Wikimedia Performance Team/Performance Residency

The Performance Residency is a training program aimed at elevating the web performance skills and practices of the Wikimedia Foundation as a whole. It consists in the Performance Team welcoming a temporary team member for the duration of one financial quarter.

At this time this program isn't available to volunteer contributors, we will revisit that policy if it proves to be successful with staff members first.

Rationale
Presentation-based training has its limits and the complex field of web performance is best learned by doing.

While training one person at a time might seem inefficient, the goal is to create performance heroes who will go back to their respective teams after the training as advocates of performance, spreading performance knowledge and best practices around them.

During the residency participants will work on projects/features they're familiar with. The goal is that we find a mutually beneficial project for the participant's team of origin. In this sense, the residency isn't a sabbatical-like break from the participant's home team, but a quarter-length sharp focus on performance.

Requirements
In order to participate, participants need to be full-time WMF employees or contractors (#req holder).

Participants need their manager's approval to participate in this program.

Principles
The duration is exactly one financial quarter. No more, no less. Participants can only do one residency. Participants may apply as many times as they want until they are accepted.

There is currently one spot available per quarter. We might increase this if we feel that we can take on more.

Prospective participants must apply at least 30 calendar days before the beginning of the financial quarter.

The quarterly goal(s) of the residency must be the only goal(s) of the participant for the quarter.

The project(s) must be directly related to the participant's team of origin. For example if the participant is a member of the Editing team, a suitable project might be optimising VE performance.

Participants will be attending Performance Team weekly meetings and if budget allows Performance Team offsites that may happen during that quarter. They will be treated as equal members of the Performance Team and are expected to fully engage in the team activities.

How can I apply?
Seek approval from your manager and forward the approval email to [mailto:performance-team@wikimedia.org performance-team@wikimedia.org]. We will then schedule a meeting with you and your manager to define the scope and the details of the project. Once an agreement is reached, spots will be given on a first come, first served basis.