I think in fairness that it is not just staff who are feeling this is all moving too fast. The overwhelming majority of community members, and in particular community members who don't read and speak English fluently, are likely to be pretty overwhelmed right now too.
I am concerned that what we are seeing right now are a whole pile of solutions when we haven't yet worked out what the actual problems are. This is actually quite a bad thing, because it creates a climate where people come to a conclusion about what to do before they have worked out whether or not it is solving a problem, creating a different problem, "fixing" a non-existent problem, or immaterial to the actual problems.
Let's work out what went wrong before we really start pushing what we think will make things right. The foundation is not a wiki where quick and easy corrections are considered the norm; in fact, based on the concerns of some that strategy changed practically on a quarterly basis, some slow considered thinking is probably called for. The Wikimedia movement has not had time to catch up with current events and certainly doesn't need solutions before it's barely worked out why there's a trainwreck on the mailing list. And...perhaps most importantly.... we are talking about real people here. The board and executives, the staff, the community members....we're all people. Moving too fast without figuring out what the actual issues are is harmful to the human beings here.
The collective "we" have not had time to understand the problems. Quite a few of the "solutions" I've seen on this list in the last 24-48 hours are nothing much more than personal wishlists; almost all of them are proposing to solve problems that may or may not even exist.
Let's work more on problem identification first.
Risker/Anne
On 26 February 2016 at 19:44, Pete Forsyth peteforsyth@gmail.com wrote:
To Oliver and Keegan -- I hear you guys loud and clear, and I am very aware that the trauma of the last few months has taken this kind of toll. Although there is of course much I don't know, I have been talking with a number of staff, board, etc. for many months now about this. So to whatever degree it's possible to empathize without "being there," I do.
However, I'm not trying to push things forward at a pace that's comfortable *for me*, I'm trying to focus on things that will impact *what it's possible to do*.
The prospect of a drawn-out, even multi-year search for the next long-term Executive Director is not a good one. The way the organization rebuilds itself and sets expectations will have a huge impact on that. The impact on fund-raising will be felt, as well; high-profile contention around a grant is being discussed throughout the philanthropy world, and will impact the way individual donors respond to banners, as well.
I am confident that the Board is already turning its attention to issues like these. Many things need to be done whenever an executive director leaves an organization, and there are many reasons to attend to them in a timely fashion -- without rushing through and making bad decisions.
Individual Trustees have expressed interest and gratitude for the ideas under discussion, and I appreciate knowing that they are considering input. This list may not be the best way to reach the board, but it's a good place to see whether there is consensus around certain ideas.
That's what I'm trying to do. I know that forging ahead while exhausted sucks, and I am not trying to push anybody faster than they want to go. But I also think that this moment for careful deliberation shouldn't be missed; some of the opportunities will pass by very quickly if nothing is done.
-Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]] _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe