Interim report 15 September 2009

This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference.

The convenors wrapped up Phase I: Level-setting of the strategic planning process for the Wikimedia movement;
We convened from 7 August 2009 at strategy wiki until 12 September 2009 to conclude the first phase by preparing a broad call for participation that contains a message from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Founder, Jimmy Wales.
There were some significant "wins" during the first phase of this process. For instance,

• Through central notice on Wikimedia websites several thousand participants were made aware of this process, and almost 2000 user accounts were created;
• The participants in the process have given preliminary answers to the question "Where is Wikimedia now?"
• An enormous amount of input has been received and shared in our fact base (hence the title "level-setting") to provide context for the planning effort.
• Additional knowledge was gathered through interviews with WMF staff, Board and Advisory Board members, Wikimedia Community members, and external people with expertise and/or interest in Wikimedia's mission and operations.

• Project management has created and maintained the space for this conversation and work to happen (this Wiki);
• Project management has developed an outreach plan to engage with as many stakeholders as possible;
• The convenors have collected and discussed over 500 proposals;

At this time of transition, it's important to note the extraordinary help given by many people:

• The convenors would like to thank all participants in the first phase of this process for their time, their energy, their effort and their input to this process;
• The convenors would like to thank all participants in the first phase of this process for their valuable feedback;
• The convenors would like to thank all participants in the first phase of this process for preparing, supplying and discussing proposals;
• The convenors especially thank all those participants who profoundly supplied many, many eye openers;
• The convenors especially thank Casey and all translators in helping translate key documents in this process;

There remain some key challenges, however, as we go into Phase II:

• We might have involved quite a few website visitors in the process, but haven't involved all Wikimedia stakeholders yet;
• We have insufficiently involved users from smaller non-English Wikimedia projects;

• With a few exceptions all planned work for the first phase has been completed;
• Time has come to start the second phase and have a set of task forces put to work;
• We need highly motivated, qualified and diverse set of people to participate in these task force;

On or about 21 September, the appeal letter will be served by sitewide notice as prepared and translated in many languages and Phase II of the process will begin.