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

[Leslie Carr]

On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 2:26 AM, Tomasz W. Kozlowski
<tomasz at twkozlowski.net> wrote:
> 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.

Gah! As someone who works for the foundation and has had to deal with
budget issues in engineering (though this is my personal opinion) the
budget process is already incredibly long, drawn out, and stressful.
If I had to start the planning in November to get a draft out by Jan
1, then keep revising it until May... not only would that take up a
large amount of staff time, it'd also cause a stressful process to be
even more stressful.

>
> 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?
>



--
Leslie Carr
Wikimedia Foundation
AS 14907, 43821
http://as14907.peeringdb.com/