Hello All,
Following up from conversations at the Wikimedia Hackathon in May
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T336990>, I’d like to give an update on
how we’re approaching the work around MediaWiki and what to expect in the
upcoming months!
Since the beginning of July, the Foundation has dedicated MediaWiki product
leadership and a new MediaWiki engineering group
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Engineering_Group>. We’re in the
process of onboarding (i.e. team processes, scope and operational
questions, getting familiar with the domain), have been spreading out to
help with specific projects as consultants and/or code contributors and are
now kicking off broader research to inform a strategy for MediaWiki. This
email is the first edition of a monthly email report to wikitech-l and
mediawiki-l. Reports can also be found on
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Reports>this page
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Reports>.
The first 12 months are about building out the foundations for the
following years:
- Building up the new MW Engineering group and MW Product function
{{doing}}
- Developing a strategy for MediaWiki - by June 30th, 2024 [Wikimedia
Foundation Annual Plan, WE3
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024/Product_%26_Technology/OKRs#Bucket_1:_Wiki_Experiences>]
{{kicking off}}
- Reaching a 20% increase of authors to selected MediaWiki repositories
deployed in Wikimedia production - by June 30th, 2024 [WE3.2] {{preparing}}
- Investing in developer experiences and reduce fragmentation of
developer workflows - continuous work with specific deliverables in 2023/24
[WE 3.1] {{doing}}
- Exploring and resolving a set of questions around stewardship and Open
Source strategy (goes beyond MediaWiki) [WE3.3] {{preparing}}
The approach that we’re trying to take is to work problem-focused (start
from the problem, usage and needs), data driven (conduct research to inform
decisions), step by step (prioritize and scope things, since we can’t
address all questions at once), and take people along (share regularly
about the work, initiate exchange and invite people in).
The research to inform this work
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Product_Insights> consists of
multiple pillars and phases:
- MediaWiki within Wikimedia’s ecosystem: Key challenges and
opportunities. Includes interviews and review of existing write-ups
(pre-kick off at the Hackathon in May, continue in July)
- MediaWiki usage and development beyond Wikimedia: Synergy effects,
opportunities and challenges (start in November)
- Components-workflow mapping exercise. How are core workflows such as
edit or patrol powered and enabled by MW core components, extensions,
modules, gadgets, tools as of today? Initial focus is on prototyping this
for 1-2 Wikipedias and potentially Wikidata (start in September)
- Exploration of MW platform designs - what changes could we make to
increase the sustainability of the platform, better serve our core
workflows and needs and provide easier, faster and cohesive paths to
feature development? (October-June)
- Ways to establish effective and responsible stewardship for the
platform (October-June)
MediaWiki within Wikimedia’s ecosystem: Interviews
A key part of research is talking to folks. We’ve kicked this off with
first interviews with MediaWiki developers
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T336990> at the Hackathon in May, have
surveyed ourselves (= MediaWiki Engineering group) and plan to conduct more
interviews with a cross-section of people over the next 6 weeks. The main
focus of this round is on MediaWiki within Wikimedia’s ecosystem and we’ll
be reaching out to a few more MediaWiki volunteer developers starting this
week. We’re planning to organize broader MediaWiki ecosystem conversations
in the upcoming quarters.
Project snapshot: Onboarding via Code Mob
As we’re building up the new MediaWiki Engineering Group, we’re also
investing in onboarding team members to MediaWiki development and MediaWiki
APIs who are just getting started. Bill Pirkle has come up with an
onboarding concept and is hosting weekly “Code Mob” sessions for folks on
the teams across MW Engineering - if you’re interested in “learning along”,
you can find a list of recordings and topics on this page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:BPirkle_(WMF)/Code_Mobs_2023>.
Reporting and documentation
We will share about our work through the monthly emails and in 3-4
MediaWiki Product Insights reports published throughout the Foundations’
fiscal year (July-June). Over the next weeks, we will also create or update
team pages and clean up + create Phabricator workboards to make it easier
to follow along (and for us to keep track/focus :-).
Your ideas, support, patience as we’re settling in, experiences and
insights in challenges and opportunities really matter for this to work
out. A big thanks to all the folks who already have offered support, shared
their experiences, or otherwise helped out so far! <3
If you have specific questions or thoughts on this edition, this talk page
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:MediaWiki_Product_Insights> is a good
place to connect :-)
Thanks all for reading!
Birgit
--
Birgit Müller (she/her)
Director of Product, MediaWiki and Developer Experiences
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>