Product and Technology Advisory Council/Proposal

Background & Proposal

As part of the movement strategy recommendation for "Coordinate Across Stakeholders" the Product & Technology Advisory Council (PTAC) will bring technical contributors and Wikimedia Foundation together to co-define a more resilient, future-proof technological platform. The PTAC will meet over a one year pilot; upon its completion, members of the Council will make a joint decision to continue the program, its member base, and purpose.

An earlier proposal of a Technology Council had been made as part of the Movement Strategy recommendation. In June 2023, Selena Deckelmann, WMF CPTO, met with the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) as a key stakeholder to discuss the Technology Council, and how it might fit in the Movement Charter draft. In this meeting, Selena suggested a pilot council, keeping in mind the movement's need that led to the Movement Strategy recommendation, and significant technical changes that were taking place around us. At Wikimania 2023, Selena presented a broader idea of this proposal to the WMF Board and the MCDC to inform the charter drafting process, with subsequent follow up conversations later during the year on the topic. The information about this Council was included in subsequent draft versions, including the final draft of the Movement Charter, under the Technology Advancement responsibilities of the Global Council. The learnings from the pilot of the Product and Tech Advisory Council was expected to contribute to the Global Council's work towards shaping a Council for technology needs.

PTAC Strategy (Council activities)

Advise on high-level strategy, planning, and progress in the Contributor Communities

• Review and comment on the 0 month (tactical, specific) to 18 month (strategic, directional) product roadmap of Wikimedia Foundation and MediaWiki, Annual Plan objectives, and key results
• Review and advise on strategic problems and questions faced by Wikimedia Foundation Product and Technology leadership, and WMF Board, for feedback and advice.
• Set goals and experiment with ways to organize technical contributor communities

Align the interests and processes of Technical volunteers, affiliates, and WMF

• Experiment with frameworks to improve collaboration between Wikimedia Foundation developers and technical contributors, as well as between Wikimedia Foundation product managers and users.
• Solicit and represent the voice of contributors and technical communities: Provide feedback from recent releases, review outcomes, and prioritize, and discuss areas of technical opportunity with the Foundation.
• Engage with contributor and developer communities regarding Wikimedia Foundation prioritization and strategic decisions.

2024–25: PTAC Pilot Objectives

1. Make the PTAC Pilot a success
   1. Recruit council members to kick off by November, 2024
   2. Publish meeting notes for all activities
   3. Publish recommendations for the future structure and function of a longterm council
   4. Examine how to identify and organize technical contributors
2. Identify and make recommendations for at least 1 strategic technical opportunity
   1. Determine and select a potential opportunity
   2. Put forth actionable recommendations for WMF P+T teams

Pilot success metrics

• PTAC continues past 2024–2025
• PTAC has defined a strategy to organize technical contributors
• Recommendations for a strategic technical opportunity have been successfully prepared and accepted into WMF P+T's planning process.

Strategic technical opportunities examples

• What is our strategy regarding Wikitext and Visual Editor?
• What should our policy be for on-project AI / ML interventions?
• How do we create a welcoming environment to support new technical contributors to the movement?

PTAC Members and Recruiting

The PTAC requires a diverse set of stakeholders from the Technical Volunteer community, the Wikimedia Foundation, and its Affiliates to productively discuss technical strategy and tradeoffs.

Members

• 1 Wikimedia Foundation Facilitator and Note Taker
• 3 Wikimedia Foundation stakeholders
  • CPTO Selena Deckelmann
  • To be announced
  • To be announced
• 2 WMF Affiliate technical stakeholders
• 2 WMF Board technical stakeholders
• 8 technical volunteers:
  • 3 Wikipedia volunteers (at least 1 enwiki representative)
  • 5 At-large technical volunteers: various projects, including MediaWiki, Wikidata, Commons, etc.

PTAC Membership benefits

• Collaborate and influence Wikimedia Foundation Product and Tech leadership and lead volunteers on technical strategy and product direction.
• Craft standards alongside Wikimedia Foundation for ways of working with volunteers, designing and experimenting with frameworks.
• Advise and shape the direction of Wikimedia Foundation development work.
• Support from the Foundation to develop leadership and communication skills

Joining the PTAC as a technical volunteer

We invite anyone in the movement to apply to the PTAC, even if you've recently joined as a technical contributor. We anticipate this Council will discuss real challenges and opportunities regarding how software is built and deployed, and the challenges we face on wikis.

• Applications for the PTAC opened July 1 2024, and have been extended until September 16, 2024
• Candidates will be selected for an interview on a rolling basis. They may be interviewed by JWheeler-WMF, CPTO Selena Deckelmann, and/or a member of the Wikimedia Foundation Product and Technology Committee
• Selected members will be informed by the week of October 7, and we will kick off the Council in October or November.
• Selected members should expect to spend roughly 5 hours per month for the Council.

Given the nature of the Council, we will give priority to candidates who have made technical or design contributions to the Wikiverse. For example, created or maintained a popular tool for use on Wikis, contributed via code patches, engages with code review, etc. To ensure transparency, we will publish statistics on the number of applicants, share background data, and how many candidates are selected for an interview.

By applying to the PTAC, candidates acknowledge the privacy statement. Apply to the PTAC

Candidate interviews

As of August 2, 2024, the PTAC has fielded 42 applications from candidates all over the globe. We have begun interviewing technical volunteers for the PTAC.

Selected applicants will be invited to a 30-minute Round 1 interview, where we assess the person's general fit and motivation for joining the PTAC, assess their ability to work with a team, and discuss their goals and concerns of the PTAC. As of August 2, we've held seven Round 1 interviews, and one volunteer declined to be interviewed due to time constraints.

We will invite a subset of candidates to a 1-hour Round 2 interview, broken into two 30-minute conversations. These interviews pertain to technical contributions and strategic decisions and teamwork and collaboration.

Given that the initial intake did not ask for a user's express consent to publish their username as an applicant, we invite applicants to the PTAC to self-identify on the talk page.

Update: PTAC announced

As of October 16, 2024, we have announced the PTAC and its pilot members. Please view the Product and Technology Advisory Council page for all subsequent updates.