Pine, The Wikimedia Foundation Mid Year Financial Statements will be available by the end of March 2015.
Regards, Garfield On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 11:55 PM, Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > Just following up on this: when will the mid-year WMF financials be > published with Annual Plan alignment/divergance info? This info is relevant > for 2015-2016 planning, and to some extent, the strategy update. > > Thanks. (: > > Pine > On Oct 9, 2014 12:18 PM, "Pine W" <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Thank you Lila. > > > > Pine > > On Oct 9, 2014 11:50 AM, "Lila Tretikov" <l...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > >> We are planning to do a review of alignment/divergence with the plan mid > >> year. That would be the right time for this discussion as we will have a > >> good overview/gap analysis at that time. > >> > >> On Thu, Oct 9, 2014 at 11:37 AM, Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> > Thanks for the detailed comments, Erik. > >> > > >> > As someone who spent several volunteer hours reviewing the current > >> Annual > >> > Plan, I would appreciate getting an understanding of how the change of > >> > emphasis to quarterly reviews affects budgets, hiring plans, and > >> > fundraising goals. Is that something that you can address or should I > >> ask > >> > Garfield? > >> > > >> > Thanks, > >> > Pine > >> > On Oct 9, 2014 4:44 AM, "Erik Moeller" <e...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > >> > > >> > > On Thu, Oct 9, 2014 at 10:26 AM, Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> > > > >> > > > I'm sure a Board member, Lila, or Erik will correct me if I am > >> > mistaken, > >> > > > but my understanding is that there is internal agreement at Board > >> level > >> > > > that the Product side of the org needs some systemic changes, that > >> Lila > >> > > was > >> > > > chosen with the goal of making those changes, and that some > changes > >> are > >> > > > already happening. > >> > > > >> > > There's agreement at all levels that we want to continue down the > path > >> > > set by Sue back in 2012 [1] for WMF to truly understand itself as a > >> > > technology and grantmaking organization. That path led to where we > are > >> > > today: > >> > > > >> > > 1) As part of the ED transition, Sue recommended (and the Board > >> > > accepted the recommendation) to seek an ED with a strong > >> > > technology/product background, and we hired Lila Tretikov as Sue's > >> > > successor who matches those requirements. > >> > > > >> > > 2) In November 2012, I recommended that we prepare for building out > >> > > new functions for UX and Analytics, and prepare for dedicated > >> > > leadership for Engineering and Product. Sue accepted this > >> > > recommendation. I hired Directors for UX and Analytics in 2013, > >> > > followed by Community Engagement in 2014, and finally we hired a VP > >> > > Engineering last week to complete the process. > >> > > > >> > > 3) To better account for the need to learn quickly and adjust course > >> > > as appropriate, we introduced quarterly reviews in December 2012 [3] > >> > > and increasingly reduced the specificity of Annual Plan level > >> > > commitments while increasing the focus on metrics and accountability > >> > > in the reviews. > >> > > > >> > > 4) On the technology and product front, many improvements to process > >> > > and support infrastructure have been implemented in the last couple > of > >> > > years, including but not limited to: > >> > > > >> > > - Development of MediaWiki Vagrant as a standardized dev > environment, > >> > > to reduce failure cases due to developer environment inconsistencies > >> > > - Improvements to continuous integration infrastructure for PHP unit > >> > > tests and QUnit JavaScript unit tests, and increased focus (but not > >> > > nearly enough yet) on automated tests, especially for newly > developed > >> > > features > >> > > - Introduction and continued improvement of BetaLabs as a staging > >> > > environment for all commits, increased use of automated end-to-end > >> > > browser tests and QA testing by humans to catch bugs and regressions > >> > > prior to production rollouts > >> > > - Introduction and use of various tools for measuring the impact of > >> > > features, including EventLogging as a standard instrumentation > >> > > framework for measuring feature usage, dashboards for visualizing > >> > > usage, WikiMetrics for analyzing editor cohort behavior, Editor > >> > > Engagement Vital Signs for understanding system-wide user behavior, > >> > > analysis of pageview data using Hadoop (just rolled out), etc. > >> > > - Highly specialized automated testing frameworks for specific > >> > > projects, e.g. Parsoid round-trip testing and visual diffing (!) to > >> > > detect dirty diffs or output problems > >> > > - Introduction of design research as a discipline in the UX team > >> > > (through hiring of Abbey Ripstra as User Research Lead) and > >> > > incorporation of user studies in a much more systematic way across > >> > > products > >> > > - Community liaisons dedicated to key products, responding to user > >> > > feedback and helping Product Managers understand more complex > >> > > community needs > >> > > - Continued shortening of release/deployment cycles; significant > >> > > improvements to deployment tooling, rewriting our legacy "scap" > tools > >> > > to increase the ability to monitor and reason about deployments; > >> > > introduction of daily "SWAT" deploys to quickly release fixes, etc. > >> > > - Introduction of various infrastructure tools that help us better > >> > > analyze/profile issues, including logstash for log analysis, > increased > >> > > use of graphite for performance metrics collection