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Alice Wiegand

1 Jun 2016 1 Jun '16

2:29 a.m.

Hello all, The ED search steering group has been soliciting input for a few weeks, and while a few people were fairly vocal about what they were looking for in a new ED, we decided that we needed more input from a broader range of people and we want to hear more from our emerging communities. To that end, we have written and published a survey [1] intended to help us both validate and prioritize the good feedback we have already received. Our survey is currently open in the top 10 wiki languages. A sample of editors from various languages have been invited to participate and we are also sending an invitations to anyone here and through our networks. Please participate in the survey and help us to shape the new ED’s profile. On behalf of the ED search steering group Alice. [1] - ED Search Survey: https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5hVS2mJTcJNCxBX -- Alice Wiegand Board of Trustees Wikimedia Foundation Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

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James Heilman

1 Jun 1 Jun

5:32 a.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

Thanks Alice IMO we need someone who understands our movements values, that understands that we are a movement, and sees themselves not as a decider and visionary but as a facilitator. Our movement has no lack of excellent ideas but does not always communicate effectively within itself. As such we need someone who has excellent communication and people skills. Technical skills can be hired for at other levels of the organization while people skill cannot typically be taught. Katherine, our current interim ED, appears to have these qualities. If she is interesting in taking on the position long term I would hope her candidacy is given serious consideration by the board. James On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 12:29 AM, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

-- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine www.opentextbookofmedicine.com

Dariusz Jemielniak

9:18 a.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

hi James, thanks for your input. One of the reasons for the survey is asking the community what they think about the key qualities. I think it is quite likely a more effective way of getting a wider input than discussing it on the list. One of the questions in the questionnaire is, for instance, the value one sees in the candidate having a WMF experience. best, dj On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 5:32 AM, James Heilman <jmh649(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Hello all, The ED search steering group has been soliciting input for a few weeks,

and

while a few people were fairly vocal about what they were looking for in

new ED, we decided that we needed more input from a broader range of

people

and we want to hear more from our emerging communities. To that end, we have written and published a survey [1] intended to help us both validate and prioritize the good feedback we have already received. Our survey is currently open in the top 10 wiki languages. A sample of editors from various languages have been invited to participate and we

are

also sending an invitations to anyone here and through our networks.

Please

participate in the survey and help us to shape the new ED’s profile. On behalf of the ED search steering group Alice. [1] - ED Search Survey: https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5hVS2mJTcJNCxBX -- Alice Wiegand Board of Trustees Wikimedia Foundation Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

-- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine www.opentextbookofmedicine.com _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

-- __________________________ prof. dr hab. Dariusz Jemielniak kierownik katedry Zarządzania Międzynarodowego i grupy badawczej NeRDS Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego http://n <http://www.crow.alk.edu.pl/>wrds.kozminski.edu.pl członek Akademii Młodych Uczonych Polskiej Akademii Nauk członek Komitetu Polityki Naukowej MNiSW Wyszła pierwsza na świecie etnografia Wikipedii "Common Knowledge? An Ethnography of Wikipedia" (2014, Stanford University Press) mojego autorstwa http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=24010 Recenzje Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml Pacific Standard: http://www.psmag.com/navigation/books-and-culture/killed-wikipedia-93777/ Motherboard: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/an-ethnography-of-wikipedia The Wikipedian: http://thewikipedian.net/2014/10/10/dariusz-jemielniak-common-knowledge

Risker

10:06 a.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

Thanks for the survey. I trust that it will also be "advertised" in other venues. I notice that it gives ranges of 0 to 5 which is actually six data points rather than the more typical 1 to 5, so there is no "middle ground" on this survey - any answer either has to be at least somewhat supportive or somewhat unsupportive of the statement being evaluated. I'm not sure why that decision was made, but it has led to challenges in past surveys. I hope that there is good response to the survey and that it is helpful in guiding decision-making. Some of the points may be useful in other contexts as well. Risker/Anne On 1 June 2016 at 09:18, Dariusz Jemielniak <darekj(a)alk.edu.pl> wrote:

...

Thanks Alice IMO we need someone who understands our movements values, that

understands

that we are a movement, and sees themselves not as a decider and

visionary

but as a facilitator. Our movement has no lack of excellent ideas but

does

not always communicate effectively within itself. As such we need someone who has excellent communication and people

skills.

