On Thursday, 25 February 2016, Ariel Glenn WMF <ariel(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
<snip>
Make no mistake, this is not just about an ED.
It's also about failure of
oversight, powerlessness of staff, and a culture of exclusion, among other
things. If, as I hope, the Board acts decisively to remove the current ED,
that will only be the first step in a mountain of work ahead of us. Hard,
painful, exhausting work. But we can't begin to get started on it until
that first step is taken.
I'd like to highlight this point in particular. It also echoes Oliver
Keyes statement yesterday.
When the Board makes its next official statement detailing its response to
the current situation, I sincerely hope that it does not only address the
ED. That is a necessary statement, but would not be a sufficient one.
I hope that the statement will ALSO include some degree of detail about HOW
the board will also address the problems of governance and oversight that
has led to the current situation. In the past, the WMF has required
Wikimedia-UK to undertake a formal governance review, and that might be an
appropriate precedent to apply here.
I'm NOT calling for specific governance changes need to be
implemented immediately. That would be a mob-mentality, and any
immediately-implemented changes would be reactionary. Nevertheless, a
statement to the effect of "we're thinking about it, trust us" would not be
sufficiently believable at this point in time when trust is so low. So
instead, I really hope the board can make some specific (and therefore
accountable!) assurances about how it will be investigating changes to
governance over the next few months.
- Liam / Wittylama
--
wittylama.com
Peace, love & metadata