Time required to write down "wisdom" (Re: "Adult supervision")

[Harald Tveit Alvestrand]

--On onsdag, mai 07, 2003 14:54:23 -0400 Margaret Wasserman 
<mrw at windriver.com> wrote:

>
> Hi Harald,
>
> At 08:55 PM 5/7/2003 +0200, Harald Tveit Alvestrand wrote:
>> the history of that document, which started life as an emailed note in
>> 1997, is probably instructive when considering the bars to timely
>> publication.
>
> Could you share the history, for those of us who were not
> involved?

I don't have a clear view of it myself - it is, after all, six years of 
history, and I was only on the IAB in 2 of the middle years; most of that 
time, it was reported as "in progress"

In 1997, it seems to have been "an obvious idea", with a quickly dashed-off 
note that was thought by many to be "nearly good enough to publish".

It seems to have been caught in endless cycles of "this looks good enough" 
-> "there's something wrong with this little detail" -> "I'll fix that when 
I get some more spare time" -> "is it OK now" -> "this detail doesn't 
consider that new development" (repeat until tired).

Add to that the perception that it apparently did not get a wide review 
near the start, so that for instance applications people that looked at it 
five years out thought that it had missed some important details.

It wore out at least 2 editors on the way forward, I think. Possibly more.
Other people on the list know the history in far more detail than I do...

               Harald