Technical skills can be hired for at other levels of the organization

while

people skill cannot typically be taught. Katherine, our current interim ED, appears to have these qualities. If

she

is interesting in taking on the position long term I would hope her candidacy is given serious consideration by the board. James On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 12:29 AM, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hello all, The ED search steering group has been soliciting input for a few weeks,

and > while a few people were fairly vocal about what they were looking for

new ED, we decided that we needed more input from a broader range of

people > and we want to hear more from our emerging communities. To that end, we > have written and published a survey [1] intended to help us both

validate

and prioritize the good feedback we have already received. Our survey is currently open in the top 10 wiki languages. A sample of editors from various languages have been invited to participate and we

are

also sending an invitations to anyone here and through our networks.

Please

Luis Sanabria

8:43 a.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 12:29 AM, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

Hello all,

...

Our survey is currently open in the top 10 wiki languages. A sample of editors from various languages have been invited to participate and we are also sending an invitations to anyone here and through our networks. Please participate in the survey and help us to shape the new ED’s profile.

Nikola Kalchev

5:21 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

Hello, about the ED search survey [0] I, as a member of an emerging community, the Bulgarian one [1], disagree that anyone wants "to invite also emerging communities". Translating the survey into "the 9 major languages of our projects" is not enough. Letting emerging communities participate, and in my region [2] there are quite a few active ones, who collaborate on some of the largest projects in the wikiverse like Wikimedia CEE Spring [3] and Wiki Loves Earth [4]. We might not have large communities, but together we build a very large and strong one and we work hard for bringing free knowledge to the world. Depriving those of our members, who do not know those "9 major languages" of the right to participate in the discussion about the future of our global movement, does not make me feel that the wished change in direction transparency transparency is on track; this rather makes me feel as in a large corporation where a small group of people decide about the future of the organisation and pretend to engage the masses by populistic pseudo-measures. The only two languages of the 30 countries of Central and Eastern Europe among those in the survey are Polish and Russian. 838 active Ukrainianian editors, 658 active Turks, 638 active Czechs, 419 active Serbs, 418 active Hungarians and 5501 active editors from the region in total will not be able to answer in their own language (reference: Wikimedia CEE Spring 2016/Goals <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Spring_2016/Goals>). I plead that the money that we donate be used for translating the questions at least in the languages with more than 200 active editors, or at least that volunteers are allowed to translate the questions. Furthermore I request that in order to get more input the survey runs for a month instead of a week. Important decisions should not be taken in a hurry. Best regards, User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring International organiser [0] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra… [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Bulgaria [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Central_and_Eastern_Europe [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Spring_2016 [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Earth On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 2:43 PM, Luis Sanabria <lsanabria(a)ieee.org> wrote:

...

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 12:29 AM, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hello all,

Our survey is currently open in the top 10 wiki languages. A sample of editors from various languages have been invited to participate and we

are

also sending an invitations to anyone here and through our networks.

Please

participate in the survey and help us to shape the new ED’s profile.

I read here [1] that the survey will be open for 1 week. Does that mean it will be open until June 8 (inclusive)? Saludos, Luis Sanabria [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra… _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Pine W

5 Jun 5 Jun

1:08 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

Hi Board search folks, Can you comment in response to the email from Lord Bumbury? Thanks, Pine On Jun 1, 2016 14:21, "Nikola Kalchev" <nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Hello, about the ED search survey [0] I, as a member of an emerging community, the Bulgarian one [1], disagree that anyone wants "to invite also emerging communities". Translating the survey into "the 9 major languages of our projects" is not enough. Letting emerging communities participate, and in my region [2] there are quite a few active ones, who collaborate on some of the largest projects in the wikiverse like Wikimedia CEE Spring [3] and Wiki Loves Earth [4]. We might not have large communities, but together we build a very large and strong one and we work hard for bringing free knowledge to the world. Depriving those of our members, who do not know those "9 major languages" of the right to participate in the discussion about the future of our global movement, does not make me feel that the wished change in direction transparency transparency is on track; this rather makes me feel as in a large corporation where a small group of people decide about the future of the organisation and pretend to engage the masses by populistic pseudo-measures. The only two languages of the 30 countries of Central and Eastern Europe among those in the survey are Polish and Russian. 838 active Ukrainianian editors, 658 active Turks, 638 active Czechs, 419 active Serbs, 418 active Hungarians and 5501 active editors from the region in total will not be able to answer in their own language (reference: Wikimedia CEE Spring 2016/Goals < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Spring_2016/Goals>)t;). I plead that the money that we donate be used for translating the questions at least in the languages with more than 200 active editors, or at least that volunteers are allowed to translate the questions. Furthermore I request that in order to get more input the survey runs for a month instead of a week. Important decisions should not be taken in a hurry. Best regards, User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring International organiser [0] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra… [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Bulgaria [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Central_and_Eastern_Europe [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Spring_2016 [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Earth On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 2:43 PM, Luis Sanabria <lsanabria(a)ieee.org> wrote:

