IESG transparency

RJ Atkinson rja@extremenetworks.com
Mon, 11 Nov 2002 06:15:14 -0500


Folks not infrequently stop me in the hallway at an IETF meeting,
erroneously thinking that the IAB can tell the IESG what to do.

A common complaint is that the IESG is not transparent.  This is
normally followed up with a single repeated question:
		Where is the IESG charter online ?

The person then notes that the IAB charter is online in an RFC,
but they haven't been able to locate the IESG charter, could I
please tell them the RFC number so they can go read it.

This email is far from the first time this issue has been raised.
So far, the IESG for some years has played ostrich on this question,
sticking its head in the sand and hoping the question will go away.

A fair portion of the community thinks that the IESG needs to have a
specific written charter.  Bits of one are implied in RFC-2026, but
the scope of authority/responsibility of the IESG is not defined
anyplace in clear terms.

The best thing would be for the IESG to draft up a charter for 
themselves,
then run it through the usual processes to become a BCP or such like.
Absent that, they might find one day that part of the community writes
a draft charter for them that they like less than the one they'd write
themselves.

Note well that nothing in this note advocates any particular 
growth/shrinkage/change
in IESG's responsibilities, it merely notes that the lack of a 
published charter
is one of the reasons the IESG has transparency issues with the broader
community.

Ran
rja@extremenetworks.com