In terms of procedures for selecting nomcom and for nomcom operation, I
do not understand what a more extensive COI disclosure would do.
What rules would apply to the selection for nomcom?
What effect would it have on nomcom participation? Note that we
currently do not expect folks to recuse from votes that include subjects
from their own company. And such recusal would be somewhere between
impractical and impossible.
Yours,
Joel
On 6/30/2020 6:25 AM, Stewart Bryant wrote:
On 29 Jun 2020, at 23:48, Melinda Shore <melinda.shore@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:melinda.shore@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
What we *don't* want is companies successfully gaming the
leadership selection process in a way that compromises the
quality of the IETF's output, or that favors a particular
technology on the basis of something other than technical merit.
IETF process needs to be as open as it can be without damaging
the organization itself,
I agree with that.
and this seems like a reasonable
and low-impact defense mechanism.
“This" here is the use of employment as a poor approximation for what we
should have which is a conflict of interest declaration.
It's still the case that nomcom
members can and will be fierce advocates for appointing someone
from their own company,
That needs delving in some more detail. It is wrong for someone to be an
advocate because the person works for the same company. BUT it is not
work if the Nomcom member knows that person well and is convinced that
they have the required qualities for the post, including the required
degree of independence of thought and action.
but by balancing nomcom membership there is, at
least, a builtin defense against appointing someone completely
unsuitable.
However, we need to balance against COI, not just do it the easy way.
Indeed I think there really needs to be a COI register as you would have
in any decision making position in most bodies. Take an example, I sit
on the Board of the UK Amateur Radio Society (RSGB). At every Board
meeting I am asked if I have any conflict of interest not already
declared. The officials at the IETF have a much larger commercial and
“regulatory” impact and yet we skirt the subject with a very crude proxy.
- Stewart
