Re: Last Call: draft-narten-successful-bof (Considerations for Having a Successful BOF) to Informational RFC

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The IESG wrote:
The IESG plans to make a decision in the next few weeks, and solicits
final comments on this action.  Please send substantive comments to the
ietf@xxxxxxxx mailing lists by 2008-01-30.

This document can be a useful bit of assistance for those seeking to start formal IETF work. What I particularly like is that it mixes mundane with abstract, in terms of procedural details and philosophy of success. In other words, it applies abstract concepts of success into particular procedural recommendations.

The Introduction provides a bulleted list that is taken from "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures", RFC 2418. It should cite the source, if only to get new folks used to consulting that more extensive document and by citing it early in the document, the RFC's primacy is less likely to be missed that with the current end-of-document citation.

Section 2 is the meat of the document and provides a very constructive cookbook approach for doing a BOF.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, characterizing the Section 2 content as "ideal" makes it too easy for folks to discount the need to follow what is recommended. The title contains enough wiggle room, with the sord "considerations". So I suggest merely changing the terminology of Section 2 to be "Recommended Steps". Acknowledging that particular BOFs might need to vary the steps taken is a given, especially since the document is seeking Informational rather than BCP or Standards track.

I think the document misses one major issue which, in my view, is essential for BOFs and working group focus: Who is expected to use the output of the working group and what are they expected to do with it? This is not about the technical details of a solution, but clarity about its expected use.

d/
--

  Dave Crocker
  Brandenburg InternetWorking
  bbiw.net

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