Network Working Group S. Dawkins Internet-Draft Huawei (USA) Expires: November 2, 2007 May 2007 IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Revision of the Nominating and Recall Committees Timeline draft-dawkins-nomcom-start-earlier-01 Status of this Memo By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on November 2, 2007. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007). Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 1] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 Abstract RFC 3777 defines the Nominations and Recall Committee's operation, and includes a sample timeline for major steps in the NomCom process that meets the minimum normative requirements for the process. Recent NomComs have been scheduling based on the sample timeline, and the chairs of the last three NomComs, Danny McPherson (2004-2005), Ralph Droms (2005-2006), and Andrew Lange (2006-2007) have all reported that this timeline is very aggressive and have all suggested starting earlier. This document restructures the sample timeline, but makes no normative process changes. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3. Interaction with IETF Face-to-face Meeting Schedule . . . . . 5 4. Proposed Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5. Sample Timeline for 2008-2009 NomCom Schedule . . . . . . . . 7 6. Out-of-scope Suggestions Requiring Normative Text Changes . . 10 7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 9. Changes From Previous Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 9.1. Changes from draft-dawkins-nomcom-start-earlier-00 . . . . 13 10. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 11. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 17 Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 2] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 1. Introduction RFC 3777 ([RFC3777]) is a complete specification of the process by which members of the IAB and IESG are selected, confirmed, and recalled as of the date of its approval. [RFC3777] includes normative requirements for timing allowed for the various steps, and also includes an informative appendix, Appendix B, that contains a timeline based on the normative text. The normative time requirements in [RFC3777] are end-of-task, so adjusting the informative timeline to get an earlier start does not require changes to the normative text in [RFC3777]. In IETF 68, IETF 65, and IETF 62 plenary reports, NomCom chairs suggested starting the NomCom cycle earlier. This document describes a timeline that meets this need, replacing RFC 3777 Appendix B, and makes no other changes to [RFC3777]. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 3] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 2. The Problem There are several reasons that have been cited for the schedule pressures reported by recent NomComs. 1. A few common practices are not accounted for in the Appendix B timeline [RFC3777]. For example, it is common to allow a week for notifying unsuccessful nominees before the formal announcement is made. This is not included in the timeline. 2. Some tasks just seem to take longer than the minimum interval. For example, a public "call for volunteers" must be open for 30 days, but the list of voting NomCom participants probably isn't announced on at midnight on the 30th day. Anecdotal evidence is that allowing about 6 weeks is more consistent with recent experience. 3. The NomCom, and the community it serves, tends to celebrate a variety of holidays between the Third IETF and the First IETF of the next year, so people may be out of the office, may wait to respond, etc. 4. The Appendix B timeline does not provide flexibility in case of problems. For example, the NomCom chair "reset" the random selection of volunteers for the 2006-2007 NomCom, requiring another seven-day delay for the announcement of the date of random slection. All of these reasons can be accommodated by simply starting earlier than is absolutely required. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 4] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 3. Interaction with IETF Face-to-face Meeting Schedule In addition to these reasons for schedule pressure, it's worth noting that the NomCom schedule and the IETF face-to-face meeting cycle don't complement each other. 1. When the NomCom volunteers are selected after the Second IETF, they don't have an opportunity to meet face-to-face and "get organized" until the Third IETF, when they should be winding up their deliberations. This missed oppotunity forces them to use teleconferences and other less efficient means of communications to get organized. 2. The NomCom volunteers don't have a chance to conduct interviews with the community, or with nominees, until the third IETF, during the height of the NomCom effort. If the NomCom effort took place before the Third IETF, the NomCom could work on difficult nominations, and to meet with nominees under consideration, face to face. 3. If the NomCom is able to start interviews during the Second IETF meeting, starting earlier than is absolutely required may also help NomCom be more effective. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 5] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 4. Proposed Solution The high-level description of the proposal is, of course, "start earlier", but more precision would be helpful. A sample timeline that meets these guidelines is shown in Section 5. Please note that, like Appendix B in [RFC3777], this timeline is not normative, but it meets the normative requirements stated in [RFC3777]. Other timelines are certainly possible, including timelines that allow the NomCom to report its results more than one month before the First IETF where the slate of nominees is announced. Finishing early may be a good thing. It's worth noting that the first step in the timeline is "ISOC president appoints NomCom chair". This doesn't happen as an IETF responsibility, but the reality is that the ISOC President needs to identify NomCom Chair candidates around the time of the First IETF; and she needs to have a shortlist 3 or 4 weeks after the First IETF. This document suggests (but does not add a normative requirement to [RFC3777]) that the outgoing NomCom Chair should verify that this process is triggered during the First IETF. 1. One week is allowed for the NomCom chair to publish milestones. 2. Six weeks are allowed for solicitation of NomCom participants. 3. One week is allowed for confirmation of the selection of voting members, to allow at least some time for resolution if there is a problem. 4. The recommended time for Nomcom self-organization is increased to six weeks. 5. One week is allowed for NomCom establishing milestones. 6. In this case, an additional four weeks is allowed for the Nominating bodies to select candidates. 