Wikimedia Engineering/Goals Proposal

This is a proposal for how the quarterly goals planing and review processes could be improved.

Objectives

1. Increase internal and external alignment
2. Track quarterly planning to annual planning
3. Describe our goals clearly and concisely

Changes

1. Objectives, outputs and outcomes are described separately
2. Dependencies are described as contributions to outputs
3. Metrics are described as proof of outcomes
4. Each team has a only one "focus" goal, which is their primary objective
5. Additional "strengthen", "experiment" and "grow" goals are listed when appropriate
6. Dependencies are listed as "support" goals by teams being depended on

Format

Objective	Output	Outcome
Focus on increasing use of VisualEditor	VisualEditor team will release VisualEditor to more accounts and anonymous users on the English Wikipedia Dependencies: Community Liaisons will consult with the English Wikipedia community to ensure rollouts are welcome and successful Communications will develop educational materials to help new users discover and take advantage of new editing tools	More editors use VisualEditor Metrics: Increase the number of users with access to VisualEditor
		More edits are made using VisualEditor Metrics: Increase the number of edits made by new editors with VisualEditor compared to Wikitext editor

Definitions

Components of a goal

• Objectives describe what we are doing, and are set on an annual basis against multi-year planning
• Outputs describe how we are doing it, and are set on a quarterly basis against annual objectives
• Outcomes describe what effect we intend the output to cause and are set on a quarterly basis against annual metrics

• Dependencies describe the outputs required by other teams
• Metrics describe the method in which we measure the effects of outputs

Types of goals

• Focus goals describe a team's primary objective
• Strengthen goals describe improving on existing areas of work
• Experiment goals describe exploring new areas of work
• Grow goals describe hiring and on-boarding new staff
• Support goals describe satisfying the dependencies of other teams

How to get involved

Here are some specific ways to contribute to this proposal:

• Edit this page to make it more clear and concise.
• Discuss this proposal with your team, and share a summary of that feedback on the talk page.
• Try writing your team's quarterly goals in this format, and then provide feedback about what you found to be good and bad about it on the talk page.