Re: IETF Chair tasks

["Spencer Dawkins" <[e-mail]>]

Hi, Brian,


> Hi,
>
> I'd be interested to know if anyone has comments on
> draft-carpenter-ietf-chair-tasks-00.txt:
>
>    This document describes tasks performed by the IETF Chair, the IESG
>    Chair, and the Area Director of the General Area of the IETF.  Its
>    purpose is to inform the community of what these tasks are, and to
>    allow the community to consider whether combining all these roles in
>    one person is optimal.
>
> In particular, with the new NomCom cycle starting soon,
> does anyone believe we should discuss the last point?
>
>    Brian

You can expect smarter comments when people surface for air after the ID 
cutoff (or maybe after IETF 66), but for now, I have a couple of comments.

- the draft points out the hopefully-proactive nature of the IETF chair 
responsibilities, but is silent on proactive vs reactive vs just-active on 
the other two responsibilities. My impression as an outsider is that the 
IESG chair responsibilities also are/should be proactive, but the community 
has been EXTREMELY resistent to doing General Area work if it can be 
avoided, so this responsibility is between reactive and inactive. If you 
agree with my understanding here, it might be good to state this explicitly 
in the draft (identifying one more reason why you suffer from 
schizophrenia - lucky you).

- In section 4, I think

   1.  (deleted, down to ) Although the General Area is
       in theory for any work not covered elsewhere, it is in practice
       limited to non-technical topics, i.e.  IETF process topics.  This
       does create a curious meta-problem, which is the constant concern
       about conflict of interest for an Area Director shepherding and
       advocating work that affects (positively or negatively) his or
       her own job.

WAY understates the amount of pushback you get when you (for example) spin 
up PESCI, or author draft-carpenter-ietf-disputes-00.txt, or ... well, you 
get my drift. If I understand the situation, you believe that as General 
Area Director you are responsibile for making things happen that the 
community believes you should not be making things happen since you are the 
IESG and IETF chair. Madness lies this way, and it's not a long trip.

This alone would justify a few minutes of consideration, before the next 
NomCom cycle, I think.

Thanks,

Spencer

p.s. You might also enjoy the following story about General Braxton Bragg, 
in United States history, appearing in 
http://www.biocrawler.com/encyclopedia/Braxton_Bragg and elsewhere:

Bragg had a reputation for being a strict disciplinarian and one who adhered 
to regulations literally. There is a famous story about him as a lieutenant 
commanding a frontier post where he also served as quartermaster. He 
submitted a requisition for supplies, then as quartermaster declined to fill 
it. As company commander, he resubmitted the requisition, giving additional 
reasons for his requirements, but as the quartermaster he denied the request 
again. Realizing that he was at a personal impasse, he referred the matter 
to the post commandant, who exclaimed "My God, Mr. Bragg, you have quarreled 
with every officer in the army, and now you are quarreling with yourself!" 



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