Margaret,
The words I hate most when I am in a WG meeting are these:
"take it to the mailing list"
That is usually short for "we can't agree in person so we'll now
continue to disagree by email". Debate has been shut off, and usually
prematurely because there is something else on the agenda. I'd rather
that never happen. I think it's fair to specify the parameters for a
decision and then go to the mailing list so that people could evaluate
different solutions based on those parameters, but simply blowing off a
topic because the group cannot agree is a failure of leadership.
So, in answer to the question you asked Dave, I would agree with him
about [1] and [2] in his message. I don't fully understand [3]. I
would go a bit further to say that the agendas should be approved by an
AD. Why? Because it forces the AD to pay attention to the group. No
group should run on auto-pilot. Any AD that cannot do this with little
or no effort, should spend more time with the WG in question. The AD
gets to approve the order. If agenda bashing shows that the chair
missed something, then there was a failure on the mailing list, and
corrective action should be taken to fix the problem.
I would not penalize a WG for not getting to the end of its agenda.
That, in fact, is a call for an interim meeting, perhaps.
I would add one more thing. We need whiteboards, ones with erasers. it
used to be that we had them years and years ago. Being able to draw out
solutions and list and reorder problems is a good thing.
So, a not so fictitious example:
The ISMS WG is currently struggling to choose between one of three
architectures for integrated SNMP security models. A call for consensus
has been issued, and thus far there is none. The reason there is none
is that people do not yet agree on the underlying requirements, IMHO.
This is all good fodder for an in person meeting. If neither mailing
list nor in person meeting can solve the problem, then the AD needs to
step in and do something.
Prior to the meeting there should be a short summary of the issues, pro
and con for each alternative, as well as proposed evaluation criteria.
The meeting may be a good venue to expand or contract those criteria.
Eliot
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