An overview of where the IETF change process is currently at

[Elwyn Davies]

I think the important thing is for the whole I* to feel involved in the
process without dominating it.
One would expect any I* participants to have an I* perspective on the
matters under consideration and to bring with them a feeling of the attitude
of the other members to what is going on.  Clearly mandating a particular
attitude is contrary to normal IETF practice and would probably not go down
well with the normal free thinking attitude of most IETF members. However,
the I* do endeavour to adhere to certain general principles and might expect
their representatives to uphold these views unless really good arguments
were advanced to change them (as happens in technical matters today), if
only because the IESG in particular has got to implement the results and
getting an outright rejection of a proposed solution would probably provoke
a major crisis in the IETF.

regards,
Elwyn

> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Kempf [mailto:kempf at docomolabs-usa.com] 
> Sent: 01 October 2003 16:49
> To: Davies, Elwyn [HAL02:0S00:EXCH]; Avri Doria; 
> problem-statement at alvestrand.no
> Subject: Re: An overview of where the IETF change process is 
> currently at
> 
> 
> Typically, the IAB doesn't make an official "IAB" statement 
> unless there is
> concensus among its members, and I assume the IESG does the 
> same. So any
> representatives from the IAB to the group would not be 
> empowered to speak
> for the entire IAB. They would, as for any IETF participant, 
> be speaking as
> individuals when giving an opinion in real time.
> 
> Given that, I'm not sure how active an I* presence you are 
> likely to get in
> the process unless all of the I* are involved, which just 
> isn't practical. I
> think a more practical scenario is to view any I* 
> participants as somewhat
> more active than the NomCom liasons, but not representing any 
> I* opinion in
> real time. That is, they would have to go back to their 
> respective I* and
> discuss any matter that might come up where an I* opinion 
> might be desirable
> or necessary, then bring it back to the group. What I am 
> trying to say is
> that any I* participant would not be empowered to represent 
> the I* as a
> whole, at least, if the I* continue with present practice. 
> Present practice
> could, of course, be changed, but requiring concensus is a very strong
> custom and I think it would be difficult to change (in addition to any
> changes having their own downsides).
> 
> I hope any other I* (especially IESG) will speak up if they 
> feel I've missed
> something here.
> 
>             jak
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Elwyn Davies" <elwynd at nortelnetworks.com>
> To: "'James Kempf'" <kempf at docomolabs-usa.com>; "Avri Doria" 
> <avri at acm.org>;
> <problem-statement at alvestrand.no>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 8:30 AM
> Subject: RE: An overview of where the IETF change process is 
> currently at
> 
> 
> When the authors of the proposal thought about this, the idea 
> was that the
> I* members would be full and active participants in the 
> process (rether than
> observers as in NomCom), and that they were to be delegated 
> by the I* from
> amongst their number.
> 
> The relative sizes of the groups of participants was 
> carefully chosen to
> give full weight to the views of the I* members but without 
> giving them a
> dominant position, and without making the group too unwieldy 
> (some people
> think it is already too big).  The document says nothing 
> about whether the
> I* would give any particular mandate to their representatives 
> or allow them
> free rein to exercise their best judgement.
> 
> Regards,
> Elwyn
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: James Kempf [mailto:kempf at docomolabs-usa.com]
> > Sent: 01 October 2003 16:18
> > To: Avri Doria; problem-statement at alvestrand.no
> > Subject: Re: An overview of where the IETF change process is
> > currently at
> >
> >
> > Avri,
> >
> > You've fairly clearly articulated how you want to see
> > community participants
> > chosen, but you've suggested nothing about how I*
> > participants might be
> > chosen. Pursuing the analogy with NomCom, do you feel that the I*
> > participants should be chosen and should view their roles as
> > similar to the
> > I* NomCom representatives? Or do you feel that they should be
> > more active
> > participants?
> >
> >             jak
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Avri Doria" <avri at acm.org>
> > To: <problem-statement at alvestrand.no>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 11:16 PM
> > Subject: Re: An overview of where the IETF change process is
> > currently at
> >
> >
> > >
> > > On måndag, sep 29, 2003, at 00:46 Asia/Seoul, Melinda Shore wrote:
> > >
> > > > Avri and I need to talk some more
> > > > about how to break the logjam but one thing that concerns me a
> > > > great deal is how we're going to be able to come to consensus
> > > > when there's strong opposition to pretty much every 
> option that's
> > > > been put forward.  One thing we have discussed is that it may
> > > > be useful to identify the characteristics that the 
> process itself
> > > > needs to have.
> > >
> > > As one of the proponents of one of the process proposals, I
> > figured I
> > > should take a first attempt at giving the reasoning I used while
