Killing old/slow groups - transition thinking

[graham.travers@bt.com]

Margaret,

You've made several interesting points in this and other e-mails.  They have
to do with culture, which is a much over-used term, but does apply here.

It is time that the IETF ( whatever that is ) regarded abilities as useful,
or essential, even though they may not be technical abilities.  The best
technicians are not always the best organisers or managers, and an
organisation like the IETF needs all these roles.  We may also need people
with "marketing" knowledge, if we want to develop requirements, measure
whether deliverables are fit for the target consumers, etc.  A group
composed solely of fanatical technicians is rarely the best team for
"end-to-end" ( i.e. conception to deployment )development.

Practically, let's try to get at least one Chair for each WG who is a good
organiser / manager, even if he/she is not an expert in the technology being
developed.  ( If he/ she is also a technical expert, so much the better. )
One good technician and one good manager could make a good leadership team.

Let's stop treating people as "tourists" or "clueless", if they don't rush
to the microphone to discuss the use of bit N to denote some particular
status.

	Regards,

	Graham Travers

	International Standards Manager
	BTexact Technologies

	e-mail:   graham.travers@bt.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: Margaret Wasserman [mailto:mrw@windriver.com]
Sent: 10 December 2002 11:46
To: Erik Guttman
Cc: Harald Tveit Alvestrand; Marshall Rose; Sam Hartman;
problem-statement@alvestrand.no
Subject: Re: Killing old/slow groups - transition thinking

< snip >

What I actually think that the IESG lacks are the management and
organizational skills necessary to effectively run an organization
of this size and complexity.

I don't mean that as a personal slur against any IESG members.
I think that all of them have exceptional skills in other areas:
they are technically profound and most of them are natural leaders.
They also all have the talents and abilities to be good managers,
but they lack the skills which come from training and experience.

I don't know exactly what to do about this...  some thoughts:

         (1) Fund some management/organizational training for
                 our current leaders.
         (2) Appoint a different set of leaders that will better
                 combine technical profundity and management
                 skill (either in each person, or by having one
                 of each for each area).
         (3) Reorganize the IETF so that the keepers of the
                 technical quality gateway are NOT the same
                 people who are responsible for running the
                 process and managing the organization.

Thoughts?

< snip >