Dear Wes et. al.,
Thank you for quickly providing some further information.
We at the Signpost sometimes have unique opportunities for insight into what is resonating in the Wikimedia community. Our readership is of course not a statistically representative sample, but I do believe it's an important one. With that in mind, two features that I believe came out of the Interactive Team have, in recent weeks, generated a great deal more enthusiasm than we're used to seeing. (See metrics below.)
With that in mind, I'd like to underscore what Derk-Jan said. When the WMF manages to generate strong enthusiasm through its software offerings, it seems natural that an action that impacts that team might draw some concern, from beyond the reach of the relatively tech-focused Discovery email list.
-Pete -- Pete Forsyth Editor in Chief, The Signpost http://enwp.org/WP:Signpost
Signpost story: * 1,060 page views on our story (lead story on a page that also covered the Developer Summit and the Community Wishlist) https://tools.wmflabs.org/page views/?project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent= user&start=2017-01-17&end=2017-01-23&pages=Wikipedia: Wikipedia_Signpost/2017-01-17/Technology_report (Not far behind our main "News and Notes" section, at 1337 page views; compare to only 767 views on the previous Tech Report in its first 7 days)
On Twitter: * 19 retweets, 13 likes, and some substantive discussion about data storage location: https://twitter.com/PeteForsyth/status/821523405287530496 (This is a strong performer relative to most of my personal tweets and most tweets from @wikisignpost)
In the Wikipedia Weekly group on Facebook: * 20 likes and a couple strong endorsements in comment thread: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediaweekly/permalink/1208201305894365/ * Facebook reports to me that the above link reached 1,098 people, 326 of whom watched the video (extremely strong performance relative to my other posts) * 31 likes, some positive comments, and some substantive design discussion relating to GeoHack features: https://www.facebook .com/groups/wikipediaweekly/permalink/1210565832324579/ (My sense is, this is a fairly strong performance relative to other WW posts, but I don't track the numbers from this group closely)
On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Wes Moran wmoran@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello everyone,
We introduced this upcoming change last week[1] on the Discovery list. At the time, we didn’t have the full details to share, but wanted to let people directly engaging with that team know that some changes were being planned. We were originally going to share more details once they were finalized. However, I realized after reading the post from Derk-Jan that we should share the information we have now.
The work of the Interactive team[2], a sub-team within the team focused on Maps and Graphs, will be temporarily paused beginning this quarter. These efforts are important, and the Product Department is committed to continuing them. We expect to fulfill our Annual Plan commitments related to the Interactive team’s work, and are currently determining how best to make this transition. But we need to take some time to determine the best path forward for this team within Discovery.
We’ll communicate more broadly about the future of this work as the situation evolves. Until then, we are going to review current bugs and tasks that were committed to in the Annual Plan, as well as requests in the community wishlist, and decide when and how to proceed.
We welcome questions and conversation, but have to ask some patience as some members of the team are out of office at the moment. Please direct further questions on the topic to the Discovery list.[3]
Thanks, Wes VP of Product, Wikimedia Foundation
[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/discovery/2017- January/001421.html
[2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Interactive_Team
[3] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/discovery
On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 5:26 PM, Derk-Jan Hartman < d.j.hartman+wmf_ml@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all, The Interactive Team in Discovery is in the process of putting its work
on
pause. The team's aim during this period is to get its work to a stable
and
maintainable state. Currently, work on new features is on hold. It is not yet known what
the
timeline is for this transition to a paused state, or whether there
will be
further deployments of features that have already been completed. I
will
update this list when there is more information. Thanks, Dan -- Dan Garry Lead Product Manager, Discovery Wikimedia Foundation
So it seems all work on Maps, Graphs and other interactive features is going to be halted pretty soon. I was directed at this notification after
a
Maps ticket mentioned:
With the team winding down
To which I asked:
Why is the team winding down ?
To which Dan Garry responded:
There were expectations that were set regarding things such as team
goals,
working collaboratively with stakeholders, and advance notice to communities, that were repeatedly not met by the team.
And he pointed me to this discovery mailing list announcement, which well isn't really an explanation as much as a statement on the effect that 'winding down' will have.
My interpretation of the information up to here was: "we are dissolving this team because it didn't perform and by posting to discovery mailing list we did the minimal effort required to notify people, but lets hope nobody notices what the notification really means" At the same time Dan's words are a rather hefty review on the performance of a team, which I'm not used to seeing from WMF. Refreshing, but
unusual.
This annoys me and I answer:
1: I'd expect this to be announced on wikimedia-l, if we start a team
we
always seem more than anxious to do so. 2: I'd like some details. I thought we had left behind all the "let's
try
and hide this and hope no one notices it"-shit in 2016. 3: Thank you team ! You did some great work, and it was more productive and groundbreaking than many other teams have been able to do in 5
years.
A bit hyperbolic on all fronts, I admit.
To which Dan responds with:
I am not the person who made this decision. I do not know all of the reasons it was made. The person who made the decision is on vacation
for
the next few weeks. I am trying my best to communicate as much as I can
in
her absence, which is why I made a public announcement of all that I
know
now rather than waiting weeks for my manager to return. I am afraid
that
some patience is required until Katie gets back from vacation.
So now Dan doesn't know enough to be able to discuss this, even though he gave a rather destructive team review earlier.
1: This is exactly the kind of communication that 'the community' keeps complaining about. Reactive instead of proactive. Evasive instead of transparent. Now volunteers need to spend time to figure out what is happening here ? This has cost me over 3 hours today. I would have liked
to
have spent that time differently. 2: It shouldn't matter that Katie is on holidays, I'd assume/hope someone takes over her duties while she is away (Likely Dan himself and/or Wes Moran). Providing information on topics like this shouldn't have to wait until someone returns from a (likely well deserved) holiday. 3: Why do I have to write this email ? It's really not that hard: Make a decision, explain it.
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