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Re: The Nominating Committee Process: Eligibility

2013-06-27 12:50:34
These days I don't contribute much to the IETF, so I hesitate to say
much, but I care about it a lot and may contribute again someday.
IMHO ...

Once I lived in Japan for a year and got to think I understood
Japanese culture, but finally realized I had hardly scratched the
surface.  Once, in Germany, I thought Germans were a lot like
Americans, but finally realized I had no idea how different they were.
 And so on.  Likewise, people may think they understand how the IETF
"works", and deduce from that what IETF culture means, when they have
just begun to grasp it.

The IETF mission is already vulnerable.  Most of the time we can hold
the culture together, although it takes a lot of work as unanimity has
already begun falling apart.  If we want to change the mission and
culture, that's okay but we should do so consciously and explicitly.
The NomCom is pivotal for the IETF being able to do its work, to
fulfill its mission, in the future.  People who "know" how the IETF
works but do not have enough experience in the culture will not know
how to express it well, in difficult and subtle situations.  I'm not
talking about knowledge of information, I'm talking about mastery of a
trade -- something that comes with a lot of experience practicing it.

Because of that, weakening requirements for NomCom participation
greatly increases the probability that our culture will fracture, and
our mission statement lose meaning, before we have a chance to agree
on what they should become.  I supported the proposal to require a few
old-timers on every NomCom a few years ago.  I'm quite against the
idea of lowering requirements now.  I would only entrust the future of
the IETF to those who have enough experience and hard-earned wisdom to
make the difficult decisions that are required.  Those who participate
in the process but are not really deep in the culture are already
well-represented through the vehicles for contributing to the NomCom
process.

Scott