Re: I-D Action: draft-hardie-iaoc-iab-update-00.txt

[Brian E Carpenter <[e-mail]>]

Hi,

I chose to respond to Eliot's message, but I have read all the other comments so far
as well. My thoughts are below.

On 03/02/2016 09:19, Eliot Lear wrote:
> Hi Brian,
> 
> See below.
> 
> On 2/2/16 8:19 PM, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I think this draft mixes up two things.
>>
>> (1) A proposal that the IAB Chair's ex officio seat in the IAOC be changed
>> to be a seat for an IAB voting member designated by the IAB. That of course
>> can only be achieved by an RFC that formally updates RFC 4071 and so becomes
>> part of BCP 101.
>>
>> (2) A description of some IAB internal organisational matters, which the IAB
>> is clearly free to arrange how it wants, and publish if it wants. IAB
>> internal arrangements don't need to be BCPs.
>>
>> I've got nothing to say about (2).
>>
>> About (1), I think we should hear the pros and cons, because I doubt if
>> this proposal arose in a vacuum. In particular, how would this help the
>> IAOC be more effective and more responsive to community concerns?
>>
> 
> Pro:  it is best to have the possibility of delegating responsibility to
> someone who really can devote all the time necessary to the role.  You
> may recall that the IAB chair's time is in quite high demand.  The IAOC
> is only one of many matters that can come to her or his attention.  I
> view this as a simple matter of scaling.
> 
> Pseudo-Con (really a pro): the IAB chair keeps substantial context in
> his head, and can bring that to bear when dealing with the IAOC. 
> However, it is better to have the chair share that context with other
> board members, and particular any delegate to this role.  For one thing,
> it reduces the impact when the chair departs the board.

I think that for the specific case of the IAB Chair's IAOC seat, changing
it to be any voting member (except the IETF Chair) is fine, and giving the
IAB Chair a non-voting observer status is fine too. In this case, delegation
is good; I can't see a significant downside, even during the IANA transition
and the other big change that's coming, i.e. the new RFC format.

I think the IETF Chair slot is a different matter. Yes, the IETF Chair is
also the IESG Chair, but I don't believe s/he is in the IAOC on behalf of
the IESG. On the contrary, it's on behalf of the IETF. I think it's
exactly right that the IETF Chair votes in the IAOC, because nobody
else has the same overview, and also because I believe that any IETF Chair
who did not closely track the IAOC's business would be irresponsible.

I think the ISOC President slot is also a different matter, and a bit
tricky. I don't think we can declare our "funding agency" to be a non-voting
member. Also, we (the IETF) don't define ISOC's internal structure or its
methods of appointment. So it's hard for us to define who could replace the
ISOC President as a voting IAOC member and Trustee. However, I'm assuming
we wouldn't want it to be a staff appointment.

   Brian