Re: DISCUSSION: define the role of a liaison

[Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>]

As a sitting nomcom member who has just finished the primary round of 
nomcom effort, I'll strongly confirm Geoff's observations about both facts 
and benefits concerning liaisons.;

My theoretical side is uncomfortable with the idea of liaisons being active 
participants.  My practical experience is that the effect goes beyond 
beneficial and lives somewhere in the realm of essential.

As is so often true with the IETF, what works is counterintuitive.

At base the reality is that nomcoms have enormous flexibility in their 
operating style.  This carries some risks, of course, but also carries 
massive benefit.  Nomcom participants are typically rather assertive 
souls.  If there is a problem, it gets stated.  We do not need to worry 
about one or another liaison dominating... unless the rest of nomcom deems 
that domination beneficial.  And if they so deem, what is the basis for 
having a formal rule to prevent it?

Unless and until there is evidence that the current arrangement does 
strategic damage, let's not try to fix something that ain't broke.

d/


At 10:11 AM 3/15/2002 +1100, Geoff Huston wrote:
> In my experience as a liaison and as a past chair, liaison members of the 
> Nomcom have been used in two roles. They have been a conduit for 
> communication between the NomCom and the body they liaise with, but they 
> have also been considered as working members of the committee, and have 
> undertaken interviews, and participated in committee discussions as a peer 
> member. The limitation is they do not participate in gathering the sense 
> of the committee, either informally or formally as in a vote.
>
> The statement above is more restrictive than the practice I observed in 
> the past, and the consideration of the appropriateness of that practice is 
> certainly a reasonable one.
>
> A view formed from my experience is that this practice has been helpful in 
> allowing the committee to use all the committee's resources to gather 
> input and context for their work, but there is a certain level of

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Dave Crocker <mailto:dave@tribalwise.com>
TribalWise, Inc. <http://www.tribalwise.com>
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