[Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Cyn Skyberg joins Wikimedia as CTCO!

[Liam Wyatt]

On 9 September 2010 01:56, Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> I'm delighted to tell you that the Wikimedia Foundation has just hired
> its first-ever Chief Talent and Culture Officer. Cyn Skyberg will
> begin work with us this coming Monday, September 13. She'll report to
> me

<snip>


> I am delighted Cyn will be joining us: please help me welcome her. But
> -- she doesn't yet have a Wikimedia e-mail address, and she's not yet
> subscribed to our mailing lists. So maybe wait for Monday :-)


Having waited 'till the new week as requested....

Welcome Cyn! :-)

I never really "got" SecondLife beyond as a proof of concept but the one
thing that did come across very clearly was that it had  a vibrant internal
culture which was actively supported by LindenLabs. So I look forward to
seeing what can be achieved by this crucial position at the WMF to develop a
vibrant and open culture within the WMF staff and between the staff and the
wider community. Of course, as the WMF grows (and it will grow a lot
according to the strategic plan) the relationship between the community and
the staff (tech, fundraising, outreach etc.) will become ever more important
in ensuring the health of the projects.

I'm interested to see the change in position title from the original as
"Human Resources" to "Talent and Culture" as Erik described. I've always
thought that if for some reason all of the Wikimedia projects suddenly
disappeared (and no one had any backups) we would be upset about it for a
couple of days but then we would just start again - and we would do it
better! On the other hand, if the community disappeared all of a sudden then
the projects would become irrelevant and overgrown with spam within a week
no matter how resilient the staff, financial or technical systems. So,
whilst I understand that Cyn's job is specifically to manage the WMF staff
"talent and culture" I look forward to seeing how that role interacts with
the talent and culture visible in the community at large.

Welcome once again,
Sincerely,

Liam
wittylama.com/blog
Peace, love & metadata