At 01:14 AM 3/29/2013, David Kessens wrote: >Mike, > >On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 09:03:25PM -0400, Michael StJohns wrote: >> >> The process for selecting and appointing liaisons is the purview of the >> IAB and not currently subject to external review - and I don't find any >> problem with that. > >I fully agree with this. But then you go on to say: >All I am asking for is a call for volunteers. If it's within their purview, they get to decide what process they'll follow. If they need volunteers, I expect them to ask us. If they already have someone to do the job and they're happy with them, I expect them to get on with it. I don't think this needs to be a rule. And I think it's mostly unnecessary. >I am not even asking for publication of the resulting list of volunteers to >allow for public comments. And that would be a second bridge too far. >The IAB, the IESG or whatever body in the IETF that needs to fill a position >cannot possibly know all possible candidates for a position. The IETF is not >a small community any longer where everybody knows each other. It is very >easy to overlook good potential candidates. An open call helps the bodies >that make the decisions to find as many candidates as possible. How can >potential candidates even know that somebody is looking for a candidate if >the potential candidate is not part of the incrowd him/herself ? Liaison's generally have very little authority. They act primarily as a point of presence. And for things like the ITU-T, you really need to get someone who has a firm anchor in the other organization. Back in pre-history (my first term on the IAB), most of the liaison requests come in from other organizations (e.g. will you accept X as a liaison) rather than the IETF seeking to appoint someone to represent us. There are lot of nuances and there will be organizations where we want to ask for volunteers, organizations where the IAB is looking for one specific set of skills and finds it, and organizations where we'll say "yeah, sure, X can be a liaison". >And yes, I speak from experience: I have been an Area Director and I did >open calls for volunteers whenever a position needed to filled. You had open calls for volunteers for working group chairs? > It involves >some extra work but I did find that there were many more capable people that >could fullfill the roles than I would have thought before I initiated such a >call (the pool of candidates often turned out to much heathier than my >initial guess of a "thin" pool). Fair - but these are apples and oranges. What worked well for you in your area, might work well for one organization, be a total political disaster for another and scare off the guy who just wanted to pass on something from a third. Can't we just trust the IAB to do its job? If we can't, then we either need to change the scope of the job, or select a whole new IAB. Mike >David Kessens >---