General comment on draft-ietf-problem-statement-00.txt

Margaret Wasserman mrw at windriver.com
Mon Mar 3 09:54:10 CET 2003


Hi Jari,

>I don't think this is exactly the same thing. My manager at
>the company would be present on a major demonstration or
>workshop; the AD is present in the WG meeting maybe six
>hours per year. If my manager spent only six hours with
>my major events, he'd have hundreds of direct subordinates,
>or he'd be spending his time with no touch of reality ;-)

Excellent point!  I hadn't thought of it that way,
but that does make sense...

>Anyway, this thread about the WG chair powers is
>interesting... I missed the chair training due to a
>conflict. I need to go check some document somewhere
>for the powers I may have missed...

A document can (potentially) restrict someone's power, but
I don't think that a document can grant anyone powers...

IMO, the most notable power of the WG chair is the power
to block work -- exactly the power that we sometimes
complain about the ADs having.  If a WG chair does not
issue a last call and/or forward a completed document
to the AD, the document author/editor doesn't have any
recourse except an appeal to the AD.  And, in most
cases, this isn't used.

We also have the power to allocate meeting time, to
determine which documents become (and don't become) WG
work items, manage WG milestones and participate in
the WG (re-)chartering process.  All-in-all, this
represents substantial power to affect the direction
and productivity of the WG.

Margaret





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