Strategy

For the upcoming strategy planning consultation process see: Strategy/2016-2017.

Strategy can relate to strategy for the Wikimedia movement, strategy for entities such as the WMF and Chapters, and roadmaps for individual Projects (e.g., Wikidata or Wiktionary or Wiki Loves Monumints).

Current strategy documents

Movement strategy 2010-2015

Wikimedia Movement Strategic Plan (PDF)

The Wikimedia movement strategy 2010-2015 was developed on the now-archived strategy wiki, from 2009-2010. This was the first strategy for the entire movement; it doubled as a strategy for the WMF.

This covered for instance how effectively the movement is reaching and empowering new people around the world, how well it is providing knowledge, and how balanced its contributors are. See the Wikimedia Movement Strategic Plan Summary for details. Some key Questions about our strategy were also developed.

No separate long-term strategy was developed for the WMF, so there was confusion about whether this was a strategy for the movement or just for the Foundation. The work on the strategy wiki was later largely migrated back to Meta.

Strategy of Wikimedia organizations

Discussion of Wikimedia Nederland, February 2011, resulting in the 2013-2015 strategy paper

Chapters

WMAM	Armenia	Strategic Plan 2013-2018
WMAR	Argentina	Planificación Estratégica 2016-2018
WMAT	Austria	Strategy 2016+ Older plan: Strategie 2012-2014 (de, en), from 2012
WMAU	Australia	Strategic Plan, endorsed by members at 2011 AGM.
WMCH	CH	Strategic Plan (defined in summer 2014, 3-5 years)
WMDE	Germany	Kompass 2020 (en, de), from 2009 Kompass 2016 (en) Kompass 2017 (de)
WMFR	France	Strategic plan
WMHK	Hong Kong	Development Plan, from 2009
WMHU	Hungary	2013 Programme Plan
WMIL	Israel	Strategic plan 2015-2017 (draft)
WMNL	Nederland	Strategy 2017-2020 (en). Strategie 2017-2020 (nl) Strategie 2013-2016 (en, nl)
WMNO	Norway	Strategy 2016-2020
WMPL	Poland	Plan for 2013/2014 (not yet approved); Plans for 2013 - a part of the WMF/WMPL fundraising agreement, older plans: Plans for 2012 - a part of the WMF/WMPL fundraising agreement, General list of documents regarding plans and strategies,
WMRS	Serbia	Strategy 2015-2017
WMSE	Sweden	Wikimedia Sverige Strategy for 2013-2016 and Report for 2013.
WMUA	Ukraine	Strategic Goals 2016-2018
WMUK	United Kingdom	2013–18 five year plan

Other organizations

Wikimedia Foundation	Draft 2016 strategy (18-24 months)
Amical Wikimedia	Amical Wikimedia 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.
CIS-A2K	Strategic plan June 2016 - July 2018

Tech strategy and roadmaps

• Tech/News + Tech/News/Latest
• Wikimedia Engineering/2013-14 Goals + wikitech:Deployments
• MediaWiki roadmap

Project strategy and roadmaps

• WP 1.0, WLM, Wikivoyage discussions...
• Wiktionary:News_for_editors (en.wikt)
• en.wp roadmap (new)

Developing new strategies: 2015 and beyond

Plans in development as of 2014:

• Strategy project - a group working on continuous coordination and strategizing
• WMDE discussions and debates (from the WMDE mailing list, spring 2014)
• WMF planning for 2015+ - to be clearly separate from the global movement strategy

History

The Wikimedia Foundation was formed in 2003, when it became clear that Wikipedia was becoming an important online project, too big to reside on Bomis' servers. Previous to this, most "strategic planning" discussions revolved around the evolving Wikis; many decisions (additional languages, additional projects, core policies) that helped shape future organizational development were boldly made by community members and leaders through the wiki process. Most "Foundation-level" work was done by volunteers, from financial planning to technical scaling. The Foundation was a convenient organizational structure for the projects, not envisioned as an end unto itself. At the same time, Wikimedia Deutschland became the first chapter, planning its own national strategy - from publicity and politics to publishing.

When the first elected community member Trustees took their seats on the WMF Board, there were a variety of discussions about where the Foundation and the movement should be heading.

• Early discussions: mailing list threads from Anthere and Angela from late 2004 were often about related topics
• Strategic goals: a few open meetings about goals, and some discussions on the wiki (1), ensued
• The Mission and Vision statements were revisited in 2006/2007 to help lay uniform foundations for future work. (The idea was for this to happen regularly, though the next revisit was in 2009)
• In late 2006 there was an internal discussion of strategy with facilitated meetings of Board members and others, resulting in a few one-year planning documents. These do not seem to be public, though many resulting conversations are.

Most discussions about project and Foundation-wide planning have been held on mailing lists (first wikipedia-l, then foundation-l); or on Meta.

Global strategy evolution

2004 : the Board holds its first elections. There was strategic planning before and after

one-year plan, three-year_plan, Five-year_plan

a few open meetings were held to discuss the needs of the Projects with the Board.

2006 : reflection and review; Angela and Anthere had been on the board since the beginning.

There were committees formed

A Board retreat and SWOT analysis was undertaken

A special projects committee was formed and shared some brainstorming ideas related to the above

Note the various resolutions passed by the SPC.

An email discussion thread about "where do you see Wikimedia in 10 years" meets with interest

2009

A year-long project, Strategic planning 2009, was announced in May and planned for the coming year. Threads about how to proceed were floated on foundation-l, and three one-year contracts to facilitate the process were posted.

Mission and Vision

The mission (editable version) and vision (editable version) attempt to formalize the shared goals of the projects. However, they are wordy in places and leave out goals in others.

In 2006 they were rewritten once, and there was a Board/Chapters/Other meeting at which they were discussed along with a general discussion of where the projects should be heading. The idea then was that they would be regularly revised and revisited -- but this has not happened since.

Choosing new projects

New project proposals aren't always given the attention they deserves, considering that how we view ourselves as a collection of sister projects is determined in part by what Projects we support. Newcomers are drawn to the projects by the promise of one or the other environment to work; and expect to find a functioning local society and receptive soil for planting new ideas.

Major projects that have been considered but not accepted so far include : Wikikids, Wikifamily, and Wikicite; other major friendly projects include AboutUs.org and Rodovid/WeRelate.

Strategy proposals, projects, discussions

• Planning for the future
• Suggestions and proposals
• Strategic plan/2009
• Individual engagement grants (and related project ideas)
• Initiatives of various shapes and sizes

Discussion as part of WMF and project governance

Board candidate statements throughout the years:

• Board elections/2004/Candidates
• Board elections/2005/Candidates
• Board elections/2006/Candidates
• Board elections/2007/Candidates
• Board elections/2008/Candidates
• Board elections/2009/Candidates
• Board elections/2011/Candidates
• Board elections/2013/Candidates

The largest wikis have their own strategy discussions, leading to project strategy and roadmaps for each of them. For instance, in en:wp this includes WP:1.0 and w:WP:WikiProject Council (for quality and participation).

Many discussions about global policy (privacy, BLPs, civility, language incubation) started with discussions on a single large wiki about its own vision and future.