It will be co-led by Anasuya (grantmaking) and Frank (programs). Anasuya and Frank will have separate direct reports and budgets, but we’re going to keep it as a single department because neither sub-department is very large and because the two are deeply interlinked: we wouldn’t have one without the other. Anasuya, currently Director of Global Learning and Grantmaking, will become Senior Director of Grantmaking, and Frank, currently Global Education Program Director, will become Senior Director of Programs. Anasuya will be responsible for running all grantmaking processes (for both individuals and entities) and for helping movement entities, like chapters and thematic organizations, to deve
Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
Hello, If there is a link to a chart of the organization, I would welcome to see it. The reorganization sounds good to me; personally I was especially interested in the parts that might have to do with the chapters. Kind regards Ziko 2012/12/7 Thomas Dalton : > On 7 December 2012 13:55, Pradeep Nair wrote: >> I read through the document and was genuinely confused as to what was >> happening. This may be because I have little idea on the people and their >> positions presently. > > I think the problem is that Sue's email was originally written for the > staff list and then shared here, so it assumes the kind of prior > knowledge of the WMF's organisation that staff will have, but that not > everyone here does. > > Sue, is there a plan for a more formal public announcement of these > changes? If not, could a cheat sheet be created for people that aren't > too familiar with the WMF's internal structure? > > ___ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l -- --- Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland dr. Ziko van Dijk, voorzitter http://wmnederland.nl/ Wikimedia Nederland Postbus 167 3500 AD Utrecht --- ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
On 7 December 2012 00:04, Sue Gardner wrote: > First, we’re going to revamp Global Development. Starting now, that > department will be called Grantmaking and Programs. It will be co-led > by Anasuya (grantmaking) and Frank (programs). Anasuya and Frank will > have separate direct reports and budgets, but we’re going to keep it > as a single department because neither sub-department is very large > and because the two are deeply interlinked: we wouldn’t have one > without the other. Anasuya, currently Director of Global Learning and > Grantmaking, will become Senior Director of Grantmaking, and Frank, > currently Global Education Program Director, will become Senior > Director of Programs. What is the long-term plan for Frank and his sub-department? It seems to encompass all the bits you are planning to stop doing as part of the narrowing of focus, so is the intention that it will gradually shrink to nothing? ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
On 7 December 2012 13:55, Pradeep Nair wrote: > I read through the document and was genuinely confused as to what was > happening. This may be because I have little idea on the people and their > positions presently. I think the problem is that Sue's email was originally written for the staff list and then shared here, so it assumes the kind of prior knowledge of the WMF's organisation that staff will have, but that not everyone here does. Sue, is there a plan for a more formal public announcement of these changes? If not, could a cheat sheet be created for people that aren't too familiar with the WMF's internal structure? ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
Hi, I apologize for top posting here. I read through the document and was genuinely confused as to what was happening. This may be because I have little idea on the people and their positions presently. I believe things would become more lucid if we could compare a before and after organization chart - before the announcement and after it, please? Pradeep Mohandas Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
Le 2012-12-07 01:04, Sue Gardner a écrit : Hello folks, On-passing this FYI --- I hope the formatting doesn't break too much. If people want to discuss this, maybe the first person could put it on a wiki page (attached to Narrowing Focus, maybe?) so the discussion is recorded for other interested parties and can be revisited later, rather than just being ephemeral. Thanks, Sue -- Forwarded message -- From: "Sue Gardner" Date: Dec 5, 2012 7:05 PM Subject: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering) To: "Staff All" hey folks, The purpose of this note is to lay out some changes to the structure of the Wikimedia Foundation. Some will take place immediately, and others will play out over the next six months. I’m announcing it in a single big note rather than bits & pieces because I want everyone to have the overview: where we’re headed and why. This will be long --- please bear with me. First, some context. Why are we restructuring? Basically: if an organization’s going to function well, it needs to reorg every now and then. As an organization grows and changes and learns, its organizational structure gradually gets out-of-date --- it needs to be refreshed based on our experiences and our ambitions, or else it’ll eventually stop working. And structure should follow strategy: as strategy evolves, structure needs to evolve as well. With the Narrowing Focus emphasis on engineering and grantmaking, we’ve revised our strategy, and so we need to refresh our structure too. Well, one may argue the exact inverse point of view : if it works, don't break it. Could you, please, provide us some pointers to documents describing the "Wikimedia strategy changes" ? The whole purpose of this restructure is to support increased emphasis on engineering and grantmaking. Some specific issues: * The FDC is off to a good start: it’s proved it’s able to make tough choices, and its decisions are being respected by the chapters and the community. For the FDC to do a really good job for us next year though, it's going to need to be able to assess the impact of the funding it’s given out --- not just “is this organization capable of spending this much money competently” but “to what extent is this spending helping the movement achieve its goals.” The FDC won't be able do that without support from us, and so we need and want to