ietf
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: I-D Action: draft-hardie-iaoc-iab-update-00.txt

2016-02-02 20:30:50
Hi,

I chose to respond to Eliot's message, but I have read all the other comments 
so far
as well. My thoughts are below.

On 03/02/2016 09:19, Eliot Lear wrote:
Hi Brian,

See below.

On 2/2/16 8:19 PM, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
Hi,

I think this draft mixes up two things.

(1) A proposal that the IAB Chair's ex officio seat in the IAOC be changed
to be a seat for an IAB voting member designated by the IAB. That of course
can only be achieved by an RFC that formally updates RFC 4071 and so becomes
part of BCP 101.

(2) A description of some IAB internal organisational matters, which the IAB
is clearly free to arrange how it wants, and publish if it wants. IAB
internal arrangements don't need to be BCPs.

I've got nothing to say about (2).

About (1), I think we should hear the pros and cons, because I doubt if
this proposal arose in a vacuum. In particular, how would this help the
IAOC be more effective and more responsive to community concerns?


Pro:  it is best to have the possibility of delegating responsibility to
someone who really can devote all the time necessary to the role.  You
may recall that the IAB chair's time is in quite high demand.  The IAOC
is only one of many matters that can come to her or his attention.  I
view this as a simple matter of scaling.

Pseudo-Con (really a pro): the IAB chair keeps substantial context in
his head, and can bring that to bear when dealing with the IAOC. 
However, it is better to have the chair share that context with other
board members, and particular any delegate to this role.  For one thing,
it reduces the impact when the chair departs the board.

I think that for the specific case of the IAB Chair's IAOC seat, changing
it to be any voting member (except the IETF Chair) is fine, and giving the
IAB Chair a non-voting observer status is fine too. In this case, delegation
is good; I can't see a significant downside, even during the IANA transition
and the other big change that's coming, i.e. the new RFC format.

I think the IETF Chair slot is a different matter. Yes, the IETF Chair is
also the IESG Chair, but I don't believe s/he is in the IAOC on behalf of
the IESG. On the contrary, it's on behalf of the IETF. I think it's
exactly right that the IETF Chair votes in the IAOC, because nobody
else has the same overview, and also because I believe that any IETF Chair
who did not closely track the IAOC's business would be irresponsible.

I think the ISOC President slot is also a different matter, and a bit
tricky. I don't think we can declare our "funding agency" to be a non-voting
member. Also, we (the IETF) don't define ISOC's internal structure or its
methods of appointment. So it's hard for us to define who could replace the
ISOC President as a voting IAOC member and Trustee. However, I'm assuming
we wouldn't want it to be a staff appointment.

   Brian