Forwarding to the Treasurers mailing list in the hope that a community
member with a finance backround will run for a WMF Board seat, and
forwarding to the Gender Gap mailing list with the hope of encouraging
diversity-minded candidates to run.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Gregory Varnum" <gregory.varnum(a)gmail.com>
Date: Apr 20, 2015 3:58 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Nominations being accepted for 2015 Wikimedia
Foundation elections
To: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Greetings,
I am pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the
2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections. This year the Board and the FDC Staff
are looking for a diverse set of candidates from regions and projects that
are traditionally under-represented on the board and in the movement as
well as candidates with experience in technology, product or finance. To
this end they have published letters
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/Call_fo…
>
describing
what they think is needed and, recognizing that those who know the
community the best are the community themselves, the election
committee is accepting
nominations
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015#Informa…
>
for
community members you think should run and will reach out to those
nominated to provide them with information about the job and the election
process.
This year, elections are being held for the following roles:
*Board of Trustees*
The Board of Trustees is the decision-making body that is ultimately
responsible for the long term sustainability of the Foundation, so we value
wide input into its selection. There are three positions being filled.
More information about this role can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/Board_e…
.
*Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)*
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to
allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five
positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/FDC_ele…
.
*Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) Ombud*
The FDC Ombud receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process,
investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and
summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an
annual basis. One position is being filled. More information about this
role can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/FDC_Omb…
.
The candidacy submission phase lasts from 00:00 UTC April 20 to 23:59 UTC
May 5 for the Board and from 00:00 UTCApril 20 to 23:59 UTC April 30 for
the FDC and FDC Ombudsperson. This year, we are accepting both
self-nominations and nominations of others. More information on this
election and the nomination process can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015.
Please feel free to post a note about the election on your project's
village pump. Any questions related to the election can be posted on the
talk page on Meta, or sent to the election committee's mailing list,
board-elections(a)wikimedia.org
On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (User:Varnent)
Coordinator, 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
_______________________________________________
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Forwarding Lila's email to the Treasurer's list in case affiliates are
thinking about remote vs. local employee placements and would be
interested in hearing about WMF's team structures for possible adaptation.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Pine W" <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>
Date: Apr 9, 2015 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF office location and remodel
To: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Interesting. I look forward to seeing these new structures. Thanks Lila.
Pine
On Apr 9, 2015 1:53 PM, "Lila Tretikov" <lila(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> All --
>
> As a matter of strategy we should be leveraging our open-source roots more
> as we grow. This means distributed, loosely-coupled teams. We know from
> software industry history that distributed teams work best when they are
> *entirely* distributed. We are working on some structures that will allow
> teams to either be entirely distributed or mostly co-located, consistent
> with what we know about best outcomes. In SF, remote working is not very
> common as the software companies demand people to be on-site and we have an
> advantage with remote talent, but it is also not for everyone as it can be
> isolating. Net-net.. before we worry about growth and costs we need to
> worry about effectiveness, but we are thinking about this.
>
> Thanks,
> Lila
>
> On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 9:02 AM, Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 9 April 2015 at 16:47, Garfield Byrd <gbyrd(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> > > Hi Fae,
> > >
> > > We have 215 staff in total, with a hub of activity in San Francisco and
> > > other staff in several other states and 18 countries. So I agree
> > talented
> > > people can be found globally and WMF does hire the best talent it can
> > find
> > > wherever they are located. At this point adding offices in other
> > locations
> > > add cost without any benefits to the community or the Wikimedia
> > > Foundation. We also do not have the luxury of Mozilla's $300 million
> > > budget that can support a London office or Microsoft's billions to
> have a
> > > globally distributed workforce with offices. So we are not closing the
> > > door to anything. Based on our test project of trying to develop
> centers
> > of
> > > activity in other parts of the United States there is no need for
> > > additional offices. We do need and will continue to hire a globally
> > > distributed staff of talented people to support our global community of
> > > talented volunteers.
> >
> > Thanks for the response, it makes sense to me.
> >
> > I agree with avoiding additional offices unless there is a very good
> > business case. Back in the late 1990s I was part of a small
> > consultancy where we chose to eliminate having a central office
> > altogether. It was a strange thing to try back last century, but
> > moving more of the administrative functions into the virtual working
> > space, and arming employees with excellent teamworking tools they can
> > use from home (or bookable office spaces locally) has become part of
> > the ordinary world of work these days.
> >
> > WMF development happens this way already, and you writing here shows
> > that management/executive level folks are comfortable and skilled with
> > virtual spaces. It would be jolly interesting if the WMF were seen to
> > try out more virtual methods in other parts of its operation, and find
> > meaningful ways of reporting on benefits or avoidable costs. I see
> > this as part of the learning organization... Maybe a topic for another
> > thread at some point. :-)
> >
> > Fae
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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