On Tue, Jun 27, 2017 at 12:38 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Anna,
- How much is this timeline extension projected to cost, and from what
source are the funds being drawn? (Note that this doesn't assume that
the
decision was a bad one, but I very much want to know the source of the funds and how much is likely to be drawn from it.)
We've got this covered, Pine. We are fiscally managing this process and
all
of our contracts well. Thank you for your concern.
Please answer my question: how much is this timeline extension projected to cost, and from what source are the funds being drawn?
- Could you elaborate on the benefits of this timetable change for
people
who are not involved with affiliates? We've seen some responses from Strainu and Yaroslov (thank you both!) and I would like to hear WMF's perspective.
The benefits of the change in the timetable are that 4/4 stakeholder
groups
told us that this was a meaningful exercise, that they are earnestly engaged in thinking about the future, and that they need more time for translation and conversation on this important subject. 3/4 tracks are
non
affiliates (on-wiki, new voices, experts).
We agreed with them. These are meaningful conversations. We are learning
a
lot and we need to hear what people have to say and they need more time
to
say it.
OK, that makes sense.
- Could you also discuss what measures are being taken to control costs
in
the strategy process?
We have plenty of measures in place to monitor costs (e.g., we don't need to control them because they are not out of control, we are within our budget). Also, describing financial metrics at any lower level of detail would be a waste of the strategy budget since we are within it.
I disagree with that assessment. Simply because expenses are within budget don't mean that all expenses which were charged to the budget are reasonable and accurate, and I am disappointed to hear that WMF's standards for its finances are so lax.
WMF's standards are not lax. Far from it.
This convinces me all the more that my original request is important for WMF to answer: please discuss what measures are being taken to control costs in the strategy process. The level of detail that I now think WMF should provide is much higher than the level of detail with which I previously would have been satisfied. My level of concern here is high enough that I am asking the WMF Audit Committee chair, Kelly, to comment on this situation. Something seems very wrong here, and I am concerned about WMF's financial integrity.
Pine
On Mon, Jun 26, 2017 at 8:33 PM, Anna Stillwell astillwell@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello Pine,
Good evening. In line.
On Mon, Jun 26, 2017 at 7:40 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
This thread is going in many directions, and I'm enjoying reading the conversation.
If I may go back to some questions that I asked in my earlier post, I
would
like to hear from Katherine (or someone else at WMF, perhaps Anna):
First, some context... a good deal of this has been iterative by design.
We
had an overarching idea of where we were headed (e.g. a shared direction first, roles and responsibilities second), but then we knew we would
learn
to refine or course correct based on what we hear.
We've been hearing to extend the timeline on all fronts--organized groups and affiliates (e.g., time for conversation), on wiki (e.g., time for translation and conversation) and new voices and experts (e.g., "we've
seen
all of the data but our communities have yet to see and reflect upon it")... so that is the background reasoning.
- How much is this timeline extension projected to cost, and from what
source are the funds being drawn? (Note that this doesn't assume that
the
decision was a bad one, but I very much want to know the source of the funds and how much is likely to be drawn from it.)
We've got this covered, Pine. We are fiscally managing this process and
all
of our contracts well. Thank you for your concern.
- Could you elaborate on the benefits of this timetable change for
people
who are not involved with affiliates? We've seen some responses from Strainu and Yaroslov (thank you both!) and I would like to hear WMF's perspective.
The benefits of the change in the timetable are that 4/4 stakeholder
groups
told us that this was a meaningful exercise, that they are earnestly engaged in thinking about the future, and that they need more time for translation and conversation on this important subject. 3/4 tracks are
non
affiliates (on-wiki, new voices, experts).
We agreed with them. These are meaningful conversations. We are learning
a
lot and we need to hear what people have to say and they need more time
to
say it.
- Could you also discuss what measures are being taken to control costs
in
the strategy process?
We have plenty of measures in place to monitor costs (e.g., we don't need to control them because they are not out of control, we are within our budget). Also, describing financial metrics at any lower level of detail would be a waste of the strategy budget since we are within it.
Always good to hear from you, /a
Thanks,
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