Re: [Tsv-art] Calling AD candidates

Hi, Martin,

Top-posting - I'd add two more items under "what's great about being an
AD", which would be

   - watching new working groups become productive and new chairs learn
   their roles successfully, and
   - I was told that past ADs have a lifetime invitation to the transport
   chairs/TSVART dinners - again, when we meet again :-)

But this is a great summary!

Best,

Spencer

On Thu, Aug 6, 2020 at 6:35 PM Martin Duke <martin.h.duke@gmail.com> wrote:

> As so often happens, Transport AD candidates are thin on the ground. I'll
> share some thoughts as someone who stepped into the role role with very
> little idea of IETF beyond the 2 or 3 working groups I was active in at the
> time.
>
> *TL;DR* being an AD is a professionally enriching and socially
> rewarding experience. It takes time but it usually doesn't hurt to ask your
> employer for that time. The procedural stuff is not hard at all. The most
> challenging thing is getting up to speed on unfamiliar subjects, which also
> probably has the biggest benefits.
>
> Others can judge if I've been successful, but at no point have I been
> overwhelmed or left without great advice and exceptional documentation on
> how to do things.
>
> Nominations happen here:
> https://datatracker.ietf.org/nomcom/2020/nominate/.
>
> *What's great about being an AD*:
> - Having an important say in shaping the area and the IETF as a whole,
> particularly by chartering groups and participating in IESG initiatives
> that interest you
> - Everyone has their examples of nonsense at the IETF but ADs are in a
> position to do something about it.
> - Working with some great WG chairs, and building our TSV community
> - Learning much more about what's going on in other areas, to become a
> more complete internet professional
> - There's a lot of freedom to focus on what you find most interesting
> - Meeting people from every corner of IETF - unfortunately I haven't
> gotten the full in-person version of this, but it remains true.
>
> *Time commitment*: This the biggest reason not to pursue the position.
> Like many things it depends on what you want to put into it, but it's not
> like a chair position that can be done in the margins of your day job.. I
> would definitely arrange with your employer to lose no less than 1/4, and
> probably half, of your current responsibilities.
>
> This is a huge mental obstacle for many people, but if your boss can be
> persuaded of the advantages for your organization, and that it will help
> you be a satisfied employee, you may be able to jettison the less appealing
> bits of your current work. That's how it turned out for me.
>
> *What's the work*? There's an official job description here:
> https://trac.ietf.org/trac/iesg/wiki/TransportExpertise
>
>  In roughly declining order of time commitment:
>
> 1. IESG review: you should review a healthy majority of documents that
> pass IETF Last Call. This can take a long time if you provide detailed
> reviews of everything, or not as much if you focus on the transport aspects
> of documents that have transport implications and lean on the area review
> team to do their usual good job.
>
> 2. Weekly meetings: No more than 3 hours unless you volunteer for more.
> Obviously, ramps up around IETF week.
>
> 3. AD Review: you really should take a close look at the document output
> of your WGLCs.
>
> 4. WG management: Chairs don't need to be micromanaged, but they'll
> sometimes ask your opinion.. You're also deeply involved in chartering,
> finding chairs, and BOFs in your area but these are not terribly frequent
> events.
>
> 5. IESG projects. This is purely optional, but you can take on a special
> project. For example, I was deeply involved in figuring out the remote
> meeting plan, and, well, you saw the result.
>
> 6. Miscellaneous: you will get random email about RFC errata, etc, and
> have to deal with it. It's not a huge time sink.
>
> I hope some of you will overcome the concern that you're "not ready" for
> this position, and/or the hesitation to ask your employer to explore an
> interesting opportunity.
>
> I happy to discuss further with interested people, either via email or
> using the chat or meeting technology of your choice.
>
> Thanks
> Martin
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