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

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.