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 12:29 AM, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

Hello all,

Our survey is currently open in the top 10 wiki languages. A sample of editors from various languages have been invited to participate and we

are

also sending an invitations to anyone here and through our networks.

Please

participate in the survey and help us to shape the new ED’s profile.

I read here [1] that the survey will be open for 1 week. Does that mean it will be open until June 8 (inclusive)? Saludos, Luis Sanabria [1]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…

_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Dariusz Jemielniak

4:30 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 1:08 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Hi Board search folks, Can you comment in response to the email from Lord Bumbury?

it is difficult for me to respond, as I agree in principle. I think we should have more than just 9 most dominant languages, and as the bottom line we should allow for additional translations to be made. However, the most important principle that the ED search committee assumed was speed. For quite a while we have been considering if we can afford several weeks for the survey (with translations, before and after, adding about a month to our search, over just 1 language version). We decided that we definitely need input from the communities other than just the English one, but we made a hard choice to go just for the ones we could have had speedily translated. This is highly suboptimal, and I understand Nikola's disappointment. From my point of view, this is something we need to improve in the future - perhaps by finding a large, multilanguge translation agency (especially since the quality of raw output varied and we had to make serious proof reading with the help of ad hoc volunteers), and also making translating into some 20-30 languages a default in important cases. This time we wanted to go with a quick general survey, hoping that the choices we're asking about will not differ radically between languages (since our culture is very specific). We will know from the results if this intuition was more or less right (that is, if there will be significant differences between the languages we went with). best, dj

...

On Jun 1, 2016 14:21, "Nikola Kalchev" <nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Hello, about the ED search survey [0] I, as a member of an emerging community,

the

Bulgarian one [1], disagree that anyone wants "to invite also emerging communities". Translating the survey into "the 9 major languages of our projects" is not enough. Letting emerging communities participate, and in my region [2] there are quite a few active ones, who collaborate on some

the largest projects in the wikiverse like Wikimedia CEE Spring [3] and Wiki Loves Earth [4]. We might not have large communities, but together

build a very large and strong one and we work hard for bringing free knowledge to the world. Depriving those of our members, who do not know those "9 major languages" of the right to participate in the discussion about the future of our global movement, does not make me feel that the wished change in direction transparency transparency is on track; this rather makes me feel as in a large corporation where a small group of people decide about the future of the organisation and pretend to engage the masses by populistic pseudo-measures. The only two languages of the 30 countries of Central and Eastern Europe among those in the survey are Polish and Russian. 838 active Ukrainianian editors, 658 active Turks, 638 active Czechs, 419 active Serbs, 418

active

Hungarians and 5501 active editors from the region in total will not be able to answer in their own language (reference: Wikimedia CEE Spring 2016/Goals < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Spring_2016/Goals>)t;). I plead that the money that we donate be used for translating the

questions

at least in the languages with more than 200 active editors, or at least that volunteers are allowed to translate the questions. Furthermore I request that in order to get more input the survey runs for a month

instead

of a week. Important decisions should not be taken in a hurry. Best regards, User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring International organiser [0]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Bulgaria [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Central_and_Eastern_Europe [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Spring_2016 [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Earth On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 2:43 PM, Luis Sanabria <lsanabria(a)ieee.org>

wrote:

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 12:29 AM, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org

> wrote: > > > Hello all, > > > > > > > Our survey is currently open in the top 10 wiki languages. A sample

> > editors from various languages have been invited to participate and

are

also sending an invitations to anyone here and through our networks.

Please

participate in the survey and help us to shape the new ED’s profile.

I read here [1] that the survey will be open for 1 week. Does that mean it will be open until June 8 (inclusive)? Saludos, Luis Sanabria [1]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…

Nikola Kalchev

5:07 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

Dariusz, thank you for your clarification. I understand that translations take time. Would you please elaborate on the assumption that the most important principle of the ED search committee was speed and not, e.g. participation of a larger part of the community? What would the bad effects of a 2 months longer search on the WMF be? I fear that user groups will be underrepresented again (another notable example is the number of representatives at the WMCON with chapters having up to four participants and user groups exactly one). There are 59 user groups and (as well as I could count) only 10 of them will be able to participate at the survey in their own language. Why was the opinion of 49 user groups considered less worth that a delay of two months? Best regards, User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring International organiser On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 10:30 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak <darekj(a)alk.edu.pl> wrote:

...

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 1:08 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Board search folks, Can you comment in response to the email from Lord Bumbury?

On Jun 1, 2016 14:21, "Nikola Kalchev" <nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Hello, about the ED search survey [0] I, as a member of an emerging community,

the > Bulgarian one [1], disagree that anyone wants "to invite also emerging > communities". Translating the survey into "the 9 major languages of our > projects" is not enough. Letting emerging communities participate, and

> my region [2] there are quite a few active ones, who collaborate on

some

the largest projects in the wikiverse like Wikimedia CEE Spring [3] and Wiki Loves Earth [4]. We might not have large communities, but together

we > build a very large and strong one and we work hard for bringing free > knowledge to the world. Depriving those of our members, who do not know > those "9 major languages" of the right to participate in the discussion > about the future of our global movement, does not make me feel that the > wished change in direction transparency transparency is on track; this > rather makes me feel as in a large corporation where a small group of > people decide about the future of the organisation and pretend to

engage

> the masses by populistic pseudo-measures. > > The only two languages of the 30 countries of Central and Eastern

Europe

> among those in the survey are Polish and Russian. 838 active

Ukrainianian

editors, 658 active Turks, 638 active Czechs, 419 active Serbs, 418

active

questions > at least in the languages with more than 200 active editors, or at

least

that volunteers are allowed to translate the questions. Furthermore I request that in order to get more input the survey runs for a month

instead

of a week. Important decisions should not be taken in a hurry. Best regards, User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring International organiser [0]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…

> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Bulgaria > [2]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Central_and_Eastern_Europe

[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Spring_2016 [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Earth On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 2:43 PM, Luis Sanabria <lsanabria(a)ieee.org>

wrote: > > > On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 12:29 AM, Alice Wiegand <

awiegand(a)wikimedia.org

> wrote: > > > Hello all, > > > > > > > Our survey is currently open in the top 10 wiki languages. A sample

> > editors from various languages have been invited to participate and

we > > are > > > also sending an invitations to anyone here and through our

networks.

> > Please > > > participate in the survey and help us to shape the new ED’s

profile.

> > > I read here [1] that the survey will be open for 1 week. Does that mean it will be open until June 8 (inclusive)? Saludos, Luis Sanabria [1]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…

> > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe:

https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,

<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Yaroslav M. Blanter

5:16 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

On 2016-06-05 23:07, Nikola Kalchev wrote:

...

Dariusz, thank you for your clarification. I understand that translations take time. I fear that user groups will be underrepresented again (another notable example is the number of representatives at the WMCON with chapters having up to four participants and user groups exactly one). There are 59 user groups and (as well as I could count) only 10 of them will be able to participate at the survey in their own language. Why was the opinion of 49 user groups considered less worth that a delay of two months? Best regards, User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring International organiser

Whereas I fully understand and partially share the sentiment, may I please repeat the question I asked on this list in relation to a similar topic some time ago. Could we estimate a number of active community members (whom we would reasonably expect to participate in the survey) who do not speak any of the languages to which the survey was translated, to the point that their ability to fill in the survey would depend on the others? If this is a considerable number, or if it is less significant but considerably compromises on the representation, which languages do these community members speak? Cheers Yaroslav

