Category: Getting Stuff Done

Five Years Later…

I’ve been at the Wikimedia Foundation for five years now. I don’t often speak publicly1 about what it’s like to work at the non-profit behind one of the biggest social movements, website, and community on the planet. Also one of the few that aren’t backed by squicky dude-bros who care more about money than humans. AAAAANNNYYYHOW, there’s something special about the number five and so here are my thoughts.

Where is the Foundation now?

I think the Foundation is in a better position than in the past five years – both internally in how the organization is structured and work is managed, but also in what we work on and where our focus is. We’ve learned a lot from the lumps garnered in the past (deservedly or not) and with Movement Strategy and strong focus on Objectives and Key Results (ORKs) it’s more transparent (and apparent) that our work is tied to the needs of the movement.

Better, not perfect.

For example, the recent strategy and board work are both well-staffed – with regional support. The teams (from my perspective) are taking it slow and giving folks a chance to talk and listen. Doesn’t mean we’re going to do everything (we can’t) or hear everyone (we can’t) but that we are trying to acknowledge gaps and biases.

Product has been kicking butt in building tools that help. In particular the Growth team, mobile web, and the desktop refresh. I still love Community Tech after five years. I think I will after another five. If I were a billionaire they’d get 100 million a year just to do more of this.

I still feel like new teams/initiatives/people still sometimes get burned. Unclear expectations, combative community, crossed wires. We’re working on that. I am seeing less of it. Still a few spots of things we should be doing IMHO, but aren’t. Like Maps and visualizations. Like search and the portal. We need to make a decision about the weird stuff kinda floating out there.

Have you seen the multimedia search for Commons? It’s a media search that’s useful! No more “site:commons.wikimedia.org dog” searches on Google.

Onboarding staff new to this wacky world is a challenge. It’s inconsistent and it takes six months to even get up to speed – if not longer! I know smart people are working on this, so I have optimism for the future. It’s still going to be a struggle. We are a multifaceted organization2 and an even more multifaceted movement. And we’re continuing to grow. Obtaining knowledge about the river in which the ship is moving in, while the ship is moving, is tricky. Making this more systemic and process-driven will help, but we still have so much information about our volunteers and the relationship, in well, individual relationships with people. I mean, it should be that way. Humans connecting to humans, but hoo boy does that not scale easily.

Foundation is investing into listening. I mean, I’m on a team literally charged with improving Movement Communications. With Diff, and our needs assessment work, I’m feeling jazzed about moving the needle on the relationship with communities. The Foundation has been inconsistent in talking to folks and connecting our work to theirs. We need to be better storytellers, listeners, and force multipliers. Especially in emerging communities and places of the world where we have communities but know little about them (and therefore can not support them).

I feel like my work is contributing in a more strategic, positive way with Diff. Working with and amplifying the work of people where we can treat each other like teammates and not combatants. It’s encouraging and impactful. Fun Fact: Diff saw 86,865 views from 65,935 visitors in January. Higher than any expectations I had.

As I was drafting this blog post our ED announced she was stepping down. I’ve reflected on all that has happened under her leadership and I think it make sense to mention it here. Katherine has put the org – and by extension the movement – on a solid course.

  • Gained the role in the midst of a terrible era of trust (both internal to the Foundation and with community).
  • Lead with grace and dignity in every interaction I had that was reassuring and respectable.
  • Got a movement strategy rolling for the future and in solid shape to get us to 2030 and beyond.
  • Leadership at the C-level and below shored up (Hiring new folks for gaps, new needed roles, sorting out HR, etc.).
  • Clarifying governance (Board make up, sort out the board/Foundation responsibilities, bylaws, election).
  • Movement-wide Code of Conduct.
  • Endowment is nearly at it’s 100 million goal.
  • Organizational growth and capacity.

I mean, the next CEO can step in and goof off all day for ~4 years and still leave successful – assuming they don’t muck with stuff too much. 😉

Where is the movement now?

