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RE: Complaining about ADs to Nomcom (Re: Voting (again))

2005-04-29 08:26:53
Spencer, 

You hit an important issue. Having a small group of people
choose who they want feedback from (granted everyone else is welcome 
to send feedback without knowing the options for ADs) is not 
a recipe for a successful process. I haven't yet seen a good reason
for not publicising the names of people nominated for an AD position.
Until this is done, we can't claim an open process for AD selection.

Why have a "selected" group of people knowing all the information necessary
to choose an AD? And on what basis are these people selected? I know
people that are not chairing any WGs that were asked for input by the nomcom
while others weren't. 

I can see pros and cons in publicising the list of nominees, but in 
the absence of a clear advantage I choose openness, because eventually, an
open process should be self-correcting. I can't say the same about the 
current process.

Hesham


Spencer Dawkins wrote:

Just to agree with JohnL,


NOMCOM has been good about soliciting feedback, but I still think 
that we miss out on useful feedback because IETF members cannot 
reliably say who is a candidate and who is not.  Some 
candidates have 
sent around BCC: mails, from time-to-time, saying that they are a 
candidate & would appreciate folks to send comments to 
NOMCOM. This 
doesn't seem like a good way for getting information 'public.'


I've served as a WG chair, and as a member of the General Area 
Directorate, so I'm one of the people that NOMCOM was 
actively seeking 
input from ("this is a list of the people who have been 
nominated for 
X Area Director, plus a couple of ringers, please tell us what you 
think we should know that would help us make a better decision").

My point is that I *have* seen a complete list of nominations, 
including a couple of ringers, for specific AD positions, 
and I *have* 
seen a complete list of nominations for IAB positions.

This is not a bad thing (the AD positions were in areas I 
was working 
closely with). The less-than-desirable part is that my input on 
unannounced candidates was based on more information about who was 
being considered than was generally available. I could say "that 
person would be the greatest disaster for the IETF since ...", and 
people who disagreed with my input don't even know the 
person is being 
considered ... unless they also got the same list, or unless that 
specific person happened to ask others to provide NOMCOM input.

Hardly seems fair, does it?

For the last two years, I've met with the NOMCOM 
representatives and 
gone through the list of every IAB/IESG member that's up 
for renewal, 
so it's not like people don't TRY to provide good input 
(positive and 
negative). But it's difficult to provide input on unannounced 
candidates, unless they "out" themselves.

Are we supposed to send a list of notorious Internet 
kooks, just in 
case one of them has been nominated for something?

In the absence of facts, there are lots of rumors about whether a 
specific IESG / IAB member is stepping down or not; reasons why; 
etc.  This doesn't seem to be an optimal process, IMO.


I've also had conversations with ADs who decided to step 
down, then 
decided not to, then decided to step down (lather, rinse, repeat). 
Private sampling doesn't seem to provide reliable 
information, even 
when the sampling is direct-to-the-intermittent-candidate.

... and, to go a tiny bit closer toward the edge ... 
saying that we 
believe someone can serve successfully as an AD for two years (and 
hopefully for four, since it takes a year to come up to 
speed, we are 
told), but is too sensitive to be nominated publically for the 
position, seems silly. If someone cares what people think 
that much, 
how can the same person serve with integrity after being selected?

Spencer


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