My questions are: 1) Are you satisfied with the present organizational structure of the Project, and 2) Are you convinced it will be able to guide and maintain the Project as it grows?
on 6/26/07 5:00 AM, Thomas Dalton at thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
I don't think that's a fair question. As the project grows, the organisational structure will grow - it has done for the past 6 years, and will continue to do so. So far that growth has been primarily organic and not planned more than one step in advance. The real question is whether the organic growth of the organisational structure will be able to keep up with the growth of the project, or will we need to develop a more pre-planned structure. It's a difficult question to answer - looking at how things stand now, I'm tempted to say no, but I've been surprised by the resilience of organic structures in the past, and may well be again.
Thomas,
I don't understand why you think my question was unfair. I was merely asking what was thought of the structure as it exists now. If it is, in fact growing, there must be something in place now that is in the act of this growth.
I persist with this issue because I am still concerned about the stability of a project I have come to respect, and to believe in, very strongly. And, even more importantly, the community of persons who are devoting so much thought, time, and creative energy to it. If it fails, it will not be the result of something that happens from without, but, rather, something that does not happen from within.
This is basic organizational stuff. I have seen well-intentioned, wonderful projects fail in the past for the very reasons I am trying to present here.
One more volley: Like it or not - threatening to some or not; what's needed here is a strong leader.
The ultimate fate of the Wikipedia Project will a part of only one person's legacy - not mine, and not yours.
Marc