brion, there is 10'000 km between you and me so i only read mails on this list. would you mind detailing what you expect from your CEO to trigger "she benefits me"?
best, rupert On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 2:41 AM, Brion Vibber <bvib...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Lila, a few notes. > > First, many staff members feel that the accomplishments you claim under > "we" are not attributable to you. > > Complaints about lack of strategy and confusing management have come from > all levels of the staff; the implication that people who failed to be > promoted might be behind discontent seems not to hold water. > > As to shutting down pet projects to improve focus, it's unclear what > projects you refer to. > > Fundamentally we agree that we must improve tech. But the tech side of the > organization, based on my conversations with other employees including > managers, does not seem to have benefited from your tenure -- ops laregely > manages itself, while the other sections get occasionally surprised by a > reorg. We've still not fully recovered from the 2015 reorg and Damon's > appearance and disappearance. > > If your contention is that tech supports you as a silent majority, I have > strong doubts that this is the case. > > -- brion > > On Feb 21, 2016 4:22 PM, "Lila Tretikov" <l...@wikimedia.org> wrote: >> >> Why we’ve changed >> >> >> I want to address some of the many questions that are coming up in this >> forum. From the general to the very concrete, they all touch on the fact >> that many things about the WMF have been changing. We are in the thick of >> transformation, and you all have the right to know more about how and why >> this is occurring. This is not a statement of strategy, which will come > out >> of the community consultation next week. This is the ED’s perspective > only. >> >> >> After 15 years since the birth of Wikipedia, the WMF needs to rethink >> itself to ensure our editor work expands into the next decade. Recently we >> kicked-off some initiatives to this end, including aligning community >> support functions, focus on mobile and innovative technology, seeding the >> Wikimedia Endowment, re-organizing our internal structure, exploring >> partnerships and focusing on the most critical aspects of our mission: >> community and technology. We started this transformation, but as we move >> forward we are facing a crisis that is rooted in our choice of direction. >> >> >> The choice in front the WMF is that of our core identity. Our mission can >> be served in many ways, but we cannot do them all. We could either fully >> focus on building our content and educational programs. Or we can get > great >> at technology as the force multiplier for our movement. I believe the the >> former belongs to our volunteers and affiliates and that the role of the >> WMF is in providing global support and coordination of this work. I > believe >> in -- and the board hired me to -- focus on the latter. To transform our >> organization into a high-tech NGO, focused on the needs of our editors and >> readers and rapidly moving to update our aged technology to support those >> needs. To this end we have made many significant changes. But the > challenge >> in front of us is hard to underestimate: technology moves faster than any >> other field and meeting expectations of editors and readers will require >> undistracted focus. >> >> >> What changed? >> >> >> When Jimmy started Wikipedia, the early editors took a century-old >> encyclopedia page and allowed anyone to create or edit its content. At the >> time when creating knowledge was still limited to the chosen few, openly >> collaborating online gave us power to create and update knowledge at a > much >> faster rate than anyone else. This was our innovation. >> >> >> As we matured, we encountered two fundamental, existential challenges. One >> is of our own doing: driving away those who would otherwise join our >> mission through complex policies, confusing user experiences, and a > caustic >> community culture. The other is external and is emerging from our own > value >> of freely licensed content: Many companies copy our knowledge into their >> own databases and present it inside their interfaces. While this supports >> wider dissemination, it also separates our readers from our community. >> Wikipedia >> is more than the raw content, repurposed by anyone as they like. It is a >> platform for knowledge and learning, but if we don't meet the needs of >> users, we will lose them and ultimately fail in our mission. >> >> >> Meanwhile, in the last 15 years revolutionary changes have taken hold. The >> rate of knowledge creation around the world is unprecedented and is > increasing >> exponentially <http://qpmf.com/the-book/welcome-to-hyper-innovation/>. > User >> interfaces are becoming more adaptive to how users learn. This means we >> have a huge opportunity to accelerate human understanding. But to do so >> requires some significant change in technology and community interaction. >> >> >> So let’s begin with technology: Many at the WMF and in our community >> believe that we should not be a high-tech organization. I believe we >> should. With over half of our staff fully committed to delivering product >> and technology, it is already our primary vehicle for impacting our > mission >> and our community. In fact we constantly see additional technology needs >> emerging from our Community department to help amplify theirs and our >> community work. >> >> >> What do we need to do in light of the changes I described above? We need > to >> focus on increasing productivity of our editors and bringing more readers >> to Wikipedia (directly on mobile, and from 3rd party reusers back to our >> sites). >> >> >> When we started, the open knowledge on Wikipedia was a large piece of the >> internet. Today, we have an opportunity to be the door into the whole >> ecosystem of open knowledge by: >> >> >> >> - >> >> scaling knowledge (by building smart editing tools that structurally >> connect open sources) >> - >> >> expanding the entry point to knowledge (by improving our search portal) >> >> >> There are many ways to alleviate the manual burdens of compiling and >> maintaining knowledge currently taken on by our editing community, while >> quickly expanding new editing. We made significant strides this year with >> our first steps to leverage artificial intelligence >> <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/11/30/artificial-intelligence-x-ray-specs/ >> >> to remove grunt work from editing. But that is just a start. Connecting >> sources through structured data would go much further and allow our > editors >> to easily choose the best media for their article and for our readers to >> recieve content at their depth of understanding or language comprehension. >> >> >> Wikipedia is the trusted place where people learn. Early indicators show >> that if we choose to improve the search function more people will use our >> site. We are seeing early results in use of Wikipedia in our A/B testing > of >> search >> <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/First_Portal_Test.pdf >> >> , but we have a long way to go. We want people to come directly to our >> sites -- and be known as the destination for learning -- so that > eventually >> we can bring our readers into our editing community. And without community >> support none of this will be remotely possible. >> >> >> Which brings me to the community. Over time the WMF has grown, with an >> opportunity of becoming a complementary, mutually empowering partner with >> the community. We need each other and we share one focus: humanity. >> Reaching and sharing with people across the world is our common goal. >> >> >> In the past year we managed -- for the first time since 2007 -- to finally >> stem the editor decline. But that will not be enough. We need to find ways >> to re-open and embrace new members instead of the hazing we conduct at >> least in some parts of the site today. We must treat each other with >> kindness and respect. Technology is not the main reasons for rampant new >> editor attrition. It is how we talk to each other that makes all the >> difference. >> >> >> Without tackling these issues we artificially limit our growth and >> scalability. And we will continue to reject those whose ideas are new or >> different, the most vulnerable members of our community. In this, the >> Gender Gap is the “canary in the coal mine”. Women are the first to leave >> contentious and aggressive environments and are less likely to remain when >> they encounter it. They are less likely to run in elections because of > rude >> and aggressive treatment. Yet in editor surveys and in our latest strategy >> consultation, Gender Gap has been considered a low priority. I disagree. >> >> >> Over the past two years I have actively pushed funding to improve >> anti-harassment, child protection and safety programs; work in these areas >> is ongoing. We are actively exploring some tangible approaches that -- I >> hope -- will turn into concrete outcomes >> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Harassment_workshop>. In the latest >> research this year the number of female editors shown some growth. >> >> >> What does this mean for the WMF? >> >> >> In the past 18 months -- and thanks to hard work of the people at the WMF >> and our community supporters -- we have made significant structural >> changes. We have organized around two core areas: technology and > community. >> We have made changes with an eye on improving our relationships between > the >> volunteer community, the chapters and the WMF, including the creation of >> structures that should vastly improve the WMF's responsiveness to >> volunteers. We began adopting best industry practices in the organization, >> such as setting and measuring goals and KPIs. We’ve given managers a lot > of >> responsibilities and demanded results. We’ve asked for adjustment in >> attitude towards work, our responsibilities and professional > relationships. >> We prioritised impact and performance so that we can provide more value to >> our communities and the world. >> >> >> This has not been easy. >> >> >> In practice this means I demanded that we set standards for staff >> communication with our community to be professional and respectful. It >> meant transitioning people, shutting down pet projects, promoting some but >> not others, demanding goals and results to get funding. This level of >> change is necessary to set up our organization to address the challenges > of >> the next decade. >> >> >> All of this means stepping away from our comfort zones to create capacity >> for building programs and technologies that will support us in the future. >> It is a demanding and difficult task to perform an organizational change > at >> this scale and speed. >> >> >> I believe that in order to successfully serve our community and humanity, >> the WMF has deliver best-of class technology and professional support for >> community. This will ensure we are delivering significant impact to >> volunteer editors and opening avenues for new types of contributions. This >> requires that we choose the route of technical excellence for the WMF with >> support and encouragement from our community partners. Without this >> empowerment, the WMF will not succeed. >> >> >> The world is not standing still. It will not wait for us to finish our >> internal battles and struggles. Time is our most precious commodity. >> >> >> Lila >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines >> New messages to: 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 > New messages to: 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 New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
