MAJOR ISSUE: WG formation process

[Brian E Carpenter]

Bernard Aboba wrote:
> 
> Having looked through the archives, I haven't seen much discussion on this
> topic, so I thought I'd bring it up. Is there a "problem" here?
> 
> I'd be interested if anyone has looked at the time it takes to get a WG
> going -- that is, the time between when the first BOF occurs and when the
> announcement of WG chartering occurs.  If our focus is timeliness and
> relevance, then this also needs to occur in a timely way.  In general, I'm
> curious as to the minimum, average, and maximum times that is required for
> WG formation and how this compares to say, the time it takes to issue the
> first document once the WG is chartered.
> 
> Of course, comments on other aspects of the WG formation process -
> predictability, transparency -- are also welcome.

As I think I've said already, I think that WG creation is the most
important single action we take in the IETF, and that getting the
objectives right is very, very important. So it's not obviously a *problem*
if it takes months to create a WG. The real issue may be whether our WG
creation process is right - for example do we have enough of a road map
for a given area or topic to judge whether the WG fits the roadmap, or 
whether it has to be evaluated as a special case?

    Brian