Re: Possible extra "oral tradition" for draft-ietf-nomcom-rfc2727bis-01.txt

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

Hi John.

Let me focus on just one aspect of your note, that of the IAB chair
and what role the nomcom can/should play.

IMO, the current system is sub-optimal. The IAB chair has a very
visible role outside of the IAB, thus the choice effects
many. Consequently, I don't think this should be exclusively an
IAB-internal issue. This is much less true for some of the other cases
you site, though similiar issues may apply there too, to some extent.

For all the specialized appointments (IAB chair, liason to so and so,
etc.) some feedback is generaly appropriate to the body that selects
candidates for the position. In the case of the IAB chair, the nomcom
(in practice) would appear to be the only place such input is being
fed. (Well, in any case, the nomcom does get such input.)

When the nomcom does get feedback about the chair, some of it relates
to the individual's actions as an individual IAB member, some to
actions as an IAB chair. If the nomcom ignores that latter feedback,
where should folks be sending such feedback instead?

My understanding is that the IAB does not solicit any feedback on
possible chair candidates prior to making its selection. Given the
external role of the IAB chair, it's quite possible (likely?) that
this approach leads to the IAB not always having all relevant input at
hand for making the best decision. To further compound matters, the
IAB choses its chair at the start of the new term, when some of the
just-selected members may have relatively little information to go on.

Personally, on balance, I think the IAB (rather than the nomcom)
should stick with appointing its chair (there are lots of pros/cons
here, but I won't provide them in this note). But some improvements in
the process would also be useful.

One possibility would be to have the nomcom provide more specific
details of the feedback it obtained to the IAB. Note that at present,
confidentially issues make it problematic for the nomcom to provide
the IAB (as a whole) specific information it received about (say) the
chair. I think changes to the nomcom document would be needed if we go
this route.

Another approach would be to have the selecting body (i.e, the IAB)
more actively solicit feedback from relevant parties, leaving the
nomcom out of the equation.

Thomas