[Foundation-l] Where we are headed

[Austin Hair]

On 5/31/06, Gavin Chait <gchait at gmx.net> wrote:
> * Chapters - I'm assuming this has some oversight of the projects?

Oversight and coordination of [[m:Wikimedia chapters]], which have no
direct connection to projects.  See [[m:Chapters committee]],
[[m:Wikimedia chapters]].

[[m:Wikimedia committees]] were created to allow the Board to delegate
responsibility for certain necessary, day-to-day Wikimedia operations,
providing for more effective management while still retaining final
authority.  They don't yet have any legal status, so this delegation
is currently de facto only, but as a practical matter they operate as
originally conceived.

How committees organize and conduct themselves is generally left up to
them, and varies considerably.  Chapters, for instance, comprises five
members and two advisers, with the committee officers (chairman and
vice chairman) holding mostly "administrative" roles rather than
governing ones, in a primus inter pares sense.  Other committees may
have a more hierarchical approach, with the chairman steering the
direction of the committee and taking on more of a leadership role.

What's important is that the system, which is still very new and
working itself out, is an improvement over relying on the overtaxed
Board to micromanage WMF operations.

Austin