Pine W

5:32 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

I'll add a question of my own here. I find this statement interesting: "Please rate these other qualifications: (Please rate 0 to 5 with 0 being 0 not important; 5 for extremely important)... Experience of working in an a-hierarchical, participative management environment". I find this puzzling because WMF is generally hierarchical organization, with the board an executive director at the top, followed by middle management, followed by line employees, contractors, and interns. I'm wondering if what is intended here is a sentiment that the ED Search Committee would like to *transform *WMF into a less heirarchical organization. Could someone from the ED Search Committee or the Board expand on what your intentions are with this question? I cannot imagine how WMF could function as an "a-hierarchical... management environment", although I could understand if there is an aspiration to collapse a layer or two in the org chart and/or to delegate more responsibility from the Board or ED to employees who have more expertise in various domains. Thanks, Pine

Dariusz Jemielniak

5:49 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:32 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Pine W

5:54 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

I understand now. Thank you for clarifying. Pine On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 2:49 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak < djemielniak(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:32 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:

puzzling

because WMF is generally hierarchical organization, with the board an executive director at the top, followed by middle management, followed by line employees, contractors, and interns. I'm wondering if what is

intended

here is a sentiment that the ED Search Committee would like to *transform *WMF into a less heirarchical organization. Could someone from the ED Search Committee or the Board expand on what your intentions are with this question? I cannot imagine how WMF could function as an

"a-hierarchical...

management environment", although I could understand if there is an aspiration to collapse a layer or two in the org chart and/or to delegate more responsibility from the Board or ED to employees who have more expertise in various domains.

I don't think it is the role of the ED search committee to transform the organization. However (speaking for myself) I believe that an experience in a-hierarchical, participative management environment helps understand wiki-culture a lot. I'd dare say that some of the WMF employees I knew had great skills, but had trouble with adjusting to the a-hierarchical/participative nature of our movement that the WMF is part of. The WMF is less hierarchical than many NGOs, and also as a part of a larger movement is subject to participative and discursive culture (just take this very discussion as an example: a very hierarchical and non-participative ED would find it difficult to understand why we are even having it). dj _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

Dariusz Jemielniak

5:45 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:07 PM, Nikola Kalchev <nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

I fear that user groups will be underrepresented again (another notable example is the number of representatives at the WMCON with chapters having up to four participants and user groups exactly one). There are 59 user groups and (as well as I could count) only 10 of them will be able to participate at the survey in their own language. Why was the opinion of 49 user groups considered less worth that a delay of two months?

...

Yaroslav's question is a good one - I don't know from the top of my head how to estimate this easily. However, let me repeat: we are asking general questions, and the results are not binding. It is not an issue of representation. I doubt if there will be huge cultural differences to the extent that the questionnaire would bring different results if 10 more languages were added, mainly because I think that wiki-world is quite hermetic and has a culture of its own. cheers, dj

Nikola Kalchev

6:58 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

As a patroller on my homewiki I can say that 15 of the 50 most active editors according to stats.wikimedia.org would be capable of answering the questions in one of the ten languages. Those are the people who translate articles from the ten languages of the survey (13 from English, 2 from Russian). Ask a few more patrollers from other communities, multiply by the number of very active editors on those wikis and divide by the number of asked patrollers :). It is not impossible to get a rough estimate. Best regards, User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring international organiser On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 11:45 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak <darekj(a)alk.edu.pl> wrote:

...

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:07 PM, Nikola Kalchev <nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Alice Wiegand

16 Jun 16 Jun

6:25 a.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

Update: The survey is still open! In order to hear from more people, the search team decided to hold the ED search survey [1] open until Friday, June 17. If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to fill it out before then. Thank you for your participation! [1] - ED Search Survey: https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5hVS2mJTcJNCxBX Alice. On Mon, Jun 6, 2016 at 12:58 AM, Nikola Kalchev <nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:07 PM, Nikola Kalchev <nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com wrote: > Dariusz, thank you for your clarification. I understand that

translations

> take time. > > Would you please elaborate on the assumption that the most important > principle of the ED search committee was speed and not, e.g.

participation

> of a larger part of the community? What would the bad effects of a 2

months

longer search on the WMF be?