2020 sucked. I’m inspired by the folks who keep on trucking. And reminded by those that took a step back that you can’t keep others warm by setting yourself on fire. It’s amazing that folks have continued the amazing work, supporting one another, and moving the needle of trust and free knowledge. I was on the committee for Wikimedian of the Year and in all honesty I would have nominated everyone. They were all inspirational and all so human.

There are still folks who like to be edgy jerks and stoke the fire on the whole WMF/Community divide. I think it’s unconstructive. It’s also super demoralizing. It’s also something you can’t do anything about. But I have noticed less petty picking-of-fights over a lack of clarity and supposition with fear and doubt that The Foundation is evil. So that’s nice. I also am caring less about the loud minority of folks as I give more of my attention to those who want to work with me within the system. You know, like you would anywhere else in life.

Where am I now?

Five years is the longest I’ve been at any prior organizations. It’s also easily the longest I’ve been in the same position. Or roughly the same position. Community-facing communications.3 Five is also half a decade. A lot can change in five years. When I joined the Foundation my youngest daughter was less than two years old. She’s now kicking my butt (and the world’s) as a smart six-year-old.

I still care and am still invested in my work and the movement. A little less than in the past. I don’t know if that’s me trying to learn how not to give a fuck or if that’s burnout over all the changes the last few years have brung. Ya’ll, the work is hard, the work is plentiful, and working remotely can feel isolating. Not gonna lie.

I worry more about my co-workers than myself. They’re the smart ones I rely on to appear intelligent. 🙂

Working remotely is challenging because getting an attaboy or acknowledgment of your work is really hard when you don’t see your boss in the hallway. This sort of encouragement, I know, is very American, but I like to have a sense of knowing where I stand in organization and how I’m doing with my work. So far, I think I’m doing pretty good. Still a struggle to be OK with ambiguity and chaos.

Remote work productivity tips

So yeah, let’s end this on an up-beat note. I’ve been working from home for five years now. Full-time. I’m super privileged to be able to afford the time/money/space to have built my studio. If you cannot do the same, I still want you to take your self-care seriously. Here’s some advice. Don’t feel bad if it doesn’t work for you. It sometimes doesn’t work for me.

  • Get a white noise machine. I even have a portable one for when I travel. Helps focus from distracting house-noises.
  • Don’t work in spaces that distract you. Find yourself feeling unproductive after a day at Starbucks? Don’t work there.
  • Setup your space to be organized and keep it separate from where you do your personal computering.
  • Use a quick launcher. I have saved billions of trackpad taps (and seconds) by using a nice launcher. My go-to is Alfred. I was a Quicksliver user for over a decade. Alfred is just so nice. Keep your hands on the keyboard as much as you can. Learn the shortcuts for your commonly used apps. Yell at the ancient gods when you can’t use command-K to add a link in Slack.
  • Everything is a draft, that’s ok. Perfect is the enemy of good – and feeling like you’re not getting anything done isn’t productive. Even organizing your bookmarks or deleting old email is production. Don’t beat yourself up on slow days.
  • Work from libraries – in my suburban area we have public libraries with quiet study rooms you can borrow for an hour or two. Lots of comfy seating. People around you, and most are trying to be quiet – unlike a Starbucks.
  • Write it down.
  • Listen to music? I can’t listen to anything new to me or anything with lyrics. The best for me is a chill playlist, music in another language, or the creme de la creme – video game soundtracks.

So, five years down. Maybe I’ll do this again in another five?

Surfing Away From Here

These two gents say it better than I.

I’m spending less time online and more time in-person. I abandoned Twitter. Deleted the Reddit app from my phone. I even pruned my RSS feeds. I check deleted Facebook rarely entirely. Instead I’ve created a text list of friends to pay a visit to. I’m going to make it down the list to see everyone by the end of 2019. 

