[Wikimedia-l] WMF narrowing focus (was Re: Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 105, Issue 1)

Tue Dec 4 11:14:27 UTC 2012

As far as I understood the rationale for the narrowing, the idea is not to
safe money but to safe people. By focusing on what the Foundation's tasks
should be and by letting go of the others, you reduce stress on people as
you allow them to concentrate on a smaller set of tasks. Focus brings flow
brings happiness.

Another point that was explicitly mentioned was that the Fellowship program
can be performed by other movement bodies, as the WMF is explicitly
stepping away from it, freeing it up for others. There are some things that
only the WMF can do, and these are the things the WMF should focus on. This
is how I understood the proposal.

2012/12/3 ENWP Pine <deyntestiss at hotmail.com>

>
> Thanks Sue.
>
> I am cautious when there are specific cuts such as Fellowships in exchange
> for indeterminate benefits. That makes a cost-benefit analysis difficult to
> do. Maybe this is a good tradeoff, but from the information that's publicly
> available, I'm still particularly concerned about the loss of the
> Fellowships. Could those be funded by increasing the amount of the
> fundraising goal?
>
> Some of the other possible tradeoffs and outsourcing do make sense to me.
> The loss of the fellowships is my main concern.
>
> Looking at the bright side, I would be very glad if one of the benefits
> from narrowing focus is that the progress of the Visual Editor is hastened.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Pine
>
>
> >
> > From: Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org>
> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 105, Issue 1
> > Message-ID:
> >       <CAGZ0=LNMvd+mYRLyRxOVxcFMPcHhhD4iUaxodgFF6dw=
> Mmdrbw at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> >
> > Hi Pine,
> >
> > We haven't articulated specific and measurable benefits: that's why you
> > haven't gotten an answer to your question. That's because the Narrowing
> > Focus exercise is not a one-off immediate-term event: it's a longer-term
> > decision which will have multiple implications in this year and in future
> > years.
> >
> > The Board approved the general principle: that narrowing focus would
> > benefit the organization, which had been spread too thinly. But, the
> > precise implications won't be known until the process begins to play out.
> > For example, we've made a decision to outsource some of the WMF work
> > associated with Wikimania, but until we define the terms of the
> > outsourcing, we can't know what the exact implications will be. (Because
> we
> > don't know what it will cost, or what work the contractor/consultant will
> > be able to do. We *will* know those things in future, and I could make
> > educated guesses about them now, but we can't know with certainty until
> we
> > run an RFP process or similar.)
> >
> > Upshot: this is a long-term-focused decision, and it'll take a while for
> > the implications to begin to play out. I've told the Board we shouldn't
> > expect to see too much in the way of benefits in 2012-13 (the current
> > fiscal year) because there will be work required to execute the various
> > components of it, which will offset whatever gain we might otherwise have
> > seen this year. We may see a little pay-off  this year, but mostly it
> will
> > start to happen in 2023-14.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Sue
> > On Dec 2, 2012 3:56 PM, "ENWP Pine" <deyntestiss at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Tilman,
> > >
> > > Thanks, I always like reading these reports.
> > >
> > > Again, I'd like to ask what specific and measurable benefits the
> "changing
> > > focus" changes will accomplish. I've been asking this for awhile.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Pine
> > >
> > > > Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:55:37 -0800
> > > > From: Tilman Bayer <tbayer at wikimedia.org>
> > > > To: wikimediaannounce-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > Subject: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation
> > > >       Report, October 2012
> > > > Message-ID:
> > > >       <CAPDdKA5QRw_+kn=Pdb9Ryc9=
> > > VpOeZTxXbGFz5KWnCPHee7me8Q at mail.gmail.com>
> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
> > > >
> > > > Hi all,
> > > >
> > > > please find below the WMF report for October 2012, in plain text.
> > > >
> > > > As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on
> Meta:
> > > >
> > >
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_October_2012
> > > >
> > > > and the reports are being posted on the Wikimedia blog, too:
> > > > https://blog.wikimedia.org/c/corporate/wmf-monthly-reports/
> > > >
> > > > As usual, we are also publishing a separate "Highlights" summary.
> > > > Please consider helping non-English-language communities to stay
> > > > updated, by providing a translation:
> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2012
> > > > Many thanks those who have translated the September "Highlights" into
> > > > Arabic, Breton, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Piedmontese, Russian,
> > > > Ukrainian, Chinese and Telugu!
> > > >
> > > > While still focussing on WMF activities, the "Highlights" include a
> > > > small selection of the most noteworthy events from the whole
> movement.
> > > > Suggestions for the soon to be published November issue are welcome
> > > > until Wednesday (December 5) at
> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights
> > > >
> > > > Regards, Tilman
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >
>
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