Community Tech team disbanding announcement made on Meta-Wiki

a smart kitten via Wikitech-l <[email protected]> Thu, 21 May 2026 10:20:02 -0400
Newsgroups gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical
Message-ID <[email protected]>
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In case any folks on this list aren't aware, the following announcement =
relating to the disbanding of the Community Tech team was made at =
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Updates#May_20,=
_2026:_Community_Tech_becomes_a_program:

> May 20, 2026: Community Tech becomes a program
>=20
> Hello all, my name is Suman <https://meta.wikimedia.=
org/wiki/User:SCherukuwada_(WMF)> and I'm the Deputy Chief Product & =
Technology Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation. I'm writing to share with =
all of you that we've decided to do some internal restructuring about how =
WMF responds to and supports wishes. After noticing that having a =
centralized team was leading to frequent bottlenecks and delays as CommTech=
 staff coordinated with other teams, we've decided to shift Community Tech =
into a program that multiple teams are officially responsible for =
supporting. This is a model that has proven success already <https://meta.=
wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Updates#The_work_we_did_in_the_last_m=
onth>, but it will involve disbanding the Community Tech team and the roles=
 of five engineers and one manager. We still have dedicated staff managing =
the wishlist intake and triage process and will continue the same financial=
 support for this work, just under a different structure.
>=20
> Moving forward, the wishlist will continue to work on wishes from across =
languages and wikis, and complements many of the other channels where we =
regularly hear ideas and feedback from volunteers (talk pages, Village =
Pumps, chat platforms, calls, conferences, etc.) Our latest community =
update <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Updates#May_13,=
_2026:_Latest_updates_from_the_Community_Tech_team> offers a detailed =
update about our progress over the last month, including completing a wish =
for tagging and tracking which pages users need to edit and adding new =
languages to =E2=80=9CWho Wrote That=E2=80=9D and the P&E Dashboard. In the=
 coming weeks and months, we hope you all will continue to see an uptick in=
 the speed and number of wishes we are able to address over time via our =
monthly statistics <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Upda=
tes#Some_statistics>.

There are discussions about this announcement occurring at (at least) =
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Wishlist#May_20_update & =
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(WMF)#WMF_Community_Te=
ch_team_has_been_disbanded,_engineers_laid_off.

--a smart kitten

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<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title></title></head><body><div>In case any =
folks on this list aren't aware, the following announcement relating to the=
 disbanding of the Community Tech team was made at <a href=3D"https://meta.=
wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Updates#May_20,=
_2026:_Community_Tech_becomes_a_program">https://meta.wikimedia.=
org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Updates#May_20,_2026:_Community_Tech_becomes_a_=
program</a>:</div><div><br></div><blockquote type=3D"cite"><h3>May 20, =
2026: Community Tech becomes a program</h3><div class=3D"align-start" =
style=3D"text-align:start;">Hello all, my name is&nbsp;<a =
href=3D"https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:SCherukuwada_(WMF)">Suman</a>&=
nbsp;and I'm the Deputy Chief Product &amp; Technology Officer at the =
Wikimedia Foundation. I'm writing to share with all of you that we've =
decided to do some internal restructuring about how WMF responds to and =
supports wishes. After noticing that having a centralized team was leading =
to frequent bottlenecks and delays as CommTech staff coordinated with other=
 teams, we've decided to shift Community Tech into a program that multiple =
teams are officially responsible for supporting. This is a model that has =
proven success&nbsp;<a href=3D"https://meta.wikimedia.=
org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Updates#The_work_we_did_in_the_last_month">alre=
ady</a>, but it will involve disbanding the Community Tech team and the =
roles of five engineers and one manager. We still have dedicated staff =
managing the wishlist intake and triage process and will continue the same =
financial support for this work, just under a different structure.=
</div><div class=3D"align-start" style=3D"text-align:start;"><br></div><div=
 class=3D"align-start" style=3D"text-align:start;">Moving forward, the =
wishlist will continue to work on wishes from across languages and wikis, =
and complements many of the other channels where we regularly hear ideas =
and feedback from volunteers (talk pages, Village Pumps, chat platforms, =
calls, conferences, etc.) Our&nbsp;<a href=3D"https://meta.wikimedia.=
org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Updates#May_13,_2026:_Latest_updates_from_the_C=
ommunity_Tech_team">latest community update</a>&nbsp;offers a detailed =
update about our progress over the last month, including completing a wish =
for tagging and tracking which pages users need to edit and adding new =
languages to &#x201C;Who Wrote That&#x201D; and the P&amp;E Dashboard. In =
the coming weeks and months, we hope you all will continue to see an uptick=
 in the speed and number of wishes we are able to address over time =
via&nbsp;<a href=3D"https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist/Upda=
tes#Some_statistics">our monthly statistics</a>.</div></blockquote><div><br=
></div><div>There are discussions about this announcement occurring at (at =
least)&nbsp;<a href=3D"https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Wishl=
ist#May_20_update">https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Wishlist#=
May_20_update</a>&nbsp;&amp; <a href=3D"https://en.wikipedia.=
org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(WMF)#WMF_Community_Tech_team_has_been_disb=
anded,_engineers_laid_off">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_=
pump_(WMF)#WMF_Community_Tech_team_has_been_disbanded,=
_engineers_laid_off</a>.</div><div><br></div><div>--a smart =
kitten</div></body></html>

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