"Adult supervision"

[Keith Moore]

On Mon, 5 May 2003 22:21:44 -0400
"Bound, Jim" <Jim.Bound at hp.com> wrote:

> I think that is yet another quip.  State exactly what one wants to say
> and be clear and direct.  Adult Supervision and Herding Cats is not very
> useful as are not most cliches but an avoidance of good communications
> or dishonor to just use plain talk.

okay, let me put it more plainly:

working groups need to be populated with competent, experienced individuals
working groups need to stick within their charters
working groups need to be responsible for making sure that their work
 fits the requirements for the document level that they're requesting
 (proposed standard or whatever), including making sure that their work
 does not interfere with other interests or that reasonable compromises
 are worked out
working groups need to adhere to process and ensure openness/fairness
working groups need to operate in a disciplined enough fashion to produce
 reasonably complete, good quality work within a reasonable timeframe
working groups need to be able to be trusted to do these things independently

it's when working groups fail to do these things that people (not just in
IESG) say that the groups need "adult supervision" - because lack of knowledge
and experience, lack of discipline, irresponsibility, and the need for
constant supervision are characteristics of children.  there's a reason these
terms are occasionally used - it's because they sometimes fit.  

maybe we should stop trying to pin all of the blame on IESG and start
seriously looking at how dysfunctionally many of our working groups operate.

Keith