This page describes the team culture of Abstract Wikipedia. Cultural norms are the behaviors that are encouraged or discouraged within a group. When aligned with personal and organizational values, culture fosters a shared purpose and a team’s capacity to thrive.

Culture is in the everyday. It is the small actions we take on a daily basis—the way we speak to each other, the way decisions are made, the way we run meetings.

Culture is not something that happens to us. We build the culture we want. The only way to have a healthy team culture is to participate in it, embody the values we believe in, revisit and revise them as needed, and hold each other accountable to the values we believe in.

We work within the context of the Wikimedia Foundation and the wider Wikimedia Movement. The Foundation has a published set of values that underlie all our work.

Why write it down

People look for signals in their environment about what is the norm. It is harder to do that when we are all working remotely. A written list can help guide and ease anxiety around what behaviors are accepted as part of our culture. It also serves as a reference for on-boarding new team members.

Behaviors we value highly

Patience, curiosity, and a desire to understand and learn
Actively seek collaborative ways to problem-solve
Gauging someone’s knowledge and interest before offering advice and opinions
Assuming good intentions
Empathy for each other
Dependability and reliability — your teammates can count on you
Behaving in ways that encourage diversity, inclusion, and equity
Clear, prompt communication and follow-through
Keeping each other informed; communicating transparently
Focusing on addressing the underlying patterns instead of just the symptoms
Being mindful about time zone differences and respect people’s working hours
Make others feel comfortable and safe raising their ideas, concerns, and fears
Don’t be nice, be kind

On our team, it’s okay to:

Take a Mental Health Day when you need it
Be completely offline when you are OOO for illness
Eat during meetings — we’re all in different time zones!
Turn off your video if you need a break during longer calls
Shift your hours earlier or later to take care of personal commitments
Have a child or pet pop into the video screen
Block off no-meeting time on your calendar for focused work
Take initiative
Ask for help
Offer help
Say you don’t understand
Not know everything
Ask why, and why not
Actively solicit feedback — don’t wait for it.
Give honest feedback
Hold each other accountable
Give praise where it's due
Ask for what you need to be successful at your job
Ask for what you need from your colleagues