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Re: Internet Draft Submission cutoff dates

2008-02-01 13:32:03
I propose that we eliminate global cutoff dates and let each WG
establish any cutoff dates it needs for its own purposes.

In general we strive to have the principal forum for discussion be WG
mailing lists as opposed to the physical meetings themselves.  That
should be the default case.  Most WGs at least pretend to try to get
away from simple presentations.  IMHO the main purposes of the
physical meetings should be (1) within a WG to work out issues which
aren't making enough progress on the mailing lists; (2) cross-WG to
deal with issues which don't lend themselves to the mailing lists; and
(3) for IETF-wide discussion of IETF-wide issues.  

That means that the default case should be that any draft which has
not already been heavily discussed on the mailing list does not need
to be discussed at the physical meeting.

Of course there are a thousand exceptions to this.  For example, a WG
might be discussing things up to the last minute and then have someone
write up a draft as a snapshot of where they are.  Or someone has some
new work that impinges significantly on what is already being
discussed, so that it really should be discussed at the meeting even
though it was late.

What this boils down to is that in general, ongoing work shouldn't
have a submission deadline, and new work either doesn't need to be
discussed or, if it does, it shouldn't have a deadline either.

Because there are always exceptions, WGs should have the freedom to
create cutoff deadlines, but we don't need global ones.

The only people left who might need deadlines are the ADs, because
they have so much to cover.  First, if the default case is that
discussion first takes place on the mailing list, their situation is
less desperate.  Second, the ADs can have their own, IESG-specific
deadlines -- once again we don't need overgeneralized global ones.
It's important for the IETF to reduce global process constraints which
don't actually help the work get done.

See you ... Scott
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