Hi folks,
As week one draws to a close, I just wanted to say thanks for all the very
kind welcomes I've gotten from you all, both here & off this list. Many
people have jumped in to help me get acclimated, which I really appreciate
(as you all know, there's a truly dizzying amount of stuff to soak up :-)
So please consider this a collective thanks to everyone I haven't gotten
back to individually.
And - I want to offer my apologies in advance to anyone or any issue I'm
going to overlook in this first little while. A) I'm still getting my head
around many of the internal systems (e.g., the wikis, mailing lists, etc.),
and B) I'm wanting to focus on making first connections with a few people,
particularly the office staff. Those are my modest goals for this past week
and next; then, I've got a prior commitment that will take me completely
offline from July 7-25. That means my work won't really begin until
post-Wikimania.
I think you probably all have an idea of what I'm here to do. But to recap -
I'm a big fan of the projects, and I'm delighted to be able to come and work
with you all. And I am hoping and expecting I can help. In general: it's
clear to me, and also to the Board, that the Foundation is at a pretty
significant transition point. The bad news is, it's got some problems (lack
of administrative policies, some communications issues, some skills gaps,
etc.). The good news is, the problems are unsurprising, and for the most
part typical of young organizations, and completely fixable. Upshot: I've
seen -and grappled with- this kind of thing elsewhere, and I have a pretty
good general grasp of the kinds of things that need to happen in order for
the Foundation to get through this phase, and come out the other side
stronger and better. (The other good news, by the way, is that the projects
are -obviously- remarkably, phenomenally successful. So the core work of the
organization is in good shape.)
Of course there's an added wrinkle here, which is that Wikimedia is truly
culturally unique; it is not a 'typical' organization. Trust me - I
recognize that, and I'll respect it :-)
So again - I just wanted to thank you all for your early support. If anyone
needs to reach me over the next week or so, I'd suggest using
susanpgardner[at]gmail.com - I'm a Blackberry person, and that's the account
that travels with me.
Thanks,
Sue
In the interest of transparency alone, would you care to comment on this:
...anyone who does come forward will be immediately struck from Jimbo's
"trustworthy" list, which means that he or she will not be invited to
join the "really internal" list that Sue has already proposed creating;
this list would contain only "really trustworthy" people and formally
require nondisclosure of its participants.
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