Maybe we the technical side of WMF could get a "communications advisor", some trusted volunteer from among the regular Wikimedians, like they've done at the Chapters Committee recently.
Thanks, Pharoos On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 11:13 PM, Eugene Zelenko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi! > > There are many signs of miscommunications between technical side of > WMF operations and outside worlds (users, administrators, external > projects): periodical rattling on Planet Wikimedia, frustrations on > TranslateWiki, almost impermanently growing number of bug reports in > Bugzilla. > > Typical example may include: > > 1) There is approved project X which still not created for Y days > 2) Why new translations are not propagated to project X > 3) Bug reports with opened years ago with several duplications > > Definitely technical stuff members are limited resource. And even > trivial fixes or problems may took much more time then expected. Code > changes reviewing require efforts. But outside world don't know what > is going on and could only make uneducated guesses and in best case > scenario perceive technical stuff as black box > > I think will be good idea to introduce some kind of technical stuff > reporting and future planning (may be located on WMF site). It'll > provide approximate answer for question 1; explain clearly situation > with 2 (like "rXYZ introduced database scheme changes, currently > updating WMF servers"). This will also highlight and communicate > priorities to general public. > > This is not about control over developers but about development > process transparency, which I believe, will improve understanding and > appreciation of job done from outside. Think how CodeReview improve > transparency of MediaWiki code base maintaining. > > Also development road map for next quarter/year may be considered. > > Possible solution for problem 3: > > * WMF may consider to allocate some part of development budget to > outside developers. It may be in form of bug fixing bounties, gifts or > sponsoring travel/accommodation for participation in > Wikimania/MediaWiki developers conference. > * Advertisement of "Google Summer of Code" jobs on WMF projects. > > Eugene. > > PS > > Disclaimers: I write weekly reports on work and don't think is most > interesting part of it. I don't believe that reports are best > reflection of working process. > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
