On Sun, Feb 05, 2012 at 07:10:05PM -0800, don kretz wrote:
This is way overkill,
http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Product_Whitepaper
but contains a discussion of some of the structures and processes they have and how they see them.
That's a really great document. Very relevant for some of DP's retention and recruitment challenges, I think.
I imagine PG has some of the same statistical resources. It would be interesting to see what PG has considered important enough to measure, and how they interpret the measurements.
(We don't have much, other than statistics we could garner from our posting messages. Nothing at all like the studies that were so helpful to the Wikimedida planning.) But now I think I know what you are suggesting: strategic planning. This is a definite shortcoming of PG. We did fire up a "planning" mailing list a few years ago, and collected some good ideas. But with Michael at the helm, there was a definite lack of majority rule. Karen raised organizational structure and leadership as a topic, and it is related to strategic planning. Here is something the group might wish to consider: Let's imagine we have an opportunity to do some strategic planning. We could even swing a modest budget for planning grants and face to face meetings, meet-ups, and other structure. How would you wish to proceed, and what sort of involvement do you envision for yourself? While you are thinking about that, give some thought to how your role and level of engagement could change, for better or for worse, as a result in shifts in emphasis at PG. How might we attrace more readers, volunteers, and content (if that is, indeed a goal)? What metrics for success? The linked document did a pretty job at such metrics. Like PG, Wikimedia is dependent on the good will of volunteers. Largely unlike PG (though more like DP), a constant influx of new talent is a major element of their success. Ideas welcome. -- Greg