Reading a post by Joost de Valk about moving on from the Marketing Lead position left me with concerns about the project.
Today WordPress.org leadership is narrowly tied to a small number individuals from a short list organizations that rely heavily on the platform for their market success. This allows for nimble decision making but ultimately limits community leadership.
Leadership should grow from the community
I’d love to see efforts made in the following areas that reflect WordPress’ wider community.
- Consider limiting the number of leaders that come from a company, organization or industry.
- Hold elections within the WordPress.org community to appoint leadership to well defined terms.
- Maintain a benevolent dictator if necessary but clearly define what that person does and why.
- WordPress must document the governance of the project and how it is led. (Examples from other FOSS projects)
It is my hope that the WordPress.org community will rally together to demand an independent and well documented governance model. We’re too large to not have one.
Note: A community movement to formalize WordPress.org governance exists that provides a better argument than I have done here.
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