[Foundation-l] Wikia leasing office space to WMF

[Naoko Komura]

On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 8:36 AM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>wrote:

> 2009/1/24 Naoko Komura <nkomura at gmail.com>:
> > Hello, Thomas.
> >
> > I admire your persistence in putting your question forward until your
> > question is answered.  :-)  Let me try to answer your questions by giving
> > you the background of this negotiation.
>
> Persistence is certainly not something I'm lacking! Some disagree
> about how admirable that is, though...


I think it is a good trait to have and admirable.


>
> > So the number of total quotes
> > collected are ten including Wikia.  The criteria of request for quotes
> were
> > 1) the space needs to house minimum five personnel  and (2) the project
> team
> > needs a meeting room.  These ten quotes are not apple-to-apple
> comparison,
> > for example parameters such as total space availability, infrastructure
> > readiness, meeting room availability, distance from the WMF, access to
> > kitchen, noise level, furnished and etc.  Of course, the price varies
> too.
> > We narrowed down our selection to two office space candidates
>
> How did you narrow it down? Was there something specific the cheaper
> bids were lacking?
>

More than of the quotes were either above the price range we had in mind or
at the high end within the range.  The price range we had in mind was
$2,500-$3,000 for five to six people.  (Additional desk is for a visiting
staff from the WMF)  There are a few quotes which came below the range, but
the space either lacked a meeting space, lacked infrastructure like LAN, or
required public transportation from the WMF office.  The lease term with
Wikia is $2,500 per month, month-to-month.  The budget allows us to invest
more fund for the space, but we would like to spend the gift prudently.  It
is always better to set aside funds so that we can invest in reusable tools
such as automation of test tools and have ability to expand scope of
usability test and product improvements.

[snip]


> Thank you for helping me understand this decision.


You are very welcome.  Do you think we are CIO ready if the WMF were
U.K.-based entity? :-)

Best,

- Naoko



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