Re: [Eligibility-discuss] Suggestions for nomcom chair selection?

[Michael Richardson <[e-mail]>]

Andrew Sullivan <[e-mail]> wrote:
    > I'm the President and CEO of the Internet Society (ISOC), and I'm
    > writing with that hat on; but this account is where my IETF mail
    > subscriptions generally are so it's more convenient to use this
    > address.

    > One of the things that I have been reflecting on in the discussions
    > about nomcom eligibility is that it would also affect the pool for
    > nomcom chair availability.  As you probably know, I'm responsible to
    > appoint the nomcom from year to year as part of my job.  When I am
    > replaced, that person will take over the responsibility.

Appointing nomcom chair is I think, a rather difficult job.
Expanding the pool would not really change who would be willing to chair in
my opinion.

Allison and I tried to change the process slightly so that nomcom chairs were
appointed in mid-October the year before in order that they could be invited
to sit through the November nomcom process as "nomcom-chair-elect".

While many nomcom chairs have previously been nomcom selecting members, even
if they have things change, and providing a smoother introduction/training is
important.

There was various amounts of push back, one of which was to point out that
this makes the nomcom chair 2.5 years, rather than 2.   This is a bit
inaccurate as the nomcom-past-chair duties are essentially over by January,
and I also think it would spread the information transfer from nomcom chair N
to nomcom chair N+1 over twice as many months.

How can we make the nomcom chair role more rewarding?

    > but I'm also aware that my familiarity with the IETF community is
    > decreasing over time.

Yes, but started with a connection to the IETF community that was perhaps two
orders of magnitude stronger than some ISOC presidents.

    > The trouble I have is that I don't really know where to start except
    > with the approaches I have, which are mostly informal and depend upon
    > the social-professional networks I have as well as those of others.
    > That seems like a poor foundation on which to build, so I thought I'd
    > ask to see whether people here have other suggestions for a starting
    > point.

The set of previous nomcom chairs started to meet a few times about various
things.   I think Montreal (105) was the last time.  I think that this group
of people is a good place to start this discussion.
Perhaps making this group slightly more formal in some way.
If we started from scratch, I think that the appointment of the nomcom chair
would have been assigned to the LLC.  Should the LLC be more involved?

As Andrew Malis said, people are always worried about process/regulatory
capture.  But, one has to acknowledge that you can't appoint strangers to do
this job.   While the group of WG chairs is a good place to include, it is
also the place in which the overwhelming majority of AD candidates are going
to be taken.

I imagine you have already collected the list of all the previous nomcom
voting volunteers already.  I'd have them in a file with some notes and I'd keep
coming back to them a dozen or so a quarter.

--
Michael Richardson <[e-mail]>, Sandelman Software Works
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