[Wikimedia-l] Lack of community involvement in WMF budget planning

[Tomasz W. Kozlowski]

Hi Sam,
first of all, let me thank you for your involvement in this—it's 
appreciated! Other comments follow in-line.

> By the time we see a final-draft plan in April/May, there is already
> little leeway for significant change.

This probably means that there is something wrong with the process and 
the timing; we all know that getting community feedback (and replying to 
it) is a lengthy procedure, so I guess we should start it much earlier 
next time, probably around the New Year.

Wouldn't it be better if, say, a draft of the budget and plan is 
submitted for community feedback, and only then brought up at a Board 
meeting so that the Board can include community feedback, too?

> Here is the assessment from this past February, as linked from the
> minutes of the Feb 1-2 board meeting:

Yes, the PDF file is exactly the one I mentioned in my e-mail from weeks 
ago; it's also the same that Nemo_bis wrote about on this mailing list 
the moment it appeared on the WMF wiki. However, it should be noted that 
the community is at a very serious disadvantage here; that Board meeting 
took place in the first days of February, and the notes (and that file) 
were only published on March 8, leaving very little time for feedback.

	-- Tomasz