Yes, not everyone can be a good mentor. You need the willing to do it, some experience in the IETF, and perhaps some communication abilities, besides that, I see no problem for anyone to be one. /as On 15/03/2013 09:54, Yoav Nir wrote: > I agree that this is not just for the formal leaders. But mentoring is also not for everyone. I would guess that WG chairs, IAB and IESG members are more likely to know who would be good mentors for a particular group or area. Eugene Terrell would not be a good mentor, despite having authored 16 drafts. Even ignoring such extreme examples, not everyone is good at teaching others. While the socially-inept stereotype does not fit engineers in general, and fits this community even less, there are some of us who are like that, and would not make good mentors. > > But I think a combination of self-selection and WG chair and IESG prodding can lead to a large enough group of mentors. > > I intend to send to the mailing lists of my groups a message asking "who on this list is going to attend an IETF meeting or <groupname> meeting for the first time in Berlin. Please email me or <other chair> directly." Then if we get any replies, we can set up a get-together with those people before the actual session. If it's more than 1 or 2, we can get some other people we consider leaders to come as well. We can use such a get-together to talk to them about what they're interested in, and to ask them if they'd like to be considered the next time we're looking for an editor. > > On Mar 15, 2013, at 9:35 AM, Arturo Servin <arturo.servin@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote: > >> >> Along the thread there have been great ideas on how to do mentoring to >> newcomers; I just want to point out something. >> >> Mentoring is not only about WG chairs, IAB and IESG, it seems to me >> that we want to pass the problem to them. My opinion is that anyone that >> has come to the IETF three or more times, has written a draft (even >> though it never became an RFC), has sent comments or review and I+D, has >> gone to the mic or any combination of it could become a good mentor. >> >> So, please take mentoring as an activity for each one of us interested >> in help new people get involved in the IETF and not just pass the >> problem to our leaders. >> >> Cheers, >> as >> >> P.D. Not replying to any comment in particular. >> >> On 13/03/2013 23:23, John C Klensin wrote: >>> Hi, >>> >>> Two suggestions that seemed easier to send in email than to >>> stand in the mic line that I'd encourage people to think about... >>> >>> (1) I've found the Newcomer's Meet-and-Greet very useful in >>> finding newcomers I want to keep and eye on and try to help move >>> along and my personal instincts are to go for diversity in those >>> decisions. But those sessions are open only to WG Chairs and >>> IAB and IESG members --people who tend to be among the more >>> overextended in terms of schedules-- in addition to the >>> newcomers. So those sessions are more useful for giving >>> newcomers an opportunity to meet relevant WG Chairs (for >>> example) than for setting up any sort of mentoring relationship. >>> It may be worth thinking a bit about some other ways of >>> establishing relevant contacts, perhaps (as is done with ISOC >>> IETF Fellows) even getting those relationships in place before >>> the newcomer shows up. >>> >>> (2) This applies to leadership development as well as to the >>> diversity and mentoring issues in particular, but the focus on >>> WG Chairs and I* members tends to exclude and underutilize what >>> should be an important resource. There are a bunch of people >>> around who have retired from formal leadership positions (and >>> who are trying to stay retired). At least in principle, we have >>> more flexible time than, e.g., an IESG member. We should be >>> available for mentoring -- it is probably the most important >>> thing we can do. But the system isn't well-organized now to >>> utilize us in that way and probably we should be thinking >>> together about how to improve that. >>> >>> john >>> >>> >>> >> >> Email secured by Check Point >