Re: DISCUSSION: publish list of nominees?

[Thomas Narten <narten@us.ibm.com>]

Brian E Carpenter <brian@hursley.ibm.com> writes:

> Robert Elz wrote:
> ...
> > I mean, how would you feel if a list was published, and then none of the
> > nominated candidates turned out to be people on the list?

> Not too bad. It would tell me that community feedback from the published
> list had produced some even better names. In fact, that's the point.

I believe you are assuming that the choice the nomcom makes in this
case is "obviously" better (to the community at large) than the other
names on the list. I am not sure this is a valid assumption. The
information the nomcom has and uses in making decisions will in
general not be obvious and transparent to the community at large. For
example, someone with good name recognition within the broad community
may not be chosen by the nomcom precisely because they believe said
person lacks specific skills needed to make (say) an effective AD
(e.g., insufficient managerial or organizational skills).

In some sense, if the selections being made by the nomcom were
"obviously" the right ones, we wouldn't be having any of this
discussion. I suspect that it is because the results are "surprising"
to some folks is what is driving this apparent call for more
transparency and/or change.  Or am I misreading the underlying problem
that needs to be solved?

Thomas