Not sure if the opening of the Wishlist has been announced here yet? But
it seems to be open for proposals until the 23rd.
Which means I get to propose fixing a simple technical question for the
fifth time in the wishlist: does this page exist?
Seriously.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey_2022/Miscellaneou…
Thanks,
Mike
On 5/1/22 16:10:37, Natalia Rodriguez wrote:
> Hey all,
> Nice to meet many of you for the first time! Thanks for your feedback
> and for raising larger concerns around resource allocation at the
> Foundation. These concerns are extremely valid-- especially the ones
> around allocating resources for less supported platforms such as Commons
> and broken infrastructure. The wishlist process will begin next week
> with the proposal phase starting Jan 10.
>
> In the email thread, I identified some open questions about the Wishlist
> process so I am answering them here.
>
> *
> Can we vote/focus on the maintenance of tools rather than new tools?
> o
> Yes. The wishes that we work on do not have to be associated
> with a new tool. In the past we’ve taken on projects that were
> maintenance related. For example, in the last year, we took on
> improvement projects for Wikisource Export and Wikisource OCR
> tools, among other initiatives. We also maintain and fix all the
> tools we’ve built in the past.Check out the fresh documentation
> about what qualifies as a proposal here.
>
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey/FAQ#How_to_create_a_good_proposal?>
> o
> Gnangarra, your points about the issues with bulk uploads in
> Commons would make a sound proposal-- a proposal does not have
> to be a new tool in the least. The part about uploading large
> files is out of scope for our team though (see link above about
> our areas of focus, the issue is infrastructural
> <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T86436>and too large for what
> we can take on). I still believe there is value in suggesting
> it, though.
> o
> We have Talk to Us
>
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey/Updates/Talk_to_Us>hours
> on January 19-- where the entire team will be available for a
> video call to help folks who want to write proposals and polish
> them so that they may get selected.
>
>
> *
> What if what we want fixed is larger than what the Community Tech
> team can accomplish?
> o
> This year, we will be talking directly with leadership about
> larger wishes that we can't fulfill ourselves. To make this
> possible, we will no longer be formally 'Archiving' ideas. One
> improvement we are implementing from conversations with all of
> you at past Talk to Us Hours and other places, is that we will
> place projects that are too large for us into a new category
> called “Larger Suggestions'' because we still want people to be
> able to voice those needs. We plan to share this with the
> Foundation's leadership during the WMF's annual planning, which
> takes place in the spring.
> o
> This being said, if you have an idea that may be too large for
> us to take on, I would also encourage you to come to Talk to Us
> Hours (link above) and see if we can help you workshop the
> proposal into something we can help with. If we can’t then I
> would still highly encourage you to propose, by all means!
> Chances are if you think it’s an important problem, many other
> members do as well.
> o
> Finally, the wishlist isn't just for Community Tech. Volunteer
> developers and other Wikimedia Foundation teams have taken on
> wishes from the wishlist. For this reason, there is a chance
> that a wish may not be appropriate for our team, but it can be
> addressed by someone else.
>
>
> *
> Why isn’t the WMF fixing what we feel are be the most urgently
> needed fixes in functionality?
> o
> This is a larger question that gets answered at the board and
> C-leadership levels. There are also some relatively new teams at
> the Foundation, such as Architecture and Platform Engineering,
> that aim to improve the technical infrastructure overall in the
> years to come. However, every team can help with the answer and
> Community Tech can help with communication of technical needs.
> This “Larger Suggestions” collection of wishes I mentioned in
> the previous answer will not be a silver bullet that fixes all
> of the problems, but I believe in the power of incremental steps
> to steer us in that direction.
>
>
> *
> How can we communicate the urgency of the fixes that we need?
> o
> I don’t believe there is any lack of documentation of concerns
> about functionality that is broken. Folks are right to point out
> that it’s about synthesizing what is most urgently broken, the
> maintenance that is really necessary, and surfacing it to
> leadership. We, the Community Tech team, had a lot of hard
> conversations about how to handle this because we never want to
> mislead anyone into thinking we are going to work on ideas that
> are too large for our team. However, we all collectively came to
> the conclusion that we should still be the team that gives
> people the space to voice what they need from a technical
> perspective.
> o
> The wishlist itself can communicate urgency. If you submit a
> detailed wish (the more details, the better!), and if the wish
> receives a high number of votes, we definitively know as a team
> that it's urgent and high-priority. From there, we have the
> information we need to take next steps. This may involve taking
> on the wish ourselves or communicating the wish to leadership.
> *
> Does the Community Tech team work in isolation?
> o
> No, we constantly collaborate with other teams at the Foundation
> and most importantly, with all of you. This year our goal is to
> share the top wishes with other product managers who are
> responsible for products related to the categories in the
> wishlist. This way, they may incorporate relevant wishes into
> their team's roadmap, or they will at least consider community
> requests as they plan upcoming work. We always check to see if
> other teams are already working on solutions related to what is
> asked inside of the Wishlist. We plan to do more and are
> energized that the conversation is already beginning to happen
> in this thread.
> *
> Why is the Community Tech team so small? Why can't more people be
> hired, or why can't a second Community Tech team be formed?
> o
> As a team, we deeply believe in our work, and we hope to keep
> growing. We know how important it is to work directly with
> community members and fulfill community requests. If you want
> our team to grow, one of the best ways you can champion us is to
> participate in the wishlist. As participation rates grow (and
> they have!), the more effectively we can advocate for our team
> and its resources.
>
>
> P.S. We are still welcoming help to promote the survey and to translate
> the updated documentation. Thanks for reading.
>
> Best,
> Natalia Rodriguez
> Senior Product Manager, Community Tech
>
>
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