On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Platonides <Platonides(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > Thanks for your explanation but personally I'm more confused than before
> > about the difference between Engineering and Product, also because the
> > terminology didn't appear internally consistent. :-)
>
> I feel like you, Nemo. I am glad by Terry explanation, but as I went on
> reading it, the less I felt I understood it. It would benefit from a
> more layman explanation. Maybe it's just complex to everybody.
Simplest possible explanation of what Erik is proposing: we need to split a
large department in to two, and add more managers. It's too big ad too
critical for one person to manage.
In three steps...
1. Right now there is one department, Engineering & Product Development.
It includes engineers, designers, product managers, community liasons, data
analysts, and more. It's the biggest department at the Wikimedia
Foundation.
2. In 6-8 months there will be two departments, Engineering and Product
Development. Each will have their own leaders that report to Sue, instead
of everyone reporting to Erik. Engineering will contain software engineers
and their managers, for the most part. Product Development will contain
designers, product managers, and data analysts, for the most part.
3. There will also probably be new Director-level positions under the
new departments, such as to manage the design team.
That glosses over the entirety of the reasons for proposing this and the
benefits, obviously. Howie's explanation of what each of these roles are
will help define why product development is distinct from engineering, I'm
sure.
Steven
On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Platonides <Platonides(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On 07/11/12 22:21, Federico Leva (Nemo) wrote:
>> Terry Chay, 07/11/2012 21:04:
>>>> You aren't the only one. It turns out we use a lot of industry
>>>> terminology, without realizing that we are poorly communicating what
>>>> that means to most people. [...]
>>>> First of all, this will help greatly to the others (you already
>>>> read it): <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Staff_and_contractors>.
>>
>> Thanks for your explanation but personally I'm more confused than before
>> about the difference between Engineering and Product, also because the
>> terminology didn't appear internally consistent. :-)
>
> I feel like you, Nemo. I am glad by Terry explanation, but as I went on
> reading it, the less I felt I understood it. It would benefit from a
> more layman explanation. Maybe it's just complex to everybody.
>
>
>> So, to keep it simple, that page has:
>>
>> 2 Engineering and Product Development
>> 2.1 Platform
>> 2.2 Features
>> 2.3 Technical Operations
>> 2.4 Mobile and Special Projects
>> 2.5 Language
>> 2.6 Product
>>
>> and as first approximation "Product" would be something like 2.2+2.6 and
>> "Engineering" something like 2.1+2.3, with 2.4 and 2.5 aside?
>
> I thought that 2.4 (Mobile) would also be Product.
>
>
>
>>>> [...] On the "Engineering" side, there exists an amalgam of
>>>> specific focused groups with their own directors. The focused groups
>>>> are: Language (formerly "i18n and Experimentation",
>>>> internationalization/localization/globalization is a cross-cutting
>>>> concern), and Mobile (formerly, "Mobile and Special Projects: the
>>>> mobile web, the mobile app, also including Wikipedia Zero). The
>>>> "area" focused ones are: Operations (keeping the lights on), Platform
>>>> (keeping the code working) and Features (ostensibly new features). [...]
>>
>> What you call the Engineering side here, at a first glance, could seem
>> product development, and in fact those two "focused groups" currently
>> have some members which are under 2.6 (Product). Surely the same happens
>> for the other areas you mentioned.
>
>
> You can see several teams in that page, with members from multiple
> "sections". Which leads to the (naive?) question on what's the purpose
> of being splitted in those sections if then the work is done in teams
> with a completely different organization.
>
>
> After staring for a while to [[Staff and contractors]] and trying to
> match people with its work, my only conclusion is that I don't know what
> most employees do.
>
It often (not always) helps to click through to the employee's user
page and read the "My work" section there. Earlier this year, Gayle
harassed us all a lot to put something informative there ;)
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications)
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
Sry, apparently this message gout bounced :-)
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Terry Chay <tchay(a)wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikitech-l] Fwd: [Tech/Product] Engineering/Product org structure
> Date: November 7, 2012 11:47:56 AM PST
> To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Cc: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
> Quim,
>
> On Nov 7, 2012, at 10:00 AM, Quim Gil <quimgil(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi, am I the only one having difficulties understanding the proposal and what it implies?
>
> You aren't the only one. It turns out we use a lot of industry terminology, without realizing that we are poorly communicating what that means to most people. For instance, I once introduced our Director of "Product" to someone and Howie got inundated with a request for help in getting them a Wikimedia T-shirt. :-D
>
>>
>> On 11/05/2012 07:03 PM, Erik Moeller wrote:
>>> we need to split the current department into an engineering dept
>>> and a product dept in about 6-8 months.