The assumption is that any organization under an interim leader is basically frozen. An interim leader is unlikely to make any change. Also, one of the gripes of the past was a long (way over a year) process of ED searching. The ED search team wants to avoid repeating this. > > I fear that user groups will be underrepresented again (another notable > example is the number of representatives at the WMCON with chapters

having

> up to four participants and user groups exactly one). There are 59 user > groups and (as well as I could count) only 10 of them will be able to > participate at the survey in their own language. Why was the opinion of

user groups considered less worth that a delay of two months?

I think the main assumption may have been that there will be decreasing differences - that is, the differences between the views expressed in the 10 major languages will not be big in general. Of course, we will see whether there are significant differences within these 10. On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:16 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter <putevod(a)mccme.ru> wrote: > Whereas I fully understand and partially share the sentiment, may I > please repeat the question I asked on this list in relation to a similar > topic some time ago. Could we estimate a number of active community

members

> (whom we would reasonably expect to participate in the survey) who do

not

> speak any of the languages to which the survey was translated, to the

point

that their ability to fill in the survey would depend on the others? If this is a considerable number, or if it is less significant but considerably compromises on the representation, which languages do these community members speak?

Yaroslav's question is a good one - I don't know from the top of my head how to estimate this easily. However, let me repeat: we are asking

general

questions, and the results are not binding. It is not an issue of representation. I doubt if there will be huge cultural differences to the extent that the questionnaire would bring different results if 10 more languages were added, mainly because I think that wiki-world is quite hermetic and has a culture of its own. cheers, dj

-- Alice Wiegand Board of Trustees Wikimedia Foundation Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

Fæ

7:56 a.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

Thank you! Hopefully there will be a good range of viewpoints! I look forward to reading a summary of the feedback! Fae On 16 June 2016 at 11:25, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:07 PM, Nikola Kalchev <nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com wrote: > Dariusz, thank you for your clarification. I understand that

translations

> take time. > > Would you please elaborate on the assumption that the most important > principle of the ED search committee was speed and not, e.g.

participation

> of a larger part of the community? What would the bad effects of a 2

months

longer search on the WMF be?

having

user groups considered less worth that a delay of two months?

members

> (whom we would reasonably expect to participate in the survey) who do

not

> speak any of the languages to which the survey was translated, to the

point

Yaroslav's question is a good one - I don't know from the top of my head how to estimate this easily. However, let me repeat: we are asking

general

-- Alice Wiegand Board of Trustees Wikimedia Foundation Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>

-- faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae

rupert THURNER

18 Jun 18 Jun

5:47 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

hi, 2011 A T Kearney published a study saying that hiring a homegrown CEO let a company outperform other companies. also price waterhouse coopers Strategy& and RHR international come to similar conclusions: * https://www.atkearney.com/documents/10192/529727/Home-Grown_CEO.pdf/bbba713… * http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news-archive/17975.html * http://www.rhrinternational.com/sites/default/files/V25N1-CEO-Succession-Ma… * (de) http://www.finews.ch/themen/karriere/23186-korn-ferry-stefan-steger-ceo-nac… hiring an outsider CEO has the following effects: * higher compensation * greater risk profile * wrong expectations about business area and its specifics best rupert On Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 1:56 PM, Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Thank you! Hopefully there will be a good range of viewpoints! I look forward to reading a summary of the feedback! Fae On 16 June 2016 at 11:25, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com>

wrote: > As a patroller on my homewiki I can say that 15 of the 50 most active > editors according to stats.wikimedia.org would be capable of answering

the

> questions in one of the ten languages. Those are the people who

translate

> articles from the ten languages of the survey (13 from English, 2 from > Russian). Ask a few more patrollers from other communities, multiply by

the

> number of very active editors on those wikis and divide by the number of > asked patrollers :). It is not impossible to get a rough estimate. > > Best regards, > User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev > Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring international organiser > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 11:45 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak <darekj(a)alk.edu.pl> > wrote: > > > > > > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:07 PM, Nikola Kalchev <

nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com

> > > > wrote: > > > >> Dariusz, thank you for your clarification. I understand that > translations > >> take time. > >> > >> Would you please elaborate on the assumption that the most important > >> principle of the ED search committee was speed and not, e.g. > participation > >> of a larger part of the community? What would the bad effects of a 2 > months > >> longer search on the WMF be? > >> > > > > The assumption is that any organization under an interim leader is > > basically frozen. An interim leader is unlikely to make any change.

