On Dec 22, 2007 10:43 AM, Florence Devouard anthere@anthere.org wrote:
I think the last paragraph is interesting. Indeed, what some of you are asking is radical transparency at the organization level. And radical transparency is not really suitable for us, in most part because we are in the eye-storm of the media interest and that any scandal (or non-scandal actually) is likely to raise the interest of a journalist, and likely to spread at light-speed all over the planet.
I agree completely. This kind of transparency is detrimental to any organisation of significant size because it sacrifices the level of confidentiality and trust commonly needed in inter-organizational relationships in favor of an, in the end, unreachable ideal. Any organization that wants to accomplish something outside of its own capabilities has to work with other organizations. And in many cases, these cooperations can't be disclosed 100%, especially not while they are in the process of being set up. If, for example, a business has a tentative interest in a deal with the Wikimedia Foundation to publish Wikipedia content and use the trademark, those following negotiations will necessarily be confidential as will be the terms of the agreement. They have to be because incorporating Wikipedia content in a new, innovative way can be a significant competitive advantage - just think of the recent announcement by Spiegel in Germany to create a new knowledge portal combining a variety of sources with Wikipedia articles.
But I think that's not really an issue for most people if they have some experience of how the business world works. The kind of transparency Wikimedia, like any organization, can engage in, however, is related to how agenda topics are set up, how involvement in the decision-making process is organized, how decisions are announced, and how they are carried through. There are specific ways how those parts can be improved with minimal effort:
- Publish the non-confidential topics of the next board meeting agenda and invite comments. - Set up working committees for some areas where one of the board members serves as the chair. Keep them alive even if, for some periods, the board member is the only one actively working in the committee. Use these committees to address recurring or upcoming agenda topics and prepare some possible solutions for the board to adopt (with or without modifications). - For each resolution made, explain the reasoning behind it, what the problem is, why the problem is a problem, why the solution found is a good solution, what are its advantages. But also explain what are the shortcomings, what's missing. Nobody expects the board (or any organization) to come up with perfect solutions. Accepting that perfection is not achievable and every decision will have weakness is the first step. Identifying those weaknesses, assignig them to a committee to sort out, and inviting community feedback to address them will create a level of trust no "radical transparency" will be able to. And you will already be prepared for the questions and criticism every decision inevitably and understandably attracts. - Make sure the key people behind carrying out a decision are fully behind it. This means involving those stakeholders in the actual decision-making process by soliciting their feedback, making necessary adjustments to the proposed decision yet standing firm on the principles. Wash, rinse, repeat until there's no one left out of the loop who needs to be in the loop. - When there's criticism, address it in private. Don't respond to direct criticism on a public mailing list, in a wiki, or any other public place. And if your decision is questioned or if you don't think it's carried out correctly, address that in private too. There's no easier and faster way to lose someone who wants to help (paid or non-paid) than by attacking their work in public. - When there's a screw-up, some sort of bad news, be forward about it. Don't try to conceal something that will inevitably come out. As Forrest Gump found out, "shit happens". Be open about what happened, show that you understand this isn't good, and demonstrate what you are going to do (1) about the current situation and (2) to prevent it from repeating.
A decision that includes these steps will earn you the respect and the love of the people that Wikimedia really needs. Wikimedia or "free content movement" is a fantastic cause, something that brings an incredible benefit to this world in ways that we won't see completely until years to come. Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikisource and the other projects all have an incredible impact on everyone's ability to access well-written infomation about virtually anything. This is a movement whose goals, values, and ideals almost everyone can love and support. And the only thing that's standing in the way of realizing that potential are we ourselves. Let's do something about that.
Sebastian