Fear: Decentralized model with redundancies -> leading to irrational overlap and misallocation of funds due to no coherent guiding authority
Fear: Decentralized model with redundancies -> leading to ongoing lack of accountability, longterm rise in unjust "entitlement" attitude towards funding
Fear: No central authority at Wikimedia with a guiding vision -> leading to lower support for outreach in the developing world, complete lack of outreach for GLAM activities in the developing world
Hope: that we come up with a model that reduces potential problem of large chapters in wealthy countries feeling entitled to funds without measurable objectives and achievements
Hope: to empower both a centralized vision to eliminate irrational overlaps/gaps while still encouraging local decision making on details (i.e. grant model to chapters where, subject to coherent performance metrics and objectives, local chapters make decisions on how to spend)--Jimbo Wales15:46, 8 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't feel it was appropriate to answer on the main page and clutter that page itself, so, I am moving the comment here and trying to answer some of the concerns.
The first two fears of Decentralization seem directly related to systemic efficiency and efficiency of management. The trade-off for the first seem negligible in comparison to the perceived benefits. I see it more as problems based solely in poor inter-coordination between chapters, I do agree there are concerns there but not enough to abandon the model.
The second fear of Decentralization mentions accountability as the biggest concern, I maintain that my positions consider a viable accountability system in place first, those are two separate things in my mind. The entitlement attitude is indeed a problem, that is why I suggested performance linked incentive for responsible chapters, those that prove their worth can and should be allowed to grow.
I echo the other points, I agree there needs to be a strong central organization in place. What I generally would like to avoid is conflict, overlap and hierarchy between the central organization and others.
