[Foundation-l] Policy governance ends

[Florence Devouard]

Dear all,

In the past few days, I have explored more systematically the policy 
governance model, and how it could be implemented.By the way, I found a 
short article about it on the english wikipedia : 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy_Governance


One of the things the board has to design is what is called the ENDS.
In each ends, the board defines which needs are to be met, for whom, and 
at what cost.

Let me give you two examples of ends.
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The WMF is the host provider of several websites, referred to as 
Wikimedia project.  Wikimedia websites must be up and running 
efficiently, 24/24 hours, 7 days a week. That is the priority of WMF.

Needs to be met ?
Information must be accessible anytime.

For whom ?
Any person with internet access

At what cost ?
Well, within limits reasonable with the revenue we have. If we had 
figures to mention, we could say max 1 million per year.
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Another example

The WMF is the organiser of an annual conference, Wikimania.

Needs to be met ?
Both a scientific conference and a community event, Wikimania brings 
together members of various Wikimedia projects in order to exchange 
ideas, build relationships, and report on research and project efforts.
It also provides an opportunity for Wikimedians and the general public 
alike to meet and share ideas about free and open source software, free 
knowledge initiatives, and wiki projects worldwide.

For whom ?
Primarily for Wikimedians. Secondarily for the general public

At what cost ?
No cost. WMF should find sponsors to cover Wikimania costs by large.
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Now, these are two easy ends to define.
What I would like to ask you help on, is to define more ends, which 
describe what you think the WMF is about. The two ends I mentionned 
above a "long term" ends, they would be listed this year, and then next 
year and probably the year after. Not all ends are this way. We could 
also have an end valid only one year, or only 3 months.
Let us say we want a BIG technical meeting around Mediawiki to occur in 
the next 6 months, it would be one END.
Or we want to produce a DVD of the english high quality content, it 
could be another END.
Actually, hiring an ED could also be an end :-)

Now, before you tell me "eh, we elected you guys to think of that for 
us", my answer will be "no, you elected us to represent your dreams 
about WMF, and to make sure your dreams happen".
So, what I am currently asking you is

"What do you want Wikimedia Foundation to focus its attention on in the 
next few months, few years or more".

Whether you are members on the "paper" (bylaws) or not, morally, you are 
the owners of the organization. I do not think the editors represent the 
only owners, but the editors definitly are part of the owners. So, I ask 
you your opinion as owners.

What do you think we should achieve ? If you had 5 points to list, what 
would they be ?


ant