People respond to "An Open Letter to Wikimedia Foundation BoT" email to Wikimedia-l

Dariusz Jemielniak, member of the Board of Trustees, replies to Ivri's message. In his message, he praises the Wikimedia Foundation for submitting its Annual Plan to the Annual Plan Grants system, despite the FDC's criticisms. He also states, "There is way too much blaming/bashing/sour expectations working both ways - we almost forget how unique we are, irrespective of many slips and avoidable failures we make (and WMF is definitely leading here, too! ;)"

Ori Livneh, Principal Software Engineer at the Wikimedia Foundation, replies to Jemielniak. He outlines some successes of the engineering teams at the Wikimedia Foundation, then says, "This is happening in spite of -- not thanks to -- dysfunction at the top. If you don't believe me, all you have to do is wait: an exodus of people from Engineering won't be long now. Our initial astonishment at the Board's unwillingness to acknowledge and address this dysfunction is wearing off. The slips and failures are not generalized and diffuse. They are local and specific, and their location has been indicated to you repeatedly."

Moiz Syed, Design Manager at the Wikimedia Foundation, responds to Livneh's comment on Jemielnek's sentence about "sour expectations" to say, "That line from Dariusz disappointed me to, but I just chalked it up to just another case of a board member downplaying community/staff concerns and plea for help."

Dan Andreescu, Software Engineer at the Wikimedia Foundation, writes, "I hope people have the presence of mind, like you say - despite the dysfunction at the top, to stay and talk things out among each other. And to realize that the dysfunction at the top does not *really* matter."

Asaf Bartov, Head of WMF Grants and Global South Partnerships at the Wikimedia Foundation, responds, "Dariusz, I disagree with you: this *is* a time for "negativity". We have been laboring under significant dysfunction for more than a year now, and are now in crisis. We are losing precious colleagues, time, money, *even more* community trust than we had previously squandered, and health (literally; the board HR committee has been sent some details).... Please act. If for some reason the board cannot act, please state that reason. Signal to us, community and staff, by concrete words if not by deeds, that you understand the magnitude of the problem."

Edward Galvez, Survey Specialist at the Wikimedia Foundation, echoes those calling for Board action: "Second Asaf and Sydney. Please take these concerns seriously. If you truly *respect* us and this movement, please act."

Lila Tretikov responds. Her email, in full, reads, "For a few 2015 accomplishments by the product/technical teams you can see them listed here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2015_Wikimedia_Foundation_Product_and_Technology_Highlights"

Brion Vibber, Lead Software Architect at the Wikimedia Foundation, asks, "What is the board doing, going forward, to stem the tide of staff resignations?"

Gayle Karen Young, former Chief Talent and Culture Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, replies to Andreescu, "People will leave despite how much they love a place, its mission, and its volunteers at the point it becomes too painful for them to stay.... I have been watching, even in pain and at a distance, the enormous toll it takes for people to go in day after day and keep doing their work when they have felt unsupported and unheard by the leadership, the board, and the movement, and uncertain of the strategy of the organization - and even worse, characterized as being the wrong people on the bus, so to speak - that this turnover is "normal" and part of leadership transition. This is not normal."

Delphine Ménard (User:notafish), former Chapters Coordinator at the Wikimedia Foundation and former member of the Funds Dissemination Committee, responds on Wikimedia-l. In her email, she writes, "I believe that this is what is missing today. Boldness. Boldness does not only translate in taking (un)calculated risks, it also comes in the capacity of admitting failure.... I'll tell you where I think we, as an organisation, have failed. It was already a long time ago, when we started to talk about efficiency. When the Foundation started working and acting like an American Global Corporation, and stopped cherishing our diversity and leverage it to do that thing we once all dreamed of "taking over the world"."

Dan Andreescu later replies to say, "I sincerely apologize for minimizing that pain, it was not my intention but I can see how what I wrote can be seen this way. This is not normal, and even if it was normal, it would still be awful."

Siko Bouterse, former Director of Community Resources writes, "I need to believe that the power of the collective leadership that so many volunteers and staff are showing here will ultimately be strong enough to ensure that the Wikimedia Foundation has the leadership that its mission deserves."

James Alexander, Manager of Trust & Safety at the Wikimedia Foundation, replies in the context of a dicussion about the speed of board responses, "Waiting a month, or two, or 3... to rethink decisions that were very clearly going to explode like this... eventually we start to think that you're not making a decision or that you're trying desperately to avoid it and hope everything just goes away despite the reality of the situation."

Brion Vibber writes in reply to an email discussing WMF successes, "I suppose I should be clearer: it is my contention that it is largely the people advocating for and implementing the improvements you cite that we are losing due to the management crisis."

Lila Tretikov sends a message that includes, "As I am sure you practice all too often in your own professional life this is required in a professional role: to take the heat and the arrows when something goes wrong, and to give away credit for what goes right. I would not have it any other way, but it is something people all too often ignore or forget."

Marc Pelletier, former Operations Engineer at the Wikimedia Foundation, replies to Tretikov, "That is... downright brilliant. Pretend to be caring and responsible, while at the same time make an underhanded implication that the people who left are villains and that you are a poor victim for being unable to speak the Truth. I hope you choke on shame for having the gall to even so much suggest that pillars of the staff and community like Siko, Luis, and Anna left for any reason other than your "exemplary" leadership.... If you have a single iota of integrity, please leave now before more of the foundation crumbles around you. Even if you were perfectly correct in all you did and everyone else was perfectly wrong, any supposed leader that has no trust from at least 93% of their staff should realize that - if nothing else - they are a bad fit and cannot possibly salvage the situation."