[mpowr] Re: [Solutions] Further work on WG (chair) roles - MPOWR WG proposal

[Dave Crocker <[e-mail]>]

James,

>> I thought I heard a good deal of comment that shifting some
>> *responsibility* to the chairs was a good idea. On the other hand, I
>> agree: I certainly heard no consensus about shifting *authority*.
JK> This is a recipe for driving people away. If you give someone the
JK> responsibility to do something, they better have the authority to accomplish
JK> the task. Otherwise, who would take the job?


It depends on the defined task.  If the task is "coordination", then the
responsibility for tracking document state is entirely appropriate.  It
does not need accompanying "authority".

Let me suggest that "authority" is looking more and more like exactly
the wrong construct for fixing IETF problems. Focusing on authority
ensures that we will need to have curbs against abuse, because there are
certain to be some abuses.

What is needed is facilitating collaboration. This means that
"authority" rests with collections of people who reach agreements. Any
individual who appears to have authority has it by virtue of delegation
from a collection of participants, for the purpose of efficiency.

Let's take the specific case of a rogue working group and a
knowlegeable, diligent chair. How is the chair -- or the AD -- to
"control" the wayward choices of a misguided working group? Surely the
superior expertise of the chair should prevail?

The problems with assuming that the chair has that expertise, and then
assuming that it will always be applied properly. We are not suddenly
going to select better Chairs. Some have enough of the relevant types of
expertise and some do not. Some will invoke it wisely and some will not.

     Let me suggest, instead, that the core test mechanism in the IETF
     is the ability to recruit others to a point of view.

Hence, the expertise of the Chair (or anyone else, for that matter)
should be used to recruit a collection of _other_ participants to
counter the misguided views of the working group.

One might even think that independent, senior IETF reviewers might be
helpful to this goal...

d/
--
 Dave Crocker <dcrocker-at-brandenburg-dot-com>
 Brandenburg InternetWorking <www.brandenburg.com>
 Sunnyvale, CA  USA <tel:[phone]>


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