Hi Christophe, Now that the end-of-Western-year holidays are behind us, I'm bumping this thread in the hope that you'll respond to the points that I made in my email from December 23rd.
Thanks, Pine On Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 9:31 PM, Pine W <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Christophe, > > Thank you for responding to my questions. > > >> First, the resolution and its context. "Supervising" the ED is indeed a >> board duty, but this supervision must not become micro-management. That >> resolution provides staff the liberty to do their work more efficiently. >> It >> doesn't remove our duty of oversight. >> >> I feel like you think delegating negates ones ability to provide >> supervision, I would tend to think otherwise as delegating free time and >> energy to focus on the core roles of a board. >> > > Perhaps you could explain further how a resolution which says: > > *"*Resolved, the Board hereby delegates the authority to adopt, alter, and > revoke policies to the Executive Director, who may further delegate such > authority to Wikimedia Foundation staff as they deem appropriate; > > "Resolved, the Board may continue to review and approve policies for the > Wikimedia > Foundation upon request to the Executive Director or as required by law." > > amounts to removing micro-management. To me this looks like a sweeping > delegation of authority. Under this resolution, policy changes that the ED > and/or his or her delegates make are not subject to advance review by the > Board, the Legal Department, the community, or anyone else. This seems > highly inadvisable, and I feel that this opens up WMF to legal and > reputational risks that are of far greater concern than the value of > sparing > a few minutes of the Boards' time at meetings to review supposedly > minor changes to policies. > > I would expect the Executive Director to have the authority to execute > plans > and manage his/her staff as permitted by the policies and resolutions > adopted > by the Board and as allowed by law, and to create and modify managerial > policies for staff (for example, salary schedules and hiring procedures) > that are compatible with the Board's policies and resolutions and with the > law. > I wouldn't expect the Executive Director to have the authority to > unilaterally > change policies that were adopted by the Board, nor to have the authority > to > further delegate the authority to change policies that were adopted by the > Board. > > > >> >> Second, the requirements to answer the community. I'm sorry, here I >> answered quite spontaneously, you are right nothing forces us to. >> >> But, as I've said in my candidacy and in public some time I believe we >> have, as WMF board, a leadership duty. And I also believe you lead by >> example. I've always believed, in the movement, we are all partners. We >> need each other to push forward our mission. You treat partners the way >> yourself want to be treated by them. That is why I believe it is important >> to communicate. It doesn't mean we have to see eye to eye on everything >> but >> that when a question rise we should answer as much as we can. That's >> something I've said to nearly everyone who reached out to me in the past >> few month privately, my answer perhaps won't be the one you want, but at >> least there will be an answer and an explanation every time I can. Like >> right now actually :D >> > > Thanks for your efforts to communicate and cooperate. You and Natalia have > been helpful in improving communications between the community and the > Board in 2016. (I agree with Rob that Dariusz was admirably responsive and > civil in public in 2015 in difficult circumstances, while others weren't.) > > I would like to see further developments in this area, such as developments > that prevent the community from being surprised by Board resolutions such > as the one that we are discussing here. > > Also, I would like to see consideration of changing WMF to a membership > organization as a part of the upcoming strategy process. > > >> >> Finally, regarding board governance review, Natalia, as chair of the BGC, >> published minutes of our meetings[1], and that is a key topic we address >> and not push aside. That being said it will be a board review, not one on >> that specific event. We will be able to provide more information on that >> topic soon I think :) >> > > Thanks, this looks like a promising start. > > Doing the governance review in parallel with the strategy process, while > continuing with regular annual work such as the Annual Plan process, > might be a heavy lift for the Board and Katherine, so I encourage careful > thinking about the timing of this review. My hunch is that it would be > good > to start and complete this review within 6 months, with the hope that the > results could then be fed into the strategy process which will be > continuing > for awhile after that. Perhaps you, Katherine, Natalia or others may be > able > to shed some light on the capacity issue here, as well as the thoughts > about the scope, timing, and cost of the governance review. > > In the governance review, I would like to see a particular focus on (1) > a thorough review of the facts of Board members' actions in 2015, (2) > an analysis of what can be learned from the facts of 2015, and (3) > how WMF governance might become more aligned with and > responsive to the community, such as by changing WMF to a > membership organization. > > >> I hope I answered your questions. >> >> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_ >> Board_Governance_Committee >> >> >> > Thank you for your interest in trying to align WMF with the community. > I appreciate the improvements in Board communications in 2016, and I look > forward to further developments in communications and governance. I > also look forward to hearing your responses to the community's comments > that have been made in this thread. > > I realize that you may be offline this weekend, and I would prefer a > thoughtful > response to an immediate one, so I hope to hear back from you sometime > within the next several days, perhaps after you have had an opportunity to > consult with others as you consider how to respond. > > Have a nice weekend, and Merry Christmas, > > Pine > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
