Wikimedia Playbook

This playbook offers a how-to guide to designing and facilitating a process for collective deliberation – for a group to discuss, assess and decide upon their collective position on a strategic or governance proposition.

We have developed and tested the process for the Wikimedia Summit 2024 (WMS24), where the participants were able to find a strong collective position on the Wikimedia Movement Charter Draft.

The process consists of 15 steps spanning a three-day in-person event, from gathering feedback on the initial proposition to developing proposals on how to adapt and improve it and to making a collective decision about these proposals.

• participation: empowering everyone to contribute
• learning: constantly adapting to the reality “on the ground”
• productivity: keeping momentum from gathering input to deciding on outputs
• convergence: enabling the emergence of a strong shared position

When adopting the process, adapting it is key: to deliver the intended outcomes, it needs to be tailored to the group who’s using it, its goals and its needs. This playbook helps asking the right questions and finding practical answers.

It is divided into four sections which can be read in order or separately, depending on what you’re most interested in – key learnings, setup, process, and tools. Each section is illustrated with examples from WMS24.

Please get in touch with our team to share any feedback on the playbook, your experiences with using and adapting the process, or your ideas for collaborations.

Wikimedia Deutschland, Governance and Movement Relations Team