Re: Draft "Convince your boss" note for IETF participants

[Michael Richardson <[e-mail]>]

Dave Thaler <dthaler=[e-mail]> wrote:
    > Secondly, in this world of economic downturn, travel may be harder to
    > obtain funding for, and much of the current note would apply to virtual
    > attendance as well.  It doesn't really speak explicitly to the benefits
    > of in-person as compared to virtual, it is worded to compare in-person
    > to no participation at all.

To my mind, what we (the IETF community) really need is more people
contributing via email, reviews, and writing and prototyping running code.
I feel, btw, that in a few parts of the IETF this has significantly gone up
compared to ten years ago, but it might just be my perspective.... it's the
part of the IETF that I personally find the most rewarding.

The cost to the boss of having people spend *time* doing that is actually way
way way higher than the travel costs, but the cost comes in a less tangible way.

Once that kind of interaction is underway, the extra tangible cost of the
travel might be relatively acceptable.  (exploit the sunk-cost falacy here...)

So, I'd like to see a _convince your boss_ explanation that was tailored that way.

I am finding that we being asked to review and consider adopting many
documents for which there is no hope of ever seeing running code, even a
prototype.  I find it very sad, because often they are really good ideas, but
without a prototype or proof-of-concept, it's very hard to get enough
experience to convince people.



--
Michael Richardson <[e-mail]>, Sandelman Software Works
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