On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 10:11:09AM -0700, Dave Crocker wrote: > Add to this the fact that a) we have no detailed rules for > confidentiality but rather treat the word as having > implicit-but-total effect on behavior, b) we have no enforcement > powers over violations, and c) Nomcom members, IAB members, IESG > members and ISOC members typically do not have any background in > maintaining confidentialities of these types. > > (On item c), if you think that there is no need for training or > experience, please think again. Organization personnel matters are > peculiar processes.) ... > The concept of Nomcom was a creative solution to the challenge of > making formal community decisions in the absence of formal community > membership. That said, the conduct of Nomcom processes tends > towards pretty classic personnel assessment, but with people > typically lacking classic personnel training or experience. Coupled > with a lack of institutional specification for the construct or > enforcement against "violations" and we are certain to get distorted > processes. What if we simply made the Nomcom access to training materials about these matters? I'll a number of IETF'ers, as senior technical personnel, probably have at least some management responsibilities in their day jobs or in the background, and for those that don't... well, when I first joined my Church Vestry, I got a handbook on Church Business Practices for new Vestry Members; when I first joined the Usenix board, I got a handbook on what new Board Members for Non-profit members needed to know and understand --- which I didn't need, since I had already gotten a similar handbook when I was appointed to the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts Diocesan Council. The business issues that are needed for a board member (how to read financial reports, issues of fiduciary duty, etc., aren't stuff that you would expect everyone to know, but it's not *that* hard to learn them). Similarly, it's not that hard to learn about personnel issues. (Not that I got any training when I had my first management responsibility at MIT; I had to learn things the hard way. IBM has a better and more structured training program for new managers and new executives. And now that I am on assignment at the Linux Foundation, and I am functioning in a managerial function, I knew enough to reach out and to get some training to refresh my long-rusty managerial skills.) OK, so knowing how to do a fair performance evaluation isn't something we should assume a random programmer or network architect to have under their belt. But it's not that *hard* either. And in companies, there are reasons why personnel evaluations are kept confidential and not released to the entire department after the 1st line and 2nd line managers do the annual employee performance reviews and results of discussions around who should get a particular promotion. Just because the Nomcom doesn't have training, doesn't mean that the right answer is to throw accumulated wisdom and experience of how do proper personnel procedures out the window, and make all discussions public. If that means we need to have an organizational consultant give a 2 hour training course to each year's NOMCOM about how do their jobs in a fairer way, I would think that is a much better solution than just throwing confidentialty complete out the window. Regards, - Ted _______________________________________________ IETF mailing list IETF@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf