Re: coders in IETF (was: Diversity and Inclusiveness in the IETF)

["Bron Gondwana" <brong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021, at 20:46, Keith Moore wrote:

p.s. among other kinds of "doers" whose clue might benefit IETF work, I 

might suggest people who understand how to make effective configuration 

and user interfaces.    Especially in the area of security but not 

exclusively so.   Ease of configuration and use are some of the 

important reasons why proprietary solutions succeed over standard 

solutions.   I'm not saying that IETF should specify user interfaces but 

rather that protocols need to be designed with ease of configuration and 

use in mind.

Oh for sure - considering user use-cases first and foremost is vital for having decent specifications.  This is a group that's even harder to attract to something like the IETF (and harder to keep, particularly if their knowledge gets swatted down by people who don't see the value).

... despite all this negative comment, I've got to say that the IETF generally produces better specs in a lot of way (including usability) than many proprietary APIs I've had the displeasure of interacting with, so for all that we could be better - we're pretty bloody good already.  Yay.

Bron.

--

  Bron Gondwana, CEO, Fastmail Pty Ltd

  brong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx