One document matched: draft-secretaries-good-practices-01.txt
Differences from draft-secretaries-good-practices-00.txt
Networking Working Group M. Vigoureux
Internet Draft Alcatel-Lucent
Intended status: Informational D. King
Expires: May 2014 Old Dog Consulting
November 5, 2013
Working Group Secretaries Good Practices
draft-secretaries-good-practices-01
Abstract
This document is primarily intended for Working Group Secretaries,
the role of whom is defined in RFC 2418, but also for Working Group
Chairs to better apprehend the value of Working Group Secretaries.
This document complements the succinct description of Working Group
Secretaries' role by providing a compilation of good practices and
some general guidelines regarding the fulfillment of the role.
Status of this Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other
groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress".
The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html
This Internet-Draft will expire on May 5, 2014.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction...................................................2
2. An IETF Meeting................................................3
2.1. Preparation Phase.........................................3
2.2. A Working Group Session...................................5
2.3. Conclusion of an IETF Meeting.............................6
3. Inter-Meeting Phase............................................6
4. Security Considerations........................................8
5. IANA Considerations............................................8
6. Conclusions....................................................8
7. References.....................................................8
7.1. Informative References....................................8
8. Acknowledgments................................................9
1. Introduction
The Working Group (WG) Secretarial role was defined as a minute taker
and to record WG discussion points and decisions (see RFC 2418 [1]).
Over time, this role has evolved to include a number of additional
functions and activities which are critical to the smooth operation
of IETF WGs. This document describes these additional functions and
activities. However, the framework, and perimeter of action,
associated to the WG Secretary function depends on the person
ensuring the function and on the persons he or she collaborates with
(i.e., the WG Chairs), as well as on the professional relationship
they establish. Therefore this document does not list what must be
done, but what could be done by a WG Secretary. Also, this list shall
not be considered as exhaustive. This document is therefore not a
rigid job description.
It is essential that overtime the WG Secretary and Chairs build a
trust based efficient working relationship, and that, where required,
the WG Secretary develops the knowledge to fulfil the additional
functions and activities. This shall enable the WG Secretary to both
extend the scope of his or her actions, thus reducing the number of
administrative tasks the Chairs might be expected to manage, and to
be more and more involved in WG operation and decision-making, to the
extent desired, or required. No secret recipe is given here on how to
effectively build such relationship. In any case, while WG Chairs may
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delegate a number of tasks to the Secretary, they maintain the
overall responsibility over the WG and the decisions and actions that
are taken. As such, it is recommended that the WG Secretary does not
operate without the agreement of the Chairs, or at least without the
confidence that his or her choices and actions are in line with the
Chairs views on any given matter.
It shall be noted that the IETF Secretariat as well as a certain
number of tools and means, exist in support of WG operation (session
request tool, meeting material manager, the Datatracker, ...). Most
(if not all) of these are accessible from the WG Chairs' page
(http://www.ietf.org/wg/chairs-page.html). However, it is out of the
scope of this document to describe the use of these tools. It shall
also be noted that no specific tool exists in support of certain
actions and tasks that can fall under the responsibility of WG
Secretaries.
Also, certain tasks described herein require the use of credentials
and some rights associated to these. The WG Secretary (with the
necessary help from the Chairs) should make sure he or she has all
the capabilities required to perform the various tasks.
We classify the objectives and tasks of a WG Secretary according two
distinct phases: an IETF meeting, and the period between two
consecutive IETF meetings. The following two sections reflect that
classification.
2. An IETF Meeting
This phase in fact covers the period of an IETF meeting per se, as
well as the preparation phase and conclusion phase of a WG session.
2.1. Preparation Phase
In a (non absolute) chronological order, the tasks of a WG Secretary
could consist in:
o Submitting a session request for the WG.
The WG Secretary could submit a request for a WG session at the
upcoming IETF meeting, using the means available. The WG Secretary
should coordinate with the Chairs in order to appropriately fill the
submission form, especially with regards to the number of sessions to
request for, and their respective duration.
o Calling for presentation slots.
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As soon as the IETF agenda for a given meeting is published, the WG
Secretary could send an e-mail to the WG mailing list asking the WG
participants to submit requests for presentation slots at the
upcoming WG session(s). Note that, the form this call for
presentations might take possibly depends on the plans WG Chairs have
for a particular session, as well as on the policies they set for
accepting presentation slot requests.
o Collecting the presentations slots requests.
As a preliminary step to building the agenda, the WG Secretary could
collect all the requests for presentations slots. In order to be able
to do so, the WG Secretary should make sure that he or she is aware
of all the formulated requests by 1/ clearly indicating in the call
for presentations slots that he or she must be (one of) the
recipients of the requests, and 2/ checking with the Chairs if they
would have received requests that he or she was not in copy of.
o Proposing a WG session agenda.
Depending on the known preferences of the WG Chairs for the typical
structure of their WG sessions, on the objectives WG Chairs have for
a particular WG session, and/or on his personal view, the Secretary
could propose a structured agenda for the upcoming WG session(s).
Following that, the WG Secretary could work with the Chairs to
finalize the agenda in view of publishing a first draft agenda.
o Submitting the WG session agenda.
At the deadline, or earlier to the extent possible, the WG Secretary
could publish the draft and then final agenda for the WG session(s).
The WG Secretary could then inform the WG that the agenda has been
published. Also, depending on an agreement given by the WG Chairs,
the Secretary could inform the participants having requested a
presentation slot of the reason why they were not retained in the WG
session's agenda.
o Requesting presentations materials.
Combined to the notification of the publication of the WG session's
agenda, or separately, the WG Secretary could ask the presenters to
send the material in support of their upcoming presentation. This
request should come with a deadline to give sufficient time to upload
the materials before the WG session(s).
o Preparing the WG Status material.
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WG sessions typically start with a slot allocated to the WG Chairs
during which is presented a status of the WG. The WG Secretary could
produce part, or the totality, of the WG status slides by compiling
the appropriate information. As part of this step, the WG Secretary
could query the authors of WG documents to know the status of and
plans for their document (e.g., envisaged date of readiness for WG
Last Call). This, mostly if not only, applies to WG documents the
state of which is not evident. For example there is no apparent need
to poll authors of a WG document which is in IESG processing.
o Uploading the materials.
The WG secretary could, sufficiently ahead of time, upload the
presentations materials. This is useful both to the WG participants
wanting to have access to the material and to the person responsible
for displaying the material during the session.
2.2. A Working Group Session
The role of the WG Secretary could also cover the phase of a WG
session.
o Check list.
For the WG Chairs to enjoy their lunch, coffee or cookie until the
last minute, the WG Secretary could sacrifice his or her time and
enter the meeting room well in advance to prepare the session. This
might include for example checking if blue sheets are available, but
also preparing the session's material to be displayed, launching
collaborative software environments (e.g., WebEx), preparing minute
taking, and so on. The usefulness of such preparation depends of
course on the WG and on the session. A WG session with a light agenda
might not require all this. On the other hand, a WG with an extremely
packed agenda and for which every minute counts, might benefit from
such preparation.
o Running the WG session.
The WG Secretary could be responsible for displaying the material and
running through the slides as speakers advance through their
presentation.
The WG Secretary would typically also act as the minute taker. It is
recommended that, in the event a WG Secretary is unable to attend a
WG session or take minutes, a suitable replacement be identified
before the WG session.
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In addition, the WG Secretary might also identify a Jabber scribe to
aid remote participants to follow discussions and proxy questions
from remote participants.
Performing multiple tasks during WG sessions might pose certain
challenges but nothing insurmountable.
o After the WG session.
After the end of a session the WG Secretary could bring the blue
sheets to the Secretariat, and socialize with the very supportive and
welcoming people composing the Secretariat.
2.3. Conclusion of an IETF Meeting
o Publishing the WG session's minutes.
While it is highly recommended that the minutes of WG session(s) be
published as quickly as possible, this might only be feasible after
the end of the week of an IETF meeting. In any case, if the WG
Secretary was the minute taker he or she could polish the notes taken
(correcting typos, or even complementing missing parts with audio
recordings) and send these to the Chairs for validation.
Once the WG Chairs agree on the written minutes, the Secretary could
publish these using the means available.
Once published, the WG Secretary could communicate the link to the