I got a Kindle from my wife for an early Christmas present. Renewed my library card. Notifications don’t exist on the Kindle and I’m still stupefied by e-ink. I can’t tab over to another app nor return to a home screen of jeweled distraction. I am spending more time reading long form books (boy is it hard to stay focused. I’m out of mental shape!). I’m playing more with the kids. Spending more time in the kitchen. 

And you know what? I don’t miss any of it. The stuff I was “reading” (wasting my time with) were frivolous drops of nothingness. Their mental caloric intake was negative. The fear of missing out has been replaced with the much healthier fear of getting sucked back in.

To quote yet another more eloquent persons, “This isn’t about not doing anything ever, it’s about not wasting your time filling your brain up with stuff that isn’t accomplishing anything except avoiding a feeling of discomfort.”

If you’re reading this, I care about you. I hope you’ll consider doing the same. See you on the outside.

P.S. Want to get lunch sometime?

A Wikimedia social network is a bad idea, but I still want it

I am of two minds.

A large part of the problem with social media of any kind is the interests and agendas of the organizations who fund the service are often opaque and definitely not innocent. Also the fact that as a user of a service that makes their money from selling advertising against the data you provide – you are not the customer. 1

The bigger issue, at least in my opinion, is that social media is not a healthy thing for any individual to consume.2 The psychological impact of seeing the perpetual “highlight reel” of everyone you remotely know – and comparing it to the “behind the scenes” of your individual daily life – is not healthy. These companies have built features to be addictive. The dopamine drip of notifications, updates, chat, ads, video, etc. all lead to an entire populace of people inundated with distractions from much more important things.3

Distraction is good, I enjoy playing video games as an example, but building something to purposefully prey on human behavior is the worst.

I’m not saying the Wikimedia moment couldn’t do it better, with more transparency and with the users as the customers. What I question is, should they?

But, to have a space to talk to like-minded Wikimedians that isn’t controlled by a terrible silicon-valley douchemobile would be very welcome. Something that would foster a healthy, ongoing community to talk to other contributors. A place to discuss the meta-work of Wikimedia projects in a space removed from the content. Not a talk page on-wiki, where the talk still feels like talking about the work, but in a separate venue. 4 There are Facebook groups already, but that’s not ideal. Not every is on Facebook and we’re giving more eyeballs – and predatory data collection practices – to a for-profit company. We do have in-person events which fulfill some of this need. But I feel our movement largely relies too much on these rare, expensive, and often inadvertently exclusionary in-person events.

A man can dream.

Inception for this post via: https://www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/comments/87bupa/imagine_that_jimmy_wales_and_the_other_good/

Be sure to read the linked article for more context. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-kuttner-facebook-regulation_us_5ab7ec8be4b054d118e41c76

John Roderick – XOXO Festival

A frequent guest at XOXO, John Roderick is the frontman and songwriter of The Long Winters, the receiving end of Merlin Mann’s weekly phone calls for Roderick on the Line, and one of our favorite storytellers of all time.

One of the most consistently funny talks from XOXO 2016 1 , John Roderick laid on the line the myth of no effort. 2 The idea that trying to be cool, to avoid being considered uncool, is unhealthy. Being cool is not more important than admitting to yourself and others that something required hard work. Because, as my dad likes to say, “If it wasn’t hard, they wouldn’t call it work”.

I wonder if some of this comes from the fallacy of youth. That as young people we’re not well-educated on how to take a compliment. Maybe it’s partial social anxiety at being “found out” (like imposter syndrome) so it’s easier to minimize and brush off the effort it truly took to do something. I was raised in the midwest, so part of how I was raised was to remain earnest and modest. Maybe that shortens the impact of our work and our growth as people?

In the second half of the talk Roderick got into why he kept finding himself doing things that came to him easily.

Speaking for myself (and many other people I know), some people keep doing the easy thing, or find another easy thing thinking it’s harder, but never get the courage to do the truly hard thing. Doing the truly hard thing is, unsurprisingly, hard.

So, my encouragement to you: Don’t be contented with being contented.

As Jackie put it while watching this with me, “There is always more to be done. Be ok with the ambiguity of that.”