Definition of power and responsibility [Re: Delegation ofpower(wasRE: Section 2.4 ofdraft-ietf-problem-statement-00.txt)]

[Eric Rescorla]

Brian E Carpenter <brian at hursley.ibm.com> writes:

> Agreed, we should rule nothing out at this point, but (solution warning)
> my instinct right now is that giving WG chairs more explicit responsibility
> is probably better than adding another layer of "management". Read Dilbert
> if you want the arguments for this viewpoint.

This sort of disdain for "management" is pretty common among people
with technical backgrounds. However, I think it's counterproductive
in this context. 

The simple fact is that large groups of people need structure if
they're going to work together. That means management. And there's
a limit (between 5 and 25, depending on who you believe) on how
many people a single person can reasonably manage. After that
you simply have to introduce hierarchy.

As for Dilbert, it seems to me that that's an argument that cuts
both ways. No doubt Dilbert is smarter tha the PHB, but somehow
for all those brains he's no more effective.

-Ekr



-- 
[Eric Rescorla                                   ekr at rtfm.com]
                http://www.rtfm.com/