Re: EARLY submission deadline (Re: XML2RFC submission (was Re: ASCII art))

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Speaking not so much to the deadline in particular, but to the concept of "rules versus judgments"....

--On lørdag, november 26, 2005 11:39:22 -0800 Dave Crocker <dhc2@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

To begin:

1. A problem working group is not fixed by imposing arbitrary rules and
deadlines on it.

2. Arbitrary rules and deadlines are indiscriminate.  They penalize good
workers as well as bad.

3. Rules and deadlines that attack symptoms rather than core requirements
create an arcane and arbitrary bureaucracy that serves more as a barrier
to
getting work done that a facilitator.

<irony> How nice to know that you think so, Dave.... does that mean that we will have no more suggestions for arbitrarily chopping off working groups that don't meet certain deadlines for delivering useful output?
</irony>

unfortunately also:

1. A problem working group always resists getting its issues fixed.

2. A problem working group's first line of defense is "we don't have a problem".

3. A problem working group's second line of defense is "what rules did we violate".

4. A problem working group's last ditch line of defense is to make the job of fixing its problems so unpleasant for the person who tries to help fix it that that person either burns out or chooses to work on some more rewarding task.

(this does not apply only to working groups....)

In most cases, rules are, in addition to giving guidance, a tool for getting to defense line #4 quickly..... viz:

- a WG that has problems getting drafts in on time MAY have someone who tries to ramrod things through - OR it may have genuine last-minute changes.

- an author who's submitting drafts with improper boilerplate MAY be sloppy and/or unable to get the CLRs right - OR he may be trying to slip something into the IETF system that gives his company leverage later

- a WG that consistently misses deadlines and has deadlines 1 year out of date (I chair one of those :-() MAY have a problem with the WG chair's attention bandwidth, the participation, or the style of debate - OR it may be so close to finishing that it's decided it's more important to finish the last set of documents than to update its charter

In all cases, I think there's no substitute for really looking at the specifics of the situation and trying to figure out what's going on - and the most important resource we have there is the bandwidth of good people who are willing and able to do the work.

Rules are tools. But occasionally we need all the tools we can use.







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