In today's IESG plenary, there was a discussion about how to allocate meeting time to WGs. One suggestion made that was quickly taken to task was that there should be more unstructured time a'la side meetings and ad hocs. The reason it was taken to task was that people rightly fear that dissenters, newcomers, and remote participants would be at a disadvantage. There is something of a middle ground here that perhaps could be explored. Borrowing from another standards organization, when a breakout meeting is required, it is announced and all are invited. That breakout goes off and usually resolves whatever issue there is and comes back to the group to explain the result. One approach, therefore, would be to follow Michael Richardson's suggestion to shorten WG times, but perhaps provide for announced breakouts where rooms are assigned, and where AV is available. Those meetings might take place at lunch, after dinner, before the first normal WG meeting of the day, etc. These ad hocs would focus on a single task or area. Multiple ad hocs might occur simultaneously, even from the same WG. This idea would clearly require other changes, and would probably cost money. But perhaps it's an idea to consider. The benefit is that those working on particularly gnarly issues can get some additional time all together. The reason that Marc held so many interims was that httpbis needed more than two hours in a week. Eliot
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature