[Foundation-l] Growth vs. maintenance

[Michael Snow]

Robert Rohde wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 2:18 PM, Bod Notbod <bodnotbod at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> Are you already on
>>
>> http://strategy.wikimedia.org
>>     
> I've read a variety of things there though I haven't yet been inspired
> to make a proposal.  My impression though, and correct me if I
> overlooked something, is that the strategy development process has
> generally been framed in terms of individual projects, but there has
> been very little discussion of general philosophy.
That is, if anything, an unfortunate myopia that arises out of the 
submissions. As was noted during the board meeting prior to Wikimania (I 
believe you can find the comment in the minutes), a lot of the proposals 
there are not particularly strategic in nature. While we don't want to 
simply discard ideas that might have value, we will be focusing more on 
these kinds of fundamental questions as the process moves forward. Any 
help in framing these issues, and identifying which proposals really 
grapple with them, would be appreciated.
>   Should we be
> innovating, taking risks, and looking for new growth opportunities?
> Or, should be focusing on solidifying and maintaining our existing
> positions and projects?  One position or the other might be implicit
> in some of the proposals, but I haven't seen any discussion of which
> general path people might want to emphasize.
>   
I'm glad you're helping to start the discussion. I encourage people to 
continue it, both here and on the strategic planning wiki.

--Michael Snow