A few responses in random order:
> > OK, but how is this done precisely? Are there written docs? Mentors?
> > Is cross-team help common? Or is this kept at the anecdotal level ("oh
> > yeah, you should also keep in mind..." )?
> >
>
> In my experience, all of the above
That doesn't sound so good. For me, it means 2 things:
1. There is no uniform approach to onboarding re community collaboration.
2. Some teams choose to keep it anecdotal
> Perhaps we shouldn't expect this of an organization not ultimately
> accountable to the editors? No amount of onboarding can change the
> Foundation's corporate Bylaws or the fact that it owns the trademarks
> whose value is based on editor labor. Perhaps if we had a membership
> organization instead, which would have to report to the editors and
> justify its progress on initiatives directly voted on by its members...
I'm afraid that changing the "ownership model" wouldn't help much.
It's highly unlikely that the WMF, regardless of who they respond to,
will find employees with adequate experience and a willingness to work
for them only within the community. That means that they will still
need to address the onboarding part and implicitly the documentation
task.
> Our movement is complex, and there are no amount of explanations that will
> portray its richness. I will be working to make sure that new hires at the
> Foundation know to ask the right questions at the right time and to the
> right people to minimize errors. Of course, I want to set realistic
> expectations, this will not happen in a day, nor will it happen in a year
> only. My goal is to start a process that will change and evolve with time,
> as does our movement.
Delphine, it's great to hear that someone with a lot of community
experience is taking on this task. Obviously mistakes will never go
away completely, but I'm looking forward to seeing the results of your
work. I just hope you have some measure of success in mind, it would
be a pity to evaluate the program based on wikimedia-l feedback. :)
>
> If any of you have any questions about how we are working on this, or want
> to contribute ideas, please talk to me offlist!
I think documenting the process should be part of the process :) That
way it can be replicated or adapted by other organizations with
similar growth pains.
Strainu
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