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[Wikimedia-l] Fwd: [Tech/Product] Engineering/Product org structure
Erik Moellererik at wikimedia.org
Tue Nov 6 03:03:16 UTC 2012
FYI---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org>Date: Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 5:38 PMSubject: [Tech/Product] Engineering/Product org structureTo: Staff All <wmfall at lists.wikimedia.org>Hi folks,consistent with Sue's narrowing focus mandate, I’ve been thinking &talking the last few weeks a fair bit with a bunch of different peopleabout the future organizational structure of the engineering/productdepartment. Long story short, if we want to scale the dept, and takeseriously our identity as a tech org (as stated by Sue), it’s my viewthat we need to split the current department into an engineering deptand a product dept in about 6-8 months.To avoid fear and anxiety, and to make sure the plan makes sense, Iwant to start an open conversation now. If you think any of the belowis a terrible idea, or have suggestions on how to improve the plan,I’d love to hear from you. I’ll make myself personally available toanyone who wants to talk more about it. (I'm traveling a bit startingtomorrow, but will be available via email during that time.) We canalso discuss it at coming tech lunches and such.There’s also nothing private here, so I’m forwarding this note towikitech-l@ and wikimedia-l@ as well. That said, there’s no urgency inthis note, so feel free to set it aside for later.Here’s why I’m recommending to Sue that we create distinct engineeringand product departments:- It’ll give product development and the user experience morevisibility at the senior mgmt level, which means we’ll have moreconversations at that level about the work that most of theorganization actually does. Right now, a single dept of ~70 people isrepresented by 1 person across both engineering and product functions- me. That was fine when it was half the size. Right now it’s out ofwhack.- It’ll give us the ability to add Director-level leadership functionsas appropriate without making my head explode.- I believe that separating the two functions is consistent with Sue’srecommendation to narrow our focus and develop our identity as anengineering organization. It will allow for more sustained effort inmanaging product priorities and greater advocacy for core platformissues (APIs, site performance, search, ops improvements, etc.) thatare less visible than our feature priorities.A split dept structure wouldn’t affect the way we assemble teams --we’d still pull from required functions (devs, product, UI/UX, etc.),and teams would continue to pursue their objectives fairlyautonomously.It’s not all roses -- we might see more conflict between the twofunctions, more us vs. them thinking, and more communicationsbreakdowns or forum shopping. But net I think the positives wouldoutweigh the negatives, and there are ways to mitigate against thenegatives.The way we’d get there:I’m prepared to resign from my engineering management responsibilitiesand to focus solely on my remaining role as VP of Product, as soon asa successor for VP of Engineering has been identified. We would startthat hiring process probably in early 2013. I’m recommending to Suethat we seriously consider internal candidates for the VP ofEngineering role, as we have a strong engineering management team inplace today.So realistically we'd probably identify that person towards the end ofthe fiscal year.Obviously I can’t make any promises to you that in that brave newworld, you’ll love whoever gets hired into the VP of Engineering role,so there’s some unavoidable uncertainty there. I’ll support Sue in thesearch, though, and I’m sure she’d appreciate feedback from you on thekind of person who you think would be ideal for the job.The VP of Product role would encompass a combination of functions.Howie and I would work with the department to figure out what makessense as an internal structure. My opening view is that Analytics andUser Experience are potential areas that may benefit from dedicatedDirector-level support roles. (Analytics is tricky because it includesa strong engineering piece, but also a research/analyst piece workingclosely with product.) The new structure would therefore be asfollows:* VP of Engineering -> Directors of Engineering* VP of Product -> Director of Product Development, plus newDirector-level functions (we've discussed UX/Design as a likely newleadership function, and Analytics as a _potential_ area to centralizehere because it works so closely with product)Why Product? I’m happy to help the org in whatever way I can; Ibelieve I’d be most useful to it in focusing there and helping buildthis relatively new organizational function. Based on my pastexperience, Howie & I make a great team. I know how engineeringoperates, which could help mitigate against some of the aforementionedissues. Plus, our product priorities generally already reflect lots ofthought and consideration, and we have no intent of reopeningquestions like "Is Visual Editor the top product priority".I look forward to hearing your thoughts & discussing this further incoming weeks.All best,Erik--Erik MöllerVP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia FoundationSupport Free Knowledge:https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate-- Erik MöllerVP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia FoundationSupport Free Knowledge:https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
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