Re: RFC Series Editor (RSE) Statement of Work

[John C Klensin <[e-mail]>]

Brian,

I agree and would add two things both of which, like you, I've
shared with various others.   First, for at least a significant
fraction of those who would be appropriate for the RSE role,
even describing the process as a "bid" will turn people off and
prevent them from applying, no matter how they are recruited.
Second, if we go with a search firm, it must be one with
specific expertise and experience recruiting senior people with
technical, preferable standard-related technical, and strategic
publishing experience, not one whose skills lie in engineering
recruitment.   If we ignore either of those things (or your
other comments), we ate quite likely to get whatever the process
and people that created this mess deserves but not what the
broader Internet community (not just the IETF need and deserve).
Or, to say that differently, however bad the current situation
is, it could be made worse.

best,
   john

--On Tuesday, July 23, 2019 00:52 +1200 Brian E Carpenter
<[e-mail]> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> There's something I've found myself saying to a couple of
> people in Montreal that I think is worth repeating here:
> 
> The RFC Series Editor has always been treated as a senior
> colleague, and part of our community leadership; never as a
> hired hand, because it isn't the sort of job that can easily
> be measured or priced. Obviously, as a practical matter, the
> RSE has to be paid for their time and expenses, but it really
> doesn't matter whether that's as an employee, an individual
> contractor, or via their existing employer. That's basically a
> clerical matter, once the right person has been identified.
> 
> I now think that the notion of a pre-defined statement of work
> and a competitive bidding process is *completely*
> inappropriate. What we should do, IMHO, is identify the right
> person by a search process with a well-informed search
> committee, and then leave IETF LLC to figure out any necessary
> employment or contractual details later.
> 
> Obviously there will be a finite budget limit that the search
> committee will bear in mind. But we aren't trying to find the
> cheapest RSE; we're trying to find the best one.
> 
> Regards
>    Brian Carpenter
> 
> On 16-Jul-19 11:14, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I'm going to start with Richard's first comment, and then
>> come back to a couple of other comments, and then give my own
>> comments on the "experience required" bullets: On 16-Jul-19
>> 06:02, Richard Barnes wrote:
>> ...
>> 
>>> Overall, this document seems odd for an SOW.  The point of
>>> an SOW is to state what the contractor must do in order to
>>> fulfill their end of the contract.
>> 
>> Of course it's odd, because the concept of a "statement of
>> work" with specific deliverables is off target for a job such
>> as the RSE. I think that's part of the broader discussion we
>> need to have, but for now we have to stick to the current
>> model, which means an SOW.
>> 
>> On 16-Jul-19 04:39, Salz, Rich wrote:
>> 
>>>>    I don't think its a good idea to include "experience as
>>>>    an RFC author"
>>> 
>>> Strongly agree.  We want a good technical copy-editor, which
>>> strikes almost all RFC authors from consideration, IMO.
>> 
>> I want to repeat what the current RSE said. The job is not
>> that of a copy-editor, nor that of a technical editor (which
>> are both well-defined job descriptions). It's much closer to
>> the job of a commissioning editor in a publishing house, but
>> even that isn't correct.
>> 
>> Experience as an RFC author is largely irrelevant, IMHO.
>> Understanding what the IETF and the IRTF do, what other SDOs
>> do, and even what academic journals do, is much more to the
>> point.
>> 
>> On 16-Jul-19 05:34, Keith Moore wrote:
>>> On 7/15/19 11:15 AM, Leif Johansson wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I don't think its a good idea to include "experience as an
>>>> RFC author" as a desired skill. Including that requirement
>>>> will skew the selection towards the usual suspects and
>>>> Recruiting the next RSE from within the community should
>>>> imo not be a high priority for us.
>>> 
>>> I emphatically disagree.   Why should IETF entrust the
>>> editing of its  work product to someone who might not
>>> understand IETF's mission or share  its values?
>> 
>> We shouldn't. But firstly, it's the Production Center that
>> actually does the technical and copy editing, and secondly,
>> writing an RFC is not a precondition for understanding the
>> IETF.
>> 
>> My bottom line:
>> 
>> "* Significant editorial and publishing experience desired."
>> 
>> That understates the case. I think our experience with
>> Heather has shown that this isn't just desirable, it's
>> essential. Try:
>> 
>> * Significant senior editorial and publishing experience
>> required.
>> 
>> "* Familiarity with a wide range of Internet technologies."
>> 
>> That seems parochial, and there also seems to be a missing
>> aspect. Try:
>> 
>> * Familiarity with Internet technologies and technical
>> standards.
>> 
>> "* Experience as an RFC author desired."
>> 
>> On balance I'd delete that. Possibly replace it with:
>> 
>> * Experience with standards publication desired.
>> 
>> Regards
>>     Brian
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>