and various > >> > > front-ends for visualizing those metrics > >> > > - Shift towards loosely coupled services, addressing the difficulty > of > >> > > maintaining and improving our highly monolithic codebase (examples > >> > > include Parsoid, Citoid, Mathoid, and the new Content API in > >> > > development) > >> > > - Introduction of Beta Features framework to stage features for > early > >> > > adopters > >> > > > >> > > 5) The changes Lila has pushed for since we started include: > >> > > > >> > > - Greater focus on quarterly prioritization and a "rolling roadmap" > >> > > rather than a fiscal year view of the world > >> > > - Increased emphasis on understanding the needs of different user > >> > > personas at all cycles of software development, including through > use > >> > > of qualitative and quantitative methods > >> > > - Reducing velocity of user-facing changes (esp. on desktop) to > >> > > increase focus on foundations (platform/process improvements) that > >> > > ultimately will enable us to move faster and more effectively > >> > > - Documenting product development methodology on-wiki and > establishing > >> > > a clearer social contract (to reduce the reliance on RFCs/votes > >> > > regarding feature configurations) > >> > > - Surveying the needs of current users to more systematically > balance > >> > > projects that serve future/new users vs. projects that serve the > users > >> > > we have today > >> > > - Improved communication channels for community engagement to make > it > >> > > easier to understand what major projects are currently in > development > >> > > and how to provide feedback > >> > > > >> > > This already means, effectively, that the commitments in the Annual > >> > > Plan developed during Sue's time should be taken with a big block of > >> > > salt at this point in time -- we're slowing down the deployment (not > >> > > development) of big user-facing features like Flow and VE as much as > >> > > needed to ensure that we incorporate user feedback, data and > >> > > qualitative research into the product development process > >> > > appropriately and spend sufficient time on the technical foundations > >> > > for these projects. > >> > > > >> > > The quarterly prioritization alone has been, IMO, a huge improvement > >> > > that's already paying off. In the "Annual Plan" view of the world, > >> > > it's unlikely that we would have prioritized a project like HHVM the > >> > > way we did, because we were generally stuck on the priorities set > for > >> > > the whole year. But it was very clear that this project would > provide > >> > > huge benefits to our users, and I'm glad we were able to call it out > >> > > as _the_ top priority for Q1 and give the team the space to really > >> > > focus on getting it done (almost there now, starting to serve reader > >> > > traffic [4]). > >> > > > >> > > Our draft Q2 top priorities (not yet posted on-wiki, but discussed > in > >> > > the metrics meeting last week) are consistent with the above, with > the > >> > > main user-facing push being on mobile web/apps and editing > >> > > performance, while the other priorities are more > >> > > platform/process-related. Once again, we're continuing to work on > VE / > >> > > Flow, but focusing more on fundamentals (performance, architecture, > >> > > testing, use case analysis, etc.) than accelerating deployments. > >> > > > >> > > My focus over the coming days is to flesh out the details for the Q2 > >> > > priorities, and then shift to putting more effort in documenting and > >> > > refining product development methodologies and processes on-wiki. > On > >> > > the engineering side, there's plenty of process/infrastructure > >> > > improvement to do as well. From my point of view, continued > >> > > improvement to test coverage and CI/testing infrastructure, > developer > >> > > tools, profiling/instrumentation, staged roll-out support and > >> > > strengthening of architectural leadership are the big pieces for > >> > > coming months, but I'll let Damon speak to his focus areas as he > gets > >> > > the lay of the land. > >> > > > >> > > Erik > >> > > > >> > > [1] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sue_Gardner/Narrowing_focus > >> > > [2] > >> > > > >> > > >> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2012-November/122663.html > >> > > [3] > >> > > > >> > > >> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2012-December/123088.html > >> > > [4] https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/165004/ > >> > > -- > >> > > Erik Möller > >> > > VP of Product & Strategy, Wikimedia Foundation > >> > > > >> > > _______________________________________________ > >> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > >> > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > >> > > Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > >> , > >> > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org > ?subject=unsubscribe> > >> > _______________________________________________ > >> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > >> > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > >> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > , > >> > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > >> > > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > >> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > >> < > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/guidelineswikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org > > > >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > -- Garfield Byrd Chief of Finance and Administration Wikimedia Foundation 415.839.6885 ext 6787 415.882.0495 (fax) www.wikimediafoundation.org Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. 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