2023:Program/Technology/M3VLDX-Discuss improvements to our collective decision-making processes for software releases
Title: Discuss improvements to our collective decision-making processes for software releases
Speakers:
Olga Vasileva
Olga is based in Barcelona and has worked as a product manager for the Wikimedia Foundation for the past 7 years. She spends her free time playing music, going to concerts, and editing articles about obscure bands.
Szymon Grabarczuk
Senior Community Relations Specialist at Wikimedia Foundation. I work on major software changes: the Vector 2022 skin, IP Masking, Accessibility for reading, Dark mode, etc. I’ve been a Wikipedian since 2010. A few years ago, I was a Vice-President & Secretary of Wikimedia Polska. Currently, as a volunteer, I’m a member of the Wikimania 2024 Core Organizing Team and the Wikimania 2023 Technology team. More information about me: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:SGrabarczuk_(WMF)
Johan Jönsson
Manager, Product Ambassadors, Wikimedia Foundation. (Volunteer: Swedish Wikipedian since 2004. Admin, checkuser, photographer. Occasionally active outside of Swedish Wikipedia and Commons. Writes about Wikipedia, trying to explain what we do to the general public.)
Room: Room 311
Start time: Fri, 18 Aug 2023 14:15:00 +0800
End time: Fri, 18 Aug 2023 15:15:00 +0800
Type: Roundtable / open discussion
Track: Technology
Submission state: confirmed
Duration: 60 minutes
Do not record: false
Presentation language: en
Abstract & description
[edit source]Abstract
[edit source]Let’s discuss the ways we make collective decisions about our software development and release process and brainstorm ways we can make the process smoother and more representative of everyone who uses the Wikimedia wikis. Newcomers are welcome!
Description
[edit source]The objective of this session is to discuss how the Wikimedia Foundation and wiki communities can improve the ways we collectively make decisions around software development. This includes the processes we take for any technical changes on our wikis that are visible to readers and editors - new tools, interface improvements, and more. In particular, we seek to make our processes more inclusive, data-driven, and representative of larger parts of our communities and audiences and to find ways to ensure that communities are better-informed of upcoming changes and have easy ways to participate in forums and conversations throughout the development process.
We would like to engage with participants who have previously taken part of or are interested in collective decision-making processes within and across wikis. Newcomers are welcome to the discussion!
The session will start with a brief overview of the current state of these processes. We will characterize the recent examples of wiki discussions, RfCs, wish lists, and larger consultations to identify what is working well and what the main problems are.
The second part of the session will include a structured brainstorm, followed by open conversation on what potential solutions to these problems might look like. We will invite participants to share their experiences with these processes and their suggestions for improvements. We will review suggestions for improvements and look at the ways in which the Movement strategy has proposed ways of developing better practices in the future.
Our goal is to begin a conversation about changes that participants and communities are interested about, which, after Wikimania, can develop and grow on-wiki and lead to important process improvements in the future. We hope that with these changes implemented, the way software development decisions are made will be much more inclusive, particularly for the emerging communities and occasional users.
Further details
[edit source]Qn. How does your session relate to the event themes: Diversity, Collaboration Future?
This session is focused on making our current decision-making processes more representative of the diversity of our communities, and in brainstorming ways to ensure that all community members who are interested in participation are informed of and able to participate in software decision-making. We also invite you to the Governance track presentation by Gergő Tisza, which will focus on decision-making as it relates to Movement Strategy.
Qn. What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Qn. What is the most appropriate format for this session?
Onsite in Singapore- Remote online participation, livestreamed
- Remote from a satellite event
Hybrid with some participants in Singapore and others dialing in remotely- Pre-recorded and available on demand
