[Foundation-l] Report from Frankfurt - October 2006

[Michael Snow]

Anthere wrote:

> There is something else Oscar does not mention. Yes, we could have 
> provided you with the SWOT outcome (it will be done), as well as with 
> the brainstorming results of the actions outlined (it will be done as 
> well, but for some confidential considerations).
>
> However, several of these actions proposed during the retreat should 
> actually be approved by the board. Most of them are pretty clearly 
> agreed upon by all board members. But for some propositions, questions 
> were raised, not so much for the action itself, but rather on who is 
> the lead of it, or what the timeline proposed is.
> The final decision on what the board should do is not under the 
> authority of the participants, it is under the authority of the board 
> itself. It would make no sense to announce you an action the board 
> will take care of, if the board actually does not agree in doing it.
>
> Right ?
>
> So, we are listing (we is brad and I) the various actions points 
> proposed, according to categories, and I will ask the board to clarify 
> if it is a "yup" or a "nope". Except for confidential issues (in 
> particular legal considerations), I think most will be transparent.
>
> It would be cool to be given a little bit of trust and time. Please.

I'd like to add something. Some people seem to be laboring under the 
false impression that the outcomes of the retreat all exist in a single 
lengthy electronic document, and that it would have been "easier" to 
just dump that onto the list, or answer questions by copy-and-pasting 
from it. We did not work that way. When you are together with people, it 
undermines the benefits of meeting in person and defeats the purpose if 
you continue to do everything on a computer. Not to mention that not 
everyone has laptops, and their use was specifically discouraged for 
most of the retreat.

As Anthere has alluded to, some of the results still need to be 
organized, discussed further, and agreements reached. The board retreat 
did not decide every course of action for the Wikimedia Foundation for 
all time. Much more will be shared and discussed with various people in 
various forums as we go forward. But we cannot recreate the entire 
retreat for everyone who wasn't present, or produce a three-day-long 
video for you to watch it all unfold.

--Michael Snow