[mpls] Slots on the MPLS WG agenda.

[Loa Andersson <[e-mail]>]

Working Group,

Most work in IETF working groups (including the MPLS working
group) are done on the working group mailing lists. The working
group chairs will issue polls on adopting a particular document
as a working group document, start working group last calls and
in general solicit reviews and comments on working group drafts.

The working group chairs also expect the authors and editors of
both individual and working group documents to drive their
documents on the mailing list(s) and not to wait to do a
presentation at a face to face meeting. It is of out most
importance that authors/editors are active on the mailing list,
this helps the working group to make progress and the working group
chairs to to their work well.

Face to face time is valuable and most efficiently used if the
preparations are good.

Agenda slots are intended to describe the problem a particular
draft solves. And why a particular solution has been chosen if
there are alternatives. Agenda slots are not intended to tell the
audience what is in the draft - presenters should assume that
the audience read the draft.

In preparing the Maastricht meeting we found that we had many more
requests for agenda slots than we could easily accommodate.

The MPLS working group has had a long practice of trying to try to
find an agenda slot for anyone that requests an agenda slot. We have
consistently warned people with late agenda slots that there is a
risk that they might fall off the end of the allocated time. Frequently
we tried to move someone that did not get the chance to present at one
meeting into slot at the next meeting that guarantees that it happens
at the next.  We did not want to change that policy just a few days
before the meeting and the action we took was instead to shrink the
slots to a minimum.

However, the policy with many small agenda slots in itself creates
the problem that we won't prioritize the drafts discussed according
to what is most important for the working group at the moment. Thus
we do not make the most efficient use of valuable face time.

It is the working group chairs opinion that we should reconsider our
early strategy "a slot for everyone" to a strategy that promotes
technical discussions.

It is not realistic to believe that we will get a 3rd meeting slot.
In the future the working group chairs will therefore prioritize the
agenda topics and allocate the time needed for discussion for the IDs
that are on the agenda, a side effect of this is that we will have
fewer agenda slots and not everyone will get a chance to present.
We hope to achieve better use of the face time, better discussions and
eventually be able to progress the prioritized drafts faster.

Loa and George


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Loa Andersson                         email: [e-mail]
Sr Strategy and Standards Manager            [e-mail]
Ericsson Inc                          phone: [phone]
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