Killing old/slow groups - transition thinking

[Aaron Falk]

--On Tuesday, December 10, 2002 10:01 AM -0800 Dave Crocker
<dhc@dcrocker.net> wrote:

> Harald,
> 
> 
> You are making a fundamental observation here.  We need to pay some
> attention to the implications of the observation on IETF productivity.
> 
> The industry we are serving is not very good at timescales more than 2
> years out.  Yet the IETF is showing a pattern of requiring more than that.
> 
> So the problem is not simply to set "artificial" deadlines and then ignore
> them, but to set deadlines that are consonant with the industry we are
> serving, and to meet those deadlines.
> 

Dave-

I think you are suggesting that we take smaller bites, particularly for
complex problems.  It is my understanding that we are already doing that.
For example, some newer charters that say to define the requirements and
framework, then publish a few documents.  There are other approaches, such
as "just implement something get it out into the field and let's see how it
does."  This can be done largely outside the IETF, delaying the standards
process until the issues are better understood.  Getting the running code
input early is good but asking working groups to go from zero to
implementation quickly for complex problems seems like an unreasonable
expectation.

--aaron