Also,

> > one of the gripes of the past was a long (way over a year) process of

> > searching. The ED search team wants to avoid repeating this. > > > > > > > > > >> > >> I fear that user groups will be underrepresented again (another

notable

> >> example is the number of representatives at the WMCON with chapters > having > >> up to four participants and user groups exactly one). There are 59

user

> >> groups and (as well as I could count) only 10 of them will be able to > >> participate at the survey in their own language. Why was the opinion

> 49 > >> user groups considered less worth that a delay of two months? > >> > > > > I think the main assumption may have been that there will be

decreasing

> > differences - that is, the differences between the views expressed in

the

> 10 major languages will not be big in general. Of course, we will see > whether there are significant differences within these 10. > > > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:16 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter <putevod(a)mccme.ru

> > wrote: > > > >> Whereas I fully understand and partially share the sentiment, may I > >> please repeat the question I asked on this list in relation to a

similar

> >> topic some time ago. Could we estimate a number of active community > members > >> (whom we would reasonably expect to participate in the survey) who do > not > >> speak any of the languages to which the survey was translated, to the > point > >> that their ability to fill in the survey would depend on the others?

> >> this is a considerable number, or if it is less significant but > >> considerably compromises on the representation, which languages do

these

> >> community members speak? > >> > >> > > Yaroslav's question is a good one - I don't know from the top of my

head

> > how to estimate this easily. However, let me repeat: we are asking > general > > questions, and the results are not binding. It is not an issue of > > representation. I doubt if there will be huge cultural differences to

the

extent that the questionnaire would bring different results if 10 more languages were added, mainly because I think that wiki-world is quite hermetic and has a culture of its own. cheers, dj

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Peter Southwood

19 Jun 19 Jun

11:56 a.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

The Kearney report rings true for me. Cheers, Peter -----Original Message----- From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of rupert THURNER Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2016 11:47 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now hi, 2011 A T Kearney published a study saying that hiring a homegrown CEO let a company outperform other companies. also price waterhouse coopers Strategy& and RHR international come to similar conclusions: * https://www.atkearney.com/documents/10192/529727/Home-Grown_CEO.pdf/bbba713… * http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news-archive/17975.html * http://www.rhrinternational.com/sites/default/files/V25N1-CEO-Succession-Ma… * (de) http://www.finews.ch/themen/karriere/23186-korn-ferry-stefan-steger-ceo-nac… hiring an outsider CEO has the following effects: * higher compensation * greater risk profile * wrong expectations about business area and its specifics best rupert On Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 1:56 PM, Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Thank you! Hopefully there will be a good range of viewpoints! I look forward to reading a summary of the feedback! Fae On 16 June 2016 at 11:25, Alice Wiegand <awiegand(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com>

wrote: > As a patroller on my homewiki I can say that 15 of the 50 most > active editors according to stats.wikimedia.org would be capable of > answering

the

> questions in one of the ten languages. Those are the people who

translate

> articles from the ten languages of the survey (13 from English, 2 > from Russian). Ask a few more patrollers from other communities, > multiply by

the

> number of very active editors on those wikis and divide by the > number of asked patrollers :). It is not impossible to get a rough estimate. > > Best regards, > User:Lord Bumbury / Nikola Kalchev > Wikimedians of Bulgaria, a Wikimedia CEE Spring international > organiser > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 11:45 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak > <darekj(a)alk.edu.pl> > wrote: > > > > > > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:07 PM, Nikola Kalchev <

nikola.kalchev(a)gmail.com

> > > > wrote: > > > >> Dariusz, thank you for your clarification. I understand that > translations > >> take time. > >> > >> Would you please elaborate on the assumption that the most > >> important principle of the ED search committee was speed and not, e.g. > participation > >> of a larger part of the community? What would the bad effects of > >> a 2 > months > >> longer search on the WMF be? > >> > > > > The assumption is that any organization under an interim leader > > is basically frozen. An interim leader is unlikely to make any change.

Also,

> > one of the gripes of the past was a long (way over a year) > > process of

> > searching. The ED search team wants to avoid repeating this. > > > > > > > > > >> > >> I fear that user groups will be underrepresented again (another

notable

> >> example is the number of representatives at the WMCON with > >> chapters > having > >> up to four participants and user groups exactly one). There are > >> 59

user

> >> groups and (as well as I could count) only 10 of them will be > >> able to participate at the survey in their own language. Why was > >> the opinion

> 49 > >> user groups considered less worth that a delay of two months? > >> > > > > I think the main assumption may have been that there will be

decreasing

> > differences - that is, the differences between the views > > expressed in

the

> 10 major languages will not be big in general. Of course, we will > see whether there are significant differences within these 10. > > > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 5:16 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter > <putevod(a)mccme.ru

> > wrote: > > > >> Whereas I fully understand and partially share the sentiment, > >> may I please repeat the question I asked on this list in > >> relation to a

similar

> >> topic some time ago. Could we estimate a number of active > >> community > members > >> (whom we would reasonably expect to participate in the survey) > >> who do > not > >> speak any of the languages to which the survey was translated, > >> to the > point > >> that their ability to fill in the survey would depend on the others?

> >> this is a considerable number, or if it is less significant but > >> considerably compromises on the representation, which languages > >> do

these

> >> community members speak? > >> > >> > > Yaroslav's question is a good one - I don't know from the top of > > my

head

> > how to estimate this easily. However, let me repeat: we are > > asking > general > > questions, and the results are not binding. It is not an issue of > > representation. I doubt if there will be huge cultural > > differences to

the

extent that the questionnaire would bring different results if 10 more languages were added, mainly because I think that wiki-world is quite hermetic and has a culture of its own. cheers, dj

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Brill Lyle

20 Jun 20 Jun

2:38 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

I have over 15 years experience working in the private sector at an investment bank, much of it working in Mergers & Acquisitions where companies and their leadership were the focus of evaluating companies. I would hope that whatever information is in the A.T. Kearney report, or anything coming from PricewaterhouseCoopers, that the information is viewed within the framework of the conservative private business sector within which these companies operate. I started skimming these links and it's all pretty typical information for that sector. Also notable: A.T. Kearney is a consulting firm, and PwC is a financial services company -- both deeply intertwined with the finance sector. Long way of saying that I would hope that any approach towards innovating the leadership of WMF would NOT come from the world of private multi-national businesses who are often above governmental regulation, a sector where there are few women and a place where profit is the primary concern. Ideally, the search for WMF leadership would be guided by ethics, innovation, regard for fellow humans, etc. Versus the approaches most of the businesses evaluated in the report, etc. are utilizing. My unasked for 2 cents, but there you go. - Erika *Erika Herzog* Wikipedia *User:BrillLyle <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BrillLyle>* On Sat, Jun 18, 2016 at 5:47 PM, rupert THURNER <rupert.thurner(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Pine W

4:01 p.m.

New subject: Community survey to support the WMF ED search starts right now

In the last ED selection, I had thought that experience in the private sector would be good for the WMF ED to have. I was a bit disappointed with Sue (I know that some people liked her on a personal level, but on a professional level as ED she was also partly responsible for a variety of initiatives that went wrong or underperformed), so I thought that someone with more performance management experience would be good. Lila seemed good at first but we know how that ended. I am still underwhelmed with WMF's financial opacity and its double standards with regards to how it treats the affiliates versus its own practices, although there seems to be some improvement in the last 6 months. I still think that performance management experience would be good for the WMF ED, along with a record of transparency and leading by example. That doesn't necessarily need to come from the private sector; I am familiar with some government agencies that are generally good about transparency and performance management. Given our experience with Lila as well as my own experience in the last few years, I feel that people skills are also valuable (transparency to the point of bluntness can create unnecessary hostility, and compromise and incremental change are OK sometimes). Finding an ED who is good at all of the above would be ideal. No one is perfect and we are all still learning, but let's aim high. Pine

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participants (13)

Alice Wiegand
Brill Lyle
Dariusz Jemielniak
Dariusz Jemielniak
Fæ
James Heilman
Luis Sanabria
Nikola Kalchev
Peter Southwood
Pine W
Risker
rupert THURNER
Yaroslav M. Blanter