Hello all,

As someone serving on one of the strategy working groups, I just wanted to encourage you all to take part in this.

This strategy process is really the first time that the Wikimedia movement has sat down to think about who it is, what it is doing, why, and how to be structured and resourced to do it. If you have any views on this then please do take part, in whatever way. I know with about 90 scoping questions from 9 different groups contained in over 100 pages of document it's easy to be baffled about where to start. However, many of those questions overlap to some extent and a thoughtful conversation about any one question might yield important insights for any of them.

Some misconceptions I have heard about the process so far, and the realities behind them:

** The strategy process won't change anything
Not true! The strategy process will recommend significant changes. Even the least radical options the working groups are considering would be the most significant structural changes to the Wikimedia movement, ever.
** The WMF has already worked out what it wants to do and the process is a figleaf
Not true! I was a bit worried about this too when the process started. But having met and spoken to the people involved, I'm confident the opposite is true. The WMF is approaching this in a very open way and has literally no preconceptions as an organisation. When Katherine Maher spoke to the Roles & Responsibilities group in October, one of her questions for us was "Should there still be a WMF?" Given that the WMF has the most potential to be changed by the strategy process (because it's the biggest and most complex body already), I feel this is a very bold step.
** The WMF won't agree/deliver the recommendations

The WMF is certainly heavily committed to this process, including investing a huge amount of senior staff and Board time (not to mention money) in creating it and seeing it through. It would be odd if the WMF then just went "nah, sorry, don't agree". Even if they are tempted to, the best way to avoid this is for the working groups to come up with compelling, well-evidenced recommendations - with your help
** The outcomes will be imposed on everyone else by the WMF without any consultation (NB, this is the logical opposite of the previous one)
The strategy process is just entering a significant round of consultation (hence Lucy's email). So if you are worried about lack of consultation, please take part in the consultation as far as you're able to! Everyone in the working groups is keen to get feedback. Then the question of who decides on which recommendations and how to implement them remains very open. I have certainly heard no assumptions that the WMF will make the decisions and everyone else will somehow fall in line (I think because everyone involves feels that is not the WMF's place in the movement at all).
** The strategy process will never end

It's certainly a slow-moving process and that causes a number of frustrations. However, at the Wikimedia summit there was a clear timeline presented (draft recommendations in time for Wikimania, followed by another round of feedback, followed by final recommendations in the Autumn...) which felt achievable, if very intense to get there. After that, the challenge is implementing the recommendations. It certainly feels a bit like rolling an endless strategy rock up a hill, but actually we are getting on for halfway up.

I hope that's useful, and please do respond to Lucy's call for input, or just read and comment on the scoping document summaries on Meta!

Chris

On Mon, Mar 25, 2019 at 4:34 PM Lucy Crompton-Reid <lucy.crompton-reid@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:

Dear all

As many of you will be aware, in 2017 the Wikimedia movement set out a new strategic direction, which is that By 2030, Wikimedia will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge, and anyone who shares our vision will be able to join us.

Since July 2018, working groups made up of staff and volunteers from across the global Wikimedia movement have been working together to identify key guiding questions within nine thematic areas relevant to the movement. These were published last week in the form of Scoping Documents.

There are three main ways of participating in the next phase of the movement strategy process, and responding to the questions posed by the working groups. These are as follows:

1. Contribute to on-wiki discussions through the talk pages on each of the nine thematic areas (by following the link to the scoping documents above)
2. Respond to the survey, which will be circulated in April (on here, and no doubt in other places/mailing lists)
3. Participate in a UK discussion, either in person or online

As the Strategy Liaison Co-ordinator for the UK, I would like to gauge interest in holding an in-person community conversation about this phase of the movement strategy. Please could you let me know if you would like to attend an event of this kind, and if so what would make it easier for you to do so - for example in terms of the location, time of day, time of week etc. I'd also like to hear from people who would be unlikely to attend an in-person meeting but could join some kind of conference call or hangout. Please feel free to email me directly rather than responding to the whole group, just for the sake of people's inboxes.

With many thanks and best wishes
Lucy

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Lucy Crompton-Reid
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Wikimedia UK
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