Re: Comments on Composition and Comportment of the IETF Nominating Committee draft

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

> The 15 positions opened yearly do not require strong technical 
> competence.

Huh? The IESG and IAB positions require great technical competence.
They _also_ require various managerial and social skills

Regards/Ngā mihi
    Brian Carpenter

On 08-Jul-26 11:21, S Moonesamy wrote:
> Hi Vittorio,
> At 08:09 AM 07-07-2026, Vittorio Bertola wrote:
>> Honestly, this really depends on the job. Most of the IETF positions
>> require strong technical and organization-specific competence: as
>> long as all candidates meet a sufficient threshold in terms of
>> competence (not necessarily being a super expert, but at least
>> knowing enough so that the rest can be learned quickly), diversity
>> in other dimensions generally produces better results. However, I
>> think we can agree that having a diverse but incompetent person in a
>> position of high responsibility can lead to disasters.
> 
> The 15 positions opened yearly do not require strong technical
> competence.  There is an expectation that the people filling those
> positions will do the work.  If the work is not done, it may
> highlight a disconnect between what the community expected and what
> the person said he/she was doing.
> 
>> This is why I think that the most important factor for a successful
>> diversification of IETF appointments is that Nomcom members value
>> diversity and pursue it without even needing to be forced to do so
>> by the process. Maybe in some basic dimensions we could have guiding
>> principles, such as "the set of appointees SHOULD NOT be composed
>> entirely of candidates from the same gender". Also, it's fine to
>> think at how to conduct the process in ways that minimize the
>> chances of discrimination (towards those who do not speak English
>> natively, for example). But all in all, a clear community input to
>> the Nomcom to pursue more diversity in its choices should be the
>> starting point.
> 
> The part of that community which I interacted with did not appear to
> be from one gender only.  I did not ask anyone for their personal
> details as that information is not necessary in a discussion.
> 
> I doubt that the entire community expects the person to write perfect English.
> 
> Regards,
> S. Moonesamy
>