Hi there GROWers, Apologies if this mail seems familiar - I sent it (or a variation on it) every few months. I also send it to most of my / Ops WGs, and so you might see multiple copies. I do think it is important though, so…
An evergreen topic in the IETF & IESG is how to grow the IETF "leadership pipeline", so that when we need new AD and / or chairs, we have good candidates. Currently when a new chair needs to be appointed the process goes something like this (with much added hyperbole): The AD(s) thinks "Hmmm.. I need a chair for FOOWG, and so I need someone who understands FOO protocol. Erm.... Oh! Mary! Mary knows FOO, and she's sane and friendly and organized and will keep things moving. Everyone knows Mary, she's strong enough to push back on the crazy, she'll keep the meetings running along... She has the added advantage of not working for the same company as $other_chair, but gets on well with $other_chair. Oh! She's also already chaired BARWG and BAZWG and that went OK... She's perfect, I'll appoint Mary!". (In practice there is usually also discussions with the other chair (if any), a mail to the WG asking for volunteers, some discussions with key WG participants to see if they have any suggestions, etc, but there is still a tendency / bias to appoint someone known to the AD / "the obvious" candidate / people who have already demonstrated competence. Clearly this is suboptimal... If it is a new WG there is usually a BOF and additional discussions on BOF proponents and chairs, but the general principle holds) Often, when appointing a chair, there is a bit of a rush - a meeting is coming up, a new WG is being formed, etc, and people who would make good candidates are overlooked, or are not really confident enough to put themselves forward for a specific role. So, what I'd like to try is asking for volunteers who'd like to be considered when we are looking for chairs. In some cases it is important that the chair(s) are experts in the technology - but a lot of chairing also involves more general technical knowledge, "leadership"/diplomacy/mediation, organizational skills, babysitting, etc. I've created a Google form to record answers / help me keep track of volunteers: https://forms.gle/JvnD6fwzfuVv6SqS6 Don't worry, filling in the form isn't a commitment to serve, but rather a "Hey, I'm interested, please keep me in mind when choosing a new FOOWG chair". Information will be shared with the current (and future) Ops & Mgmt ADs, unless you tick the "Any WG in the IETF", in which case your interest will be shared with other IESG members. Obviously, if you are not comfortable filling in the form but still want to volunteer, just email Warren and/or Mahesh. Also, as always, if you have any questions, comments, etc do the same.... Warren and Mahesh.
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