Controlling the IETF -- Engineers vs. Marketeers and Politeers

Dave Crocker dhc at dcrocker.net
Mon May 26 11:24:18 CEST 2003


Folks,

The discussion about standards track status highlights a basic source of
disparity in quite a few of our discussions about changing the IETF.

I'm finding myself labeling this disparity "Who is in charge of the
IETF?"

Historically, the IETF has done exceptionally well when it focuses on
the "E".  When we act like engineers who are concerned with engineering
quality and core utility, we do great.

When we wander into the territories of sociology, marketing or politics,
we do very badly.

Input from those three areas can be useful.  But there is a difference
between treating those considerations as "input" and treating them as
"critical concerns that must determine strategic decisions".

There is always someone, somewhere who will abuse our work in some
fashion.  They will tout an I-D as being under IETF consideration; they
will tout an Informational RFC as an IETF standard, they will pressure
the IETF to use small key sizes; etc., etc.

We must not let these people control the IETF.

We need to make sure that the meaning of I-D status is clear and is
applied correctly.  The same for Informational.  We need to make sure
that we choose key sizes that ensure the ability to provide the level of
protection that is needed.  Etc. Etc.

These are engineering factors and they are what we have historically
done well.

When we make strategic decisions because someone, somewhere has
distorted things, we cease to be engineers.  We pretend to be
politicians, marketeers and sociologists.

Let's keep control of our work WITHIN the group doing the work, namely
the iEtf.

Let's discuss changes to the IETF that pertain to doing better
engineering. That means focusing on engineering design quality and the
utility of our specifications. It means focusing on deployment and use.

It does not mean trying to react to "social" abuses and it does not mean
trying to anticipate them.

We have management and quality problems.  Let's fix them.

But let's not be distracted by the folks outside the world of IETF
development and implementation.


d/
--
 Dave Crocker <mailto:dcrocker at brandenburg.com>
 Brandenburg InternetWorking <http://www.brandenburg.com>
 Sunnyvale, CA  USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>, <fax:+1.866.358.5301>



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