Hi Fred,
I¹m not sure whether this (admittedly selective) quote would be fair to your
hypothetical collaborators:
On 4.8.2010 16:02 , "Fred Baker" <fred(_at_)cisco(_dot_)com> wrote:
[...] I would be truly disappointed if someone I was collaborating with on a
draft or was working on a working group with me fundamentally changed their
opinion as they changed employers; I would wonder if they were lying to me
before the change or after.
[...]
Assume there are two proposals on the table, both similar in their technical
merits, but with different ³owners². The ongoing MPEG-2 preamble
discussions in AVT would be a good example, but I could cite many others,
both inside and outside the IETF. Now assume further that I would be one of
the key speakers for one proposal, and would decide, for whatever reason, to
join the other proponent company. Naturally, my expertise would be welcomed
there.
Would you really expect me not to throw my weight (assuming there were one)
behind the proposal I fought teeth and claws before?and damage my
relationship with my new employer during the first days on the job?
Further, it could also be that the new employer can convince me that its
proposal is better, even without pulling the loyalty argument, simply
because I now have access to proprietary information from both sides. That
can easily flip my technical evaluation. (Arguably something like this has
happened to me in the not too distant past; unrelated to standardization, so
I hope you can still talk to me without wondering whether I would be lying
to you :-).
Note that in neither case I would be lying; I would simply set the emphasis
of my arguments differently. Namely in support of the business requirements
of the new employer, rather than the business requirements of the old one.
Or, after careful evaluation of information that was previously not
accessible to me.
There are professions where changing horses in mid-course is ethnically
questionable. People working in those professions usually receive
compensation that make it for them (more or less) easy to survive job
changes. However, I firmly believe that standardization engineer is not one
of these professions?certainly not from the typical benefits viewpoint. We
should not place an expectation, or (worse) a moral obligation to this
extent on the individuals that are?sometimes against their personal
choice?affected by a change in affiliation.
Regards,
Stephan
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