Chris, It's good to read you here and on WW. I think you're raising legitimate points that others have also sought progress on. I would just suggest one thing. Right now the Wikimedia Foundation is going through an ED transition, impacting nearly 300 staff members most immediately. The Board's primary responsibility at this point is to identify interim leadership, set that person up for success, and renew the Board's bridge to the staff. Painful as the situation with James Heilman is, it is legitimate to address it later, in a professional and civil manner.
I would encourage James, Jimmy, Denny and others similarly to not shoot from the hip at this time. I know something about shooting from the hip, and it rarely moves things forward positively. ;-) This dispute may need a facilitator and a quiet, generous conversation to be settled amicably. Given that Dariusz voted to retain James, I trust James hasn't done anything so dastardly that this cannot be done. Everyone has had an incredibly long week. I am sure everyone--including Board members, who are all volunteers with other obligations--is still stressed right now about what's to come. People don't make the best decisions when they are too stressed, too tired, too busy. It's important that the Board is given some space to focus, to move forward one step at a time. I concur with your call for greater transparency and involvement of the Board in meaningful conversations with staff and volunteers. I also think other steps of Board reform, including better training for Board members, ought to be considered. I would love to hear more from recently appointed Board members like Guy and Kelly, to understand their perspective on the last few months. But all in due time. Warmly, Erik _______________________________________________ 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>
