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Re: Nomcom Enhancements: Improving the IETF leadership selection process

2010-07-24 16:46:14
Hi,

I'm only going to comment on the suggested changes to the BCP.
The other recommendations all seem to be reasonable additions to the
general guidance for future Nomcoms.

RECOMMENDATION -- Selective Exclusion

    * The Nomcom Chair may selectively exclude any participant from a single 
Nomcom activity. This action may be overridden by a majority of Nomcom Voting 
Members.

In my own (limited) Nomcom experience I didn't see a case where this would
be relevant. In fact, it seems more likely that an individual would tend
to dominate *all* discussions, and this rule doesn't allow for exclusion
of a member from all activity. However, I guess it does allow for handling
a case of clear prejudice for or against a particular candidate.

I would suggest building in a bit more check-and-balance by making it
  * The Nomcom Chair may, after consulting with the previous Nomcom Chair, 
selectively exclude...


RECOMMENDATION -- Selection Pool

    * There needs to be assurance of a minimum presence of Nomcom voting 
members who have meaningful knowledge of IETF "decision and leadership 
processes".
    * Therefore, create a second pool of volunteers who satisfy more 
stringent Nomcom participation rules.
    * Volunteers in this 'expertise' pool must have been on the IESG, IAB or 
IAOC/Trust, or have been a working group chair. These positions require a 
degree of direct involvement in the process of IETF leadership.
    * Three (3) volunteers from the 'expertise' pool are selected first. 
Those who are not selected from that pool are then added to the general pool 
of volunteers, for the second round of selection. Nomcom is not limited to 
having only three of its members be experienced.
    * (Implementation) This is a formal change to Nomcom selection rules, 
which will require a modification to RFC 3777.

I wouldn't seriously object to this proposal, but it doesn't help with
a related fundamental problem that we have: asking engineers to select
other engineers for managerial (IESG), strategic (IAB) and business/legal
(IAOC/Trust) jobs. The problem with putting engineers in such positions
is that they tend to do engineering, sometimes known as micro-management.
Quite what we can do about this I don't know, but including three engineers
in Nomcom who have personal experience of micro-managing isn't going to
fix it ;-).

RECOMMENDATION -- Confidentiality Agreement

    * Everyone participating in Nomcom needs to sign a formal Confidentiality 
Agreement.

Good idea.

RECOMMENDATION -- Interview Monitoring

    * Liaisons must not sit in on interviews without a specific invitation....

I do agree that the liaisons have no place in the interview process, but I
found this section confusing as to exactly what is proposed as a change to
the BCP.

Regards
   Brian Carpenter
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