>>
>> It is strange to see "engineering" and "product" side by side, since (as i understand them) these words belong to different categories. :)
>
> First of all, this will help greatly to the others (you already read it): <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Staff_and_contractors>.
>
> In this case, the current structure has three separate concepts under the banner of "Product": they are product design (i.e. new software features <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_design>), project management (getting those features out on a schedule), and user-interface/user experience/design (in this case, the pixels as the actual coding of the UX/UI is in "Features").
>
> On the "Engineering" side, there exists an amalgam of specific focused groups with their own directors. The focused groups are: Language (formerly "i18n and Experimentation", internationalization/localization/globalization is a cross-cutting concern), and Mobile (formerly, "Mobile and Special Projects: the mobile web, the mobile app, also including Wikipedia Zero). The "area" focused ones are: Operations (keeping the lights on), Platform (keeping the code working) and Features (ostensibly new features).
>
> (In reality, taking my division, Features, as an example, I have teams working on the Visual Editor (actually three challenges: the visual editor, the parser, and integrating the two), FR-tech (engineering support for the Fundraiser), Editor Engagement (this year: Notifications and Messaging), and Editor Engagement Experimentation (i.e. post-edit feedback, account creation, new user flows, and analytics to support it), and normally Multimedia (Commons, video, UploadWizard). Plus there is stuff I haven't counted but take resources here and there: maintenance of existing stuff, being available for UI/UX for platform, ResourceLoader/ResourceLoader2, the Agora project for standardized UI/UX, previous and current Editor engagement projects (ArticleFeedbackTool, PageCuration, MoodBar), and MicroDesign.)
>
>> Do you mean a "platform" team and "product" team, both filled with engineers and other profiles but each one focusing on different things? The MediaWiki (platform) team and the Wikimedia (product) teams, so to say?
>>
>> Or are you indeed referring to the classical separation between "product managers + designers" and "developers + testers"? The first ones defining requirements and the second ones implementing them?
>
> I believe what is being talked about is more the latter, less the former: a separation of "Product" into distinct teams. Initially that will probably be splitting the product and project managers from the UI/UX piece. Already, Product works closely with Features (projects), Mobile, and Language providing the product management support and design. On doing this, it elevates Product Development as a whole to a higher level (along with Global Dev, Fundraising, Legal and Community, Finanace and Administration and HR, and distinct from Engineering). This does not mean that they are separate. For example, currently, Mobile (in engineering) works closely with mobile partnerships in Global Development on Wikipedia Zero, FR-tech in Features works closely with Fundraising (obviously), and none of us can do anything without Finance and Administration, HR, and Legal counsel.
>
> Right now, Erik wears three hats: deputy director, VP of engineering, VP of product development. As you have noticed from the staff and contractors page, "Engineering and Product Development" is an umbrella that encompasses nearly half the WMF. While groups like Mobile and Language are focused, Features, Platform, and Ops have become "catch-all" areas and lack focus. As the groups have grown, fragmentation has increased. I showed what Features really looks like above, but I'm sure Rob and CT can share similar examples of that in Platform and Ops.
>
> I think it is believed that splitting off a dedicated VPE distinct from the demands of new feature release will create someone with the wherewithal to focus these groups into a more effective engineering staff as a whole. Right now, deducation where directors have more focused responsibilities like Mobile and Language, and less fragmented isn't possible because Erik has competing things demanding his attention. Hence, following a "narrowing focus" mandate. :-)
>
> I hope this explains the decision (or at least, my interpretation of the decision :-D).
>
>> What is clear from your email is that the current Engineering team is underrepresented at a high level and you Erik have too much in your bucket. A split and flattening getting more people in the high decision levels makes total sense.
>>
>> What also seems to be clear is that such reorganization should solve the slightly schizophrenic tension of priorities between Wikimedia/product and MediaWiki/platform, right?
>
>
>> Whatever the result, I hope we end up with teams where software developers, sysadmins, product managers, designers etc are well mixed in focused teams going after clear common goals.
>>
>
> You nailed it on the head. :-)
>
> Take care,
>
> terry
>
>
>
> terry chay 최태리
> Director of Features Engineering
> Wikimedia Foundation
> “Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.”
>
> p: +1 (415) 839-6885 x6832
> m: +1 (408) 480-8902
> e: tchay(a)wikimedia.org
> i: http://terrychay.com/
> w: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tychay
> aim: terrychay
>
On 7 November 2012 11:47, Terry Chay <tchay(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Take care,
>
> terry
Terry this is great, thank you for writing it. I was on a two-hour
call glancing at this thread, knowing Erik's travelling, and wondering
if I should reply in his stead. Glad you did it :-)
Thanks,
Sue
Google's autocomplete filter now censors certain search terms.
