Hi all,
A couple of thoughts.
Lodewijk said: "It would be nice if we can somehow still lower the stakes by making processes more iterative, and accepting that the outcome does not have to be the same for a long period of time."
This encapsulates *exactly* what wikis are all about. Wikipedia was revolutionary because it trusted this process. Giving everything to multiple layers of committees working behind closed doors feels disempowering, like being dragged back into the 20th century.
Gnangarra said: "These long process development cycles necessitate paid opportunities just following the trail of meetings ..."
This is my feeling as well. The new management structures that have been proposed, or are in the process of being created, seem designed to insert a layer of paid career Wikimedians between the Foundation and the volunteer community. This, too, feels like a break with the very ideas that brought the Wikimedia projects into being.
Similarly, while I appreciate office hours, zoom calls etc. – it's nice to be able to put a face to a name – such meetings are very time-consuming. What is said in a one-hour meeting can be read in 5 or 10 minutes once it's written down. Attending such meetings involves significant disruptions of work and family life (actually more so than IRC did). I wish there were more discussions on-wiki, where everyone can contribute and make an effective input whenever they have time. This is how the projects were built.
Andreas