On 5/14/19 5:57 PM, Michael Richardson wrote:
I think that WGs need to have virtual interims partway between meetings in which to hold presentation-style events where the initial problem statement is provided. This accomodates the "need" to present, while not wasting super-expensive meeting time. This should be at least two weeks prior to draft cut-off date, such that revisions and suggestions could go into a draft, and there could be some list traffic about the document. 6tisch has had regular virtual interims and often new work would come up there. 6tisch and ROLL often need really good pictures to explain things, and that's what the slides are really good for. Animated ones even better.
Lest it seem otherwise because I just posted a message about face-to-face "catch up" sessions, I also think some "virtual" version of such sessions is worth considering. I do think there needs to be a clear distinction between "educational/presentation" meetings and "working" meetings, whether physical or virtual.
(ps: speaking as someone who has attended more than 50 meetings, more than 2/3 of them at my own consulting companies' expense, let me add: if attending in person or is making or breaking your work, then you probably aren't resourced well enough to do the work.
I'd say it depends on the work you're doing. Some kinds of useful work can be done at a snail's pace. Other work is not useful if it's not finished quickly because it will have been overtaken by events (and IETF is often too slow).
But I'm also seeing problems that I recognized 20+ years ago that are only beginning to be addressed now, so I don't think it's appropriate for IETF to presume that everything useful must be done quickly.
Internet-Drafts don't progress because you attended a meeting or not, they progress because you spend dozens of days worth of time reading/writing emails, and writing code.
In my experience, both are often necessary. There have been a few useful and successful contributions made entirely or mostly by remote participants. But other things being equal, people seem to take you more seriously if you show up in person.
Keith