While this may or may not be successful at stopping "piracy", it certainly manages
to filter wikipedia pages on these topics.
See here, and note the top hit for their example:
http://torrentfreak.com/why-is-megaupload-still-censored-by-googles-piracy-…
I've also tested a few of the knwn terms myself.
sincerely,
Kim Bruning
Hi all,
we have just launched the Foundation's 2012 editor survey; with
invitations to participate being shown to logged-in users on Wikipedia
and Commons.
A few quick facts about the survey (for more refer to
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_Editor_Survey_2012
):
* This is the third survey of editors as envisaged in the Foundation's
2010-15 strategic plan "in order to take the pulse of the community
and identify pressing issues or concerns", after the April 2011 and
December 2011 surveys.
* The first main purpose of this survey is to continue the work of the
2011 studies (conducted by Mani Pande and Ayush Khanna), with a focus
on tracking changes since last year and identifying trends.
Which is why many questions are being repeated from last time.
* The second emphasis in this instance of the survey is to measure the
satisfaction of the editing community with the work of the Wikimedia
Foundation.
* This is the first editor survey that includes a non-Wikipedia
project (Commons, for the questions that are non Wikipedia-specific).
* Thanks to everyone who commented on the draft questionnaire after we
solicited feedback on this list and in and IRC office hour, as well as
to those who commented about the last survey. We made several changes
based on the feedback, and tried to reply to all concerns.
* Also many thanks to all volunteer translators who reviewed or
contributed translations; the questionnaire is available in 14
languages (Italian, Polish and Portuguese will launch a bit later).
* As with the previous two surveys, the results will be published in
the following forms: A "topline" report detailing the percentage of
responses for each question, a series of posts on
https://blog.wikimedia.org analyzing the results, and a data set
consisting of anonymized responses which others can use to do their
own analyses. This time we will also aim to produce language-specific
topline reports (an approach we already tested for Chinese with the
data from the December 2011 survey).
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications)
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
Dear all,
At its in-person meeting of 26 October, the Board of Trustees also approved
the two following resolutions:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Amended_Bylaws
This resolution approved the revised and amended Foundation bylaws. The
updated Bylaws are being adopted to ensure the Foundation's continued
compliance with applicable laws and to further clarify certain procedural
matters.
Please note the substantive change in Article V: Officers and Duties. As
per the amendments, the Secretary and Treasurer are now non-trustee officer
positions.
In line with this amendment, non-trustees have been appointed to both these
positions.
The resolution approving these appointments is published at:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointment_of_Foundation_St…
All resolutions from the in-person meeting of 26 October have now been
published.
Questions and comments, as always, are welcome.
Best
Bishakha
Heya folks :)
Denny and I will be doing another round of Wikidata office hours. You
can come and ask your questions about Wikidata - technical and
non-technical. The next ones will be:
* 5. November at 17:30 UTC
(http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=17&min=30&sec=0&d…)
in German
* 6. November at 17:30 UTC
(http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=17&min=30&sec=0&d…)
in English
Both of them will happen on IRC in #wikimedia-office on freenode. Logs
will be published afterwards for everyone who can't attend.
I hope to see many of you there.
Cheers
Lydia
PS: Don't forget the Wikidata Main Page design that needs your hand:
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikidata-l/2012-October/001104.html
;-)
--
Lydia Pintscher - http://about.me/lydia.pintscher
Community Communications for Wikidata
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
Obentrautstr. 72
10963 Berlin
www.wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg
unter der Nummer 23855 Nz. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das
Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.
Hi all,
The October edition of the Fellowship News is now available, and you're
invited to come learn what Wikimedia Fellows have been up to this month:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fellowship_News
Topics covered include:
*Dispute Resolution project - RfC closed on universal DR request wizard,
and a new survey in the works
*Help Pages project - Help:Contents redesign usability tests and RfC, as
project comes to an end
*Small Wiki Editor Engagement project - 6 week help documentation pilot
wrapping up on Bangla Wikipedia
*Teahouse project - Phase 2 is complete and activity, engagement and
retention metrics demonstrate impact
*WikiWomen's Collaborative project - Results from the first month on social
media channels show a growing WikiWomen's movement
*Fellowships program to wind down in early 2013
Warm regards,
--
Siko Bouterse
Head of Community Fellowships
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
sbouterse(a)wikimedia.org
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