[Wikitech-l] Technical Decision Making Process Update and Change

Hello all, I’m pleased to announce that the Technical Decision Making Process[0] proposed as an evolution of the Wikimedia Technical Committee[1] (TechCom) process has been approved by the Wikimedia Foundation, and will begin operation on 22nd of January. Back in October[2] and November[3] I sought input into a proposed process and in December I incorporated that feedback into the approved process. This process is designed to be more inclusive by shifting the representations. It has clear timelines for when decisions will be made and to develop a clear lifecycle of a decision. The process is designed to be clear about how and which stakeholders will be engaged. It also introduces a Technical Decision Forum and Templates for the process. Currently a group from the Wikimedia Technology and Product Departments are in the process of forming the initial Decision Forum. The initial forum will include representatives from Wikimedia Foundation teams, Wikimedia Deutschland, and independent +2 contributors. Please see the proposal for community representation on the Decision Forum[4] and provide input by 2021-02-15. We know we will need to adjust the representation in the forum over time. If you believe you are from a group that is not represented and should be, please contact us (tech-decision-forum-support(a)wikimedia.org). If you currently have an RFC in process with TechCom that is not on Last Call, it may need to be moved into this process. If you have filed an RFC that is no longer relevant please close it. The group setting up the process will be inquiring about the RFC status on the individual Phabricator tickets. To get started with this new process you just need to open a Phabricator Ticket on the Technical Decision Making Process board[5]. If you need help getting started or have further questions please reach out at tech-decision-forum-support(a)wikimedia.org or reply on this thread. [0] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_Decision_Making_Process [1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Committee [2] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2020-October/093968.html [3] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2020-November/094037.html [4] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_Decision_Making_Process/Draft_Prop… [5] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/board/5179/ Thanks, Kate -- Kate Chapman (she/her/hers) Director of Architecture, Architecture Team Wikimedia Foundation kchapman(a)wikimedia.org