Strategy

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

Current strategy documents

Tech strategy and roadmaps

• Tech/News + Tech/News/Latest
• Wikitech:Deployments
• MediaWiki roadmap

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 Wikimedia Foundation 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.

Movement strategies

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.

2010-2015

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 Wikimedia Foundation. 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. The work on the strategy wiki was later largely migrated back to Meta.

Wikimedia Foundation strategies

The Wikimedia Foundation has developed, on-wiki, the following strategies:

• 2015
• 2016

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 deserve, 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
• Individual engagement grants (and related project ideas)
• Initiatives of various shapes and sizes
• Strategy project

Discussion as part of Wikimedia Foundation 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

Some of largest wikis have, or have had, their own strategy discussions, leading to more specific project strategies and roadmaps. For instance, in the English Wikipedia this includes WP:1.0 and w:en: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.