Re: draft-sullivan-nomcom-chair-select-00

[Stewart Bryant <[e-mail]>]

> On 14 Feb 2022, at 14:04, Andrew Sullivan <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> On Mon, Feb 14, 2022 at 09:27:37AM +0000, Stewart Bryant wrote:
>> I think that this process assumes an “infinity” of able candidates queuing up to do the job.
> 
> Could you say why you think that?  It certainly isn't my expectation.

It has been my experience that finding people willing to commit significant time for community activity is getting harder each year.

We see that here in the IETF with the number of volunteers for the IESG - it is much less than it used to be.

I see exactly the same thing in other activities, for example leadership in the national amateur radio societies.

As far as I can see there has been a societal change that is driving this. People have more demands on their day job, and employers less flexible on gifting time. The level of perfection needed has increased as has the degree of vitriol in keyboard warrior criticism. Net result is a drop in volunteers.

In the specific case of the IETF my impression is that structural changes in the industry are making us less relevant which further fuels the downward spiral.

Hopefully I am wrong on all of these points.

Best regards

Stewart




> 
>> I suspect that in reality the only way to get good candidates is to nicely ask a number of likely people and hope that one will say yes.
>> 
> 
> That's the process we have now, and it has the obvious problem that it depends on the Internet Society President (at present, me) having a good list of "likely people".  Populating that list is what I'm trying to do.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> A
> 
> -- 
> Andrew Sullivan
> President & CEO, Internet Society
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