Lila's statement of her vision for WMF is compelling and attractive. If properly and faithfully executed, it seems like it would make just the right adjustments to the culture of the WMF and its interaction with and support of the Wikimedia community. I have long been concerned that a number of positions at the WMF amounted to sinecures, or at least returned little value to the projects in exchange for resources expended. It seems logical to me that such a radical change, even well enacted, would prompt discontent and departures from the organization.
That said, I'm not convinced that this paradigm shift has been handled well by the WMF executive team and the board. First and foremost, this statement from Lila is the best explanation given anywhere that I'm aware of describing the shift within the WMF. That is not good. Second, it appears that the work has not been done to get key members of the paid team and volunteers on board with this process. This is another very substantial failure. For anyone who believes that Lila's vision statement is right for the future of the WMF, these unforced errors should cause serious anguish - needed changes might be lost or avoided because incompetent execution of prior initiatives left everyone deeply change-averse. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