7. The timeline is adjusted to allow one week at the end of the process for notification of unsuccessful candidates. This significantly increases the amount of time available for NomCom to select candidates while still meeting the normative requirements of [RFC3777] Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 6] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 5. Sample Timeline for 2008-2009 NomCom Schedule The following table shows a sample timeline for the 2008-2009 NomCom schedule, based on the IETF dates for Second IETF (72nd IETF, held July 27 - August 1, 2008), Third IETF (73rd IETF, held November 16-21, 2008), and First IETF (74 IETF, held March 22-27, 2009). Note that the duration of each milestone step is adjusted as necessary for each NomCom, since the scheduled dates for IETF meetings vary from year to year. This timeline allows the NomCom to begin self organizing at the Second IETF (this is what "on time") means in the table). Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 7] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 +------------+-----------------+----------+--------------+----------+ | RFC 3777 | What happens | new | start date | old | | Appendix B | | duration | (YYYY/MM/DD) | duration | | reference | | (weeks) | | (weeks) | +------------+-----------------+----------+--------------+----------+ | 1 | ISOC president | 0 | 2008/05/25 | 0 | | | appoints NomCom | | | | | | chair | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | NomCom chair | 1 | 2008/05/25 | 0 | | | publishes | | | | | | milestones | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Solicitation of | 6 | 2008/06/01 | 30 days | | | NomCom | | | | | | participants | | | | | | | | | | | 4 | Announce date | 1 | 2008/07/13 | 1 | | | of random | | | | | | selection | | | | | | | | | | | 5 | Announce NomCom | 1 | 2008/07/20 | 1 | | | membership, | | | | | | challenge | | | | | | period | | | | | | | | | | | 6 | Verify NomCom | 0 | 2008/07/27 | 0 | | | membership | | | | | | during | | | | | | challenge | | | | | | period | | | | | | | | | | | 7 | Confirm NomCom | 1 | 2008/07/27 | 0 | | | membership | | | | | | | | | | | 8 | NomCom Self | 6 | 2008/08/03 | 4 | | | Organizes (on | | | | | | time) | | | | | | | | | | | 9 | END | 0 | 2008/09/14 | 0 | | | organization, | | | | | | BEGIN selection | | | | | | | | | | | 10 | NomCom | 1 | 2008/09/14 | 0 | | | establishes | | | | | | milestones | | | | | | | | | | Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 8] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 | 11 | Nominating | 17 | 2008/09/21 | 12 | | | bodies select | | | | | | candidates | | | | | | | | | | | 12 | END selection, | 0 | 2009/01/18 | 0 | | | BEGIN | | | | | | confirmation of | | | | | | candidates | | | | | | | | | | | 13 | Present slate | 0 | 2009/01/18 | 0 | | | of candidates | | | | | | to confiming | | | | | | bodies | | | | | | | | | | | 14 | Confiming | 4 | 2009/01/18 | 4 | | | bodies accept | | | | | | or reject | | | | | | | | | | | (added | Notify | 1 | 2009/02/15 | | | step) | unsuccessful | | | | | | nominees | | | | | | | | | | | 15 | Slate announced | 4 | 2009/02/22 | 4 | | | 1 month before | | | | | | 1st IETF | | | | | | | | | | | | 1st IETF | | 2009/03/22 | | +------------+-----------------+----------+--------------+----------+ New Step 1 Date: 2008/05/25 Old Step 1 Date: 2008/08/29 Table 1 Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 9] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 6. Out-of-scope Suggestions Requiring Normative Text Changes (This space reserved for suggested timeline revisions that canot be implemented without changes to normative text in [RFC3777]) While there are very few avoidable serialized delays in [RFC3777], we note that the minimum 30-day delay for volunteers is serialized after the NomCom chair is named. If a future normative revision to [RFC3777] allowed someone else - perhaps the ISOC President - to issue the call for volunteers, this could be issued while the NomCom chair is still being selected, and the new chair could begin work by announcing the date of random selection, instead of waiting for the volunteers to volunteer for 30 days. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 10] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 7. Security Considerations This document does not directly affect the security of the Internet. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 11] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 8. IANA Considerations This document requests no action by the IANA. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 12] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 9. Changes From Previous Versions 9.1. Changes from draft-dawkins-nomcom-start-earlier-00 The example year shown in this draft is now 2008-2009, since some of the 2007-2008 dates are passing ("like sand through an hourglass ... these are the days of our lives"). In this revision, all milestone dates appear in an international format. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 13] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 10. Acknowledgements This draft is based on conversations with the chairs of the last three NomComs, Danny McPherson (2004-2005), Ralph Droms (2005-2006), and Andrew Lange (2006-2007), and on their corresponding plenary NomCom Report presentations at IETF 62, IETF 65, and IETF 68 (respectively). The 2007 IESG discussed Andrew Lange's report at their face-to-face retreat and requested a proposal that adjusted the informative timeline with no normative changes. Thanks to Russ Housley, current General Area director, for reviewing an early version of this draft. Thanks to Brian Carpenter, who pointed out that the IETF NomCom portion of the timeline depends on the ISOC president appointing the NomCom chair soon after the First IETF ("NomCom chairs don't appear magically"), and provided a suggestion for ensuring that this happens in a timeframe that allows NomCom to begin self organizing at the Second IETF meeting each year. Note - Does the ISOC portion of the timeline exist in a referenceable form? We should also thank the editors of previous NomCom procedures for developing a specification that we could "speed up" without changing normative text. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 14] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 11. Normative References [RFC3777] Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees", BCP 10, RFC 3777, June 2004. Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 15] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 Author's Address Spencer Dawkins Huawei Technologies (USA) 1547 Rivercrest Blvd. Allen, TX 75002 USA Phone: +1 469 229 5397 Email: spencer@mcsr-labs.org Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 16] Internet-Draft NomCom Starting Earlier May 2007 Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007). This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. 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Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79. Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org. Acknowledgment Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA). Dawkins Expires November 2, 2007 [Page 17]