invest in support for programmatic evaluation. At this point the movement has very little ability to say “x kind of activity is having a good effect” and “Y kind of activity is not” -- we need to help equip it to do that. What's the FDC ? Sorry if my questions seems naives, but I'm not a native english speaker nor a long term contributor on this mailing list. Please fell free to provide me links to document you think I should read to better understand subjects discussed on this list. * Currently more than half the organization’s staffing and spending is concentrated in engineering. That’s great and it fits with our strategy, but it doesn’t necessarily make sense to have half the organization reflected at the C-level by a single person. I would like the C-team to be less admin-heavy and more weighted towards programmatic activities. Does C-team working on C language software, or is that some internal classification ? What do you call programmatic activities ? First, we’re going to revamp Global Development. Starting now, that department will be called Grantmaking and Programs. It will be co-led by Anasuya (grantmaking) and Frank (programs). Anasuya and Frank will have separate direct reports and budgets, but we’re going to keep it as a single department because neither sub-department is very large and because the two are deeply interlinked: we wouldn’t have one without the other. Anasuya, currently Director of Global Learning and Grantmaking, will become Senior Director of Grantmaking, and Frank, currently Global Education Program Director, will become Senior Director of Programs. This point sounds like wind, smoke and mirrors to me. Those said I have no problem with people playing with syntactic games, enjoy! ;P * Siko is taking over responsibility from Asaf for all funding for individuals. This will make it possible for us to grow our individual grant-making, and it will also free up Asaf to do more small organization development. Siko will also be responsible for documentation and analysis of all grants except the ones funded by the FDC. It’s important for us to grow grantmaking to individuals because individuals create 99% of the value in the projects. They do it with practically no funding, but in some cases a little money will be able to make something great happen. On the other hand, don't you fear a reaction from contributors who could feel wronged when they see some people got money where they get nothing? I personally doesn't have opinion on this topic, I just wonder if some thoughts were already thro
Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
From what we learned during our FDC deliberation, I see these changes to be very good (I have no competence re the engineering part and do not comment on those proposed changes) . The importance for us all to better understand impact of programs was one of the key learnings we had. And as I have had the privilege to work closely with Anasuya and seen her excellent competence in process issues and handling people from different culture and of different opinions I am very happy to see that even more WMF-activities will make use of her support and comptence. And Frank we all know with his deep understanding in the different program we run, and I look forward seeing the results he will provide to the chapters, community and FDC Anders Sue Gardner skrev 2012-12-07 01:04: Hello folks, On-passing this FYI --- I hope the formatting doesn't break too much. If people want to discuss this, maybe the first person could put it on a wiki page (attached to Narrowing Focus, maybe?) so the discussion is recorded for other interested parties and can be revisited later, rather than just being ephemeral. Thanks, Sue -- Forwarded message -- From: "Sue Gardner" Date: Dec 5, 2012 7:05 PM Subject: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering) To: "Staff All" hey folks, The purpose of this note is to lay out some changes to the structure of the Wikimedia Foundation. Some will take place immediately, and others will play out over the next six months. I’m announcing it in a single big note rather than bits & pieces because I want everyone to have the overview: where we’re headed and why. This will be long --- please bear with me. First, some context. Why are we restructuring? Basically: if an organization’s going to function well, it needs to reorg every now and then. As an organization grows and changes and learns, its organizational structure gradually gets out-of-date --- it needs to be refreshed based on our experiences and our ambitions, or else it’ll eventually stop working. And structure should follow strategy: as strategy evolves, structure needs to evolve as well. With the Narrowing Focus emphasis on engineering and grantmaking, we’ve revised our strategy, and so we need to refresh our structure too. So what’s the purpose of this restructure? What are the problems it’s aiming to solve, and what coming changes do we want to be ready for? The whole purpose of this restructure is to support increased emphasis on engineering and grantmaking. Some specific issues: * The FDC is off to a good start: it’s proved it’s able to make tough choices, and its decisions are being respected by the chapters and the community. For the FDC to do a really good job for us next year though, it's going to need to be able to assess the impact of the funding it’s given out --- not just “is this organization capable of spending this much money competently” but “to what extent is this spending helping the movement achieve its goals.” The FDC won't be able do that without support from us, and so we need and want to invest in support for programmatic evaluation. At this point the movement has very little ability to say “x kind of activity is having a good effect” and “Y kind of activity is not” -- we need to help equip it to do that. * Currently more than half the organization’s staffing and spending is concentrated in engineering. That’s great and it fits with our strategy, but it doesn’t necessarily make sense to have half the organization reflected at the C-level by a single person. I would like the C-team to be less admin-heavy and more weighted towards programmatic activities. * Currently, as Erik has said in an earlier note, he personally makes any trade-offs that need to be made in terms of where to focus engineering/product resources. He believes, and so do I, that we could get better decision quality if there were more debate at the executive level about tradeoffs. * After a couple of years of developing the foundations of the engineering department, we’re ready now to upwards-prioritize user experience, analytics, and high-level strategic planning and assessment. We want to add more resources to those areas. So, what are we going to do? First, we’re going to revamp Global Development. Starting now, that department will be called Grantmaking and Programs. It will be co-led by Anasuya (grantmaking) and Frank (programs). Anasuya and Frank will have separate direct reports and budgets, but we’re going to keep it as a single department because neither sub-department is very large and because the two are deeply interlinked: we wouldn’t have one without the other. Anasuya, currently Director of Global Learning and Grantmaking, will become Senior Director of Grantmaking, and Frank, currently Global Education Program Director, will become Senior Director of Programs. Anasuya will be responsible for running all grantmaking processes (for both individuals and entities) and for h
[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
Hello folks, On-passing this FYI --- I hope the formatting doesn't break too much. If people want to discuss this, maybe the first person could put it on a wiki page (attached to Narrowing Focus, maybe?) so the discussion is recorded for other interested parties and can be revisited later, rather than just being ephemeral. Thanks, Sue -- Forwarded message -- From: "Sue Gardner" Date: Dec 5, 2012 7:05 PM Subject: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering) To: "Staff All" hey folks, The purpose of this note is to lay out some changes to the structure of the Wikimedia Foundation. Some will take place immediately, and others will play out over the next six months. I’m announcing it in a single big note rather than bits & pieces because I want everyone to have the overview: where we’re headed and why. This will be long --- please bear with me. First, some context. Why are we restructuring? Basically: if an organization’s going to function well, it needs to reorg every now and then. As an organization grows and changes and learns, its organizational structure gradually gets out-of-date --- it needs to be refreshed based on our experiences and our ambitions, or else it’ll eventually stop working. And structure should follow strategy: as strategy evolves, structure needs to evolve as well. With the Narrowing Focus emphasis on engineering and grantmaking, we’ve revised our strategy, and so we need to refresh our structure too. So what’s the purpose of this restructure? What are the problems it’s aiming to solve, and what coming changes do we want to be ready for? The whole purpose of this restructure is to support increased emphasis on engineering and grantmaking. Some specific issues: * The FDC is off to a good start: it’s proved it’s able to make tough choices, and its decisions are being respected by the chapters and the community. For the FDC to do a really good job for us next year though, it's going to need to be able to assess the impact of the funding it’s given out --- not just “is this organization capable of spending this much money competently” but “to what extent is this spending helping the movement achieve its goals.” The FDC won't be able do that without support from us, and so we need and want to invest in support for programmatic evaluation. At this point the movement has very little ability to say “x kind of activity is having a good effect” and “Y kind of activity is not” -- we need to help equip it to do that. * Currently more than half the organization’s staffing and spending is concentrated in engineering. That’s great and it fits with our strategy, but it doesn’t necessarily make sense to have half the organization reflected at the C-level by a single person. I would like the C-team to be less admin-heavy and more weighted towards programmatic activities. * Currently, as Erik has said in an earlier note, he personally makes any trade-offs that need to be made in terms of where to focus engineering/product resources. He believes, and so do I, that we could get better decision quality if there were more debate at the executive level about tradeoffs. * After a couple of years of developing the foundations of the engineering department, we’re ready now to upwards-prioritize user experience, analytics, and high-level strategic planning and assessment. We want to add more resources to those areas. So, what are we going to do? First, we’re going to revamp Global Development. Starting now, that department will be called Grantmaking and Programs. It will be co-led by Anasuya (grantmaking) and Frank (programs). Anasuya and Frank will have separate direct reports and budgets, but we’re going to keep it as a single department because neither sub-department is very large and because the two are deeply interlinked: we wouldn’t have one without the other. Anasuya, currently Director of Global Learning and Grantmaking, will become Senior Director of Grantmaking, and Frank, currently Global Education Program Director, will become Senior Director of Programs. Anasuya will be responsible for running all grantmaking processes (for both individuals and entities) and for helping movement entities, like chapters and thematic organizations, to develop and mature. Reporting to Anasuya will be Asaf Bartov, Jessie Wild, Oona Castro and Siko Bouterse, as well as a Senior Program Officer for the FDC (a new position that will be filled within the next month or so). * The Senior Program Officer will be responsible for facilitating the FDC process, which recommends funding allocations for the largest and wealthiest Wikimedia organizations such as Wikimedia Germany and Wikimedia France. * Asaf continues to be responsible for the Wikimedia Grants Program, supporting younger, smaller Wikimedia organizations like Wikimedia Venezuela and Wikimedia Mexico, and for finding non-Wikimedia organizations that we can fund to carry out good programmatic activities in developi
Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)
Hi Sue, What will happen to Oona once she identifies a suitable org willing to take over the Brazil programs? Abbas. ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
