Re: Functional differentiation

April,

What you say is all true. But whether the legal employer is ISOC
with an MoU defining how the IETF controls the Admin Director,
or a hypothetical new entity with by-laws defining how the IETF
controls the Admin Director, doesn't change much IMHO.

    Brian

April Marine wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Sep 2004, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
> 
> 
>>The benefit of having an Admin Director is that this person
>>will have responsiveness to IETF needs and desires as the
>>main item in their job description. I think that is much more
>>significant than whether the person works for ISOC or a new
>>entity. It's the person that counts, not their legal employer.
>>
> 
> 
> This is a very ietf-like point of view, IMO. We are all about individual
> effort. Realistically, however, *both* the person AND their employer
> matter.
> 
> I have worked at companies that contract to a US federal agency. People
> who could give me direction were my line manager at my company, my
> government task manager, and the government headquarters funding manager.
> And yet my job was to serve users, my ostensible "customers." Conflicts
> between these folks were not uncommon. Resolving them, in general, meant
> resorting to the written contract (task plan) and understanding the
> *government's* hierarchy of who could give what sort of direction.
> However, in the end, my company boss could reassign me and put someone
> else in my place without consulting the government.
> 
> The person "we" hire will report to their boss at whatever company they
> work for. The company and "the ietf" will have some agreement regarding
> duties and what constitutes acceptable performance.  I'm sure "the ietf"
> will have some input about who is hired.  However, if some influential
> IETF person or group (e.g. IETF Chair, IAB Chair or some vocal part of the
> IESG) got it into their head that they didn't like the Admin type person,
> could they fire them? What sort of process would that involve? Would, say,
> the ISOC *have* to fire them if "the ietf" wanted them to? Who would face
> employment liability, etc., in such a case? Probably not "the ietf" as we
> currently understand it.
> 
> This is the point I was trying to make at the plenary. No matter how great
> a person we hire, that person is reporting to their boss in whatever
> corporate entity that boss works for.  And no matter how great that entity
> is or is currently, what protection will be in place
> structurally/contracturally if the current people change (as they will)?
> 
> April
> 

_______________________________________________
Ietf mailing list
Ietf@ietf.org
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf