Theodore Ts'o wrote:
Dave,
Your proposal presuppose an assumption that the best use of
our AD resource is as procedural and process assistant. Certainly we
don't select for that in our current nomcom process --- and I would
argue that if what we are looking for is more assistance at the
working group level for project management and process management,
perhaps the answer is that we ought to find some sponsors who are
willing to hire some professional staff people to assist working
groups that are full-time process and procedural management experts.
I would note that people who fill that roll do not necessarily
need to be a deep technical expert, and that if we devolve area
directors to being nothing but glorified project managers, we may have
trouble getting people to volunteer for that job.
Hi, Ted,
(offlist) - the current NOMCOM chair posted to the IETF list that for
two AD positions this cycle, there were only two candidates, and for a
third position, there were only three.
Are you saying that we may not be able to get even that many candidates
who are willing to serve, if we ask ADs to provide project management?
Spencer
I personally believe that the job that AD's are best suited
for is to provide technical leadership, and this goes far beyond
simply providing project and procedural management. Not to say that
this isn't important --- I believe that it is critically important to
give that kind of resource to engineers trying to get a job done. But
I believe that kind of role may be better suited to staff position,
and not a volunteer position. (For example, I've noticed that it is
generally very hard for open source projects to find people willing to
volunteer to be a project manager; usually that role is filled by
someone on salary by an interested company.)
Regards,
- Ted
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