Excellent points, Yair, I hadn't noticed that. (which suggests the page showing proposed changes <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Proposed_Bylaws_changes> can be more clear)
Perhaps it would make more sense to do this in two stages: 1) Set a date for the next community election (per the current bylaws) * If necessary, because the most suitable date is next year, make a small bylaws change that addresses only this variance. 2) Discuss and implement the larger changes. * address board expansion, changes in selection process, and combining or streamlining the different modes of community selection. Trying to do everything at once seems guaranteed to take longer than anticipated, and may be misconstrued. On Wed, Oct 7, 2020 at 5:03 PM Yair Rand <[email protected]> wrote: > I am alarmed. > > While the page on Meta page on the bylaws changes highlights only > additions, a direct comparison with the current bylaws shows some > significant deletions. Some issues: > * The line "(G) Board Majority. A majority of the Board Trustee positions, > without counting the Community Founder Trustee position, shall be selected > or appointed from the Affiliates collectively and the community." has been > simply deleted, with no replacement or equivalent. (This is unmentioned in > the summary.) This would allow the board to be entirely self-perpetuating. > This is made even more problematic with the change from > elections/nominations being "every three years" to "according to a schedule > determined by the Board of Trustees", and also the change from specifying a > precise number of community seats towards having just a maximum of "As many > as eight (8) Trustees...". The Board appears to be under no obligation to > continue having community-sourced seats at all, under the proposed bylaws. > * All mention of community voting has been eliminated, replaced with an > ambiguous "community nomination process". (Previously, the bylaws said > "Three Trustees will be selected from candidates approved through community > voting.") > > There are currently zero members of the board that are fulfilling > community-elected terms. Their terms (which were, for two of them, required > to be their final terms before they changed the term limits) were all > supposed to have ended on September 1. I don't think there would ever be a > good time for the board to remove its own obligations to the community, but > doing it while the Board is very much lacking in legitimacy, is especially > problematic. > > (Another minor point: The change from the description of the appointed > seats from "non-community-selected, non-chapter-selected" to > "non-community-sourced" seems to imply that the Board is prohibited from > filling these seats with any community members. Previously, there have been > community members in these seats.) > > -- Yair Rand > > > בתאריך יום ד׳, 7 באוק׳ 2020 ב-11:12 מאת Nataliia Tymkiv < > [email protected]>: > > > Dear all, > > > > Today the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees starts two calls for > > feedback: on changes to our Bylaws[1] mainly to increase the Board size > > from 10 to 16 members, and on a trustee candidate rubric[2] to introduce > > new, more effective ways to evaluate new board candidates. These > proposals > > are part of the governance improvement process announced on 28 April[3]. > > > > The Foundation’s work is wide-ranging, focused on areas including product > > development, technical infrastructure maintenance, community support, > > grantmaking, public policy advocacy, and fundraising. In addition, the > > Foundation is charged with administering the operations of an > international > > nonprofit organization responsible for a more than 500-person paid > > workforce and an annual budget of over US$100 million. Its ambitious > > mission is to support the sharing of knowledge amongst every single human > > being in partnership with Wikimedia communities across the globe. > > > > To provide sufficient strategic guidance and oversight over such a broad > > scope of work and constituents, Board members should reflect a similarly > > broad scope of expertise, experience, and backgrounds. Expanding the > number > > of board seats from 10 to 16 will move us closer to this goal, supported > by > > a Board candidate rubric that will help us all evaluate potential > trustees > > and ensure that they can provide what the Board, Foundation, and movement > > need. The Foundation will work with the broader movement to formalize > this > > rubric. Currently, trustees have to serve on more than one Board > committee > > (as voting members, alternates or liaisons). This overlap is a > significant > > burden, as it limits the amount of work that can be done—and the > volunteer > > trustees are overworked. > > > > == Bylaws revisions == > > > > We have published the planned revisions to the bylaws on Meta-Wiki and we > > welcome your comments through 26 October[1]. The Board has carefully > > considered the published revisions and we believe that they are a > positive > > step toward accomplishing our governance reform goals. We are publishing > > these so that they are transparent to the communities before the Board’s > > final vote to adopt the revisions, and we will be responding to questions > > about the revisions on the talk page. We shall consider any suggested > edits > > that would further the Board’s governance needs and goals. > > > > The revised Bylaws would maintain the current general structure of > trustee > > seats, with half (8 of 16) sourced from candidates identified through > > community selection processes, one reserved for Jimmy as Founder, and the > > rest (7 of 16) selected by the Board directly. The revisions would > > eliminate the distinction between trustees selected by affiliates and > > trustees selected by community voting. This offers more flexibility for > > adjusting community selection processes if necessary, while also not > > requiring any particular process changes. We hope to discuss possible > > changes with our communities in early 2021. > > > > == Board candidate evaluation form == > > > > In addition to expanding in size, the Board is considering ways to > improve > > our overall process for selecting trustees. The Board Governance > Committee > > (BGC) has drafted a Board candidate rubric as a tool to show and help > > evaluate the relevant effective candidates for the Board[2]. The rubric > is > > still a draft, and we want to hear what all of you think is missing, > > overrepresented, underrepresented, confusing, or could otherwise be > > improved. The goal of the rubric is not only to aid us in evaluating > > potential trustees but also to clearly and openly communicate how we are > > evaluating candidates. We welcome your input through 26 October. > > > > == Impact on postponed trustee selection process[4] == > > > > Following development of the rubric, we will work to further improve the > > selection of Board candidates by adapting the community-sourced trustee > > selection processes to fill 8 seats instead of 5. Any changes to current > > selection processes will be preceded by the necessary discussions with > > affected communities. We plan to start this discussion in early 2021. > Once > > the new process is developed, it will be used to select all > > community-sourced trustees going forward. > > > > I recognize that delays and slow progress can be frustrating and even > > confusing. I don’t think anyone—community, Board, or staff—is completely > > satisfied with the situation we currently find ourselves in. Like > everyone > > else, we are doing our best to respond to the challenges of 2020. There > are > > many pressing demands competing for everyone’s time and attention. We are > > faced with the difficult tasks of balancing goals and priorities and > > judiciously allocating the resources we have available to work on them. > We > > remain committed to holding the community trustee selection process in > the > > Foundation’s 2020-21 fiscal year (July through June). That process is > much > > more labour-intensive than many may realize, taking months of planning, > > preparation, and execution. For the community trustee selection process > to > > be successful, it requires not only resources to plan but also the > ability > > for as wide a range of diverse candidates and community voters as > possible > > to participate. We postponed the process in part because we were not sure > > that it would have that necessary participation if it had happened at the > > originally scheduled time. We appreciate everyone’s patience and > > understanding as we do our best to move this work forward in a way that > is > > mindful of both the desire to move quickly and our responsibility to > > achieve the best possible outcomes. > > > > Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to participate > > constructively in these conversations. > > > > You can find the original version of this announcement at > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Call_for_feedback_about_Bylaws_changes_and_Board_candidate_rubric > > < > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/July_2020_-_Call_for_feedback_about_Bylaws_changes_and_Board_candidate_rubric > > > > > > > > > Best regards, > > > > antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv > > > > Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees > > > > [1] > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Proposed_Bylaws_changes > > > > > > [2] > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Board_candidate_rubric > > > > > > [3] > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Updates_from_April_28,_2020 > > > > [4] > > > > > https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Postponement_of_Community_Selection_of_Trustees_and_Extension_of_Community_Selected_Trustee_Terms_until_next_selection_process > > > > *NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal > working > > hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You > > should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in > > advance!* > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: [email protected] > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > -- Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266 _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