> > > participating in the creation of that proposal.  Some of
> > the discussion
> > > about that proposal have concerned it being
> > over-engineered.  While I
> > > cannot argue against that impression specifically, I do
> > think that the
> > > details of that proposal came from a concept of what was 
> required in
> > > such a process.  I believe one deficiency in that proposal
> > is that we
> > > did not include an analysis of the requirements for the process.
> > >
> > > Note: this note is purely personal opinion and _not_ a WG co-chair
> > > opinion.  It also does not necessarily reflect the opinions
> > of my two
> > > co-authors who may have had different motivations.  The
> > proposal was a
> > > compromise of our different points of view.   This is mine.
> > >
> > > - transparency: (rapidly becoming an overused term) I 
> think that any
> > > process to respond to the issues in the problem statement
> > especially in
> > > the response could result in recommendations for structural change
> > > should be done in a way that allows for intense community 
> scrutiny.
> > >
> > > - public participation: I think that the community should
> > not only be
> > > allowed to watch the process, but should have the maximum possible
> > > ability to contribute to that process.
> > >
> > > - public accountability:   Those who presume to take the 
> communities
> > > opinions and mold them into a proposal should be 
> accountable to that
> > > community.  The IETF should know who is making
> > recommendations and who
> > > is making decsions.  And the future roles of those
> > individuals within
> > > the IETF should take the way they perform these tasks 
> into account.
> > >
> > > - rapid movement toward resolution:  I think that many in the IETF
> > > community are running out of patience.  Now that the problem
> > > description is nearly complete, resolution should be rapid.
> >  This does
> > > not mean it should be rushed, but there should be a
> > reasonable schedule
> > > that is adhered to strictly.
> > >
> > > - significant and balanced representation for those who
> > currently have
> > > the I* responsibility:  I think it is important that those
> > people who
> > > have been chosen as the IETF's governing team should have 
> a voice in
> > > any recommendation.  Not only does the IESG, and possibly 
> the ISOC,
> > > need to approve the decisions,  the IESG and the IAB would be
> > > responsible for carrying out any of the recommended changes
> > that were
> > > approved.  Further, I think it would a serious problem if 
> the I* was
> > > caught by surprise by any of the recommendations.
> > >
> > > - majority representation for the community at large:  I 
> think it is
> > > critical that the community at large have serious
> > representation in the
> > > process of making the recommendation.  Thus I think that
> > non officials
> > > of the IETF community should be the majority of the group.
> > >
> > > - a fair selection procedure for choosing those from the
> > community at
> > > large needs to be chosen
> > >
> > > - non prejudicial method for choosing a chair: given the number of
> > > different interests involved in making the 
> recommendation, it seemed
> > > reasonable that the participants in the process itself pick
> > the person
> > > they wanted to coordinate the functioning of the team.  and
> > if they are
> > > not happy with that chair, they should be able to reassign it.
> > >
> > > - use of processes already understood:  Instead of
> > inventing new ways
> > > of doing things, I felt that it would be best to borrow
> > from techniques
> > > already in use in the IETF.  Therefore the proposal uses 
> variants of
> > > familiar methods, albeit it different combinations:
> > > -- the entire team makes a recommendation to the ADs
> > similar to the way
> > > directorates do
> > > -- the chair is chosen in the same way as the chair of the IAB
> > > -- the community representatives are chosen in a method
> > similar to the
> > > nomcom process.
> > > -- recommendations come in from the community and are 
> distilled by a
> > > smaller group similar to the way a design team functions.  These
> > > recommendations are reviewed by the IETF community at large before
> > > being sent on to the IESG.  Again similar to a working
> > group, although
> > > a very large one.
> > >
> > > - The final decision belongs to the IESG as the appointed
> > > representatives of the community at large.
> > >
> > > The proposal was made in the spirit of trying to move the
> > WG chartered
> > > work along to completion.  My assumption was that the
> > quickest way to
> > > resolve the issue was to have a proposal that could be 
> discussed and
> > > modified.  And while it is true that the IESG is empowered
> > to decide on
> > > a process before this group reaches consensus, I felt that
> > there was a
> > > possibility that they might not (for any number of possible
> > reasons),
> > > or that if they did they might use some variant of this
> > proposal or of
> > > other proposals that might be discussed in the WG.
> > >
> > > I hope that a discussion of how people think the process
> > should be run
> > > can help us move away from the deadlock we are currently
> > experiencing.
> > >
> > > thanks
> > > a.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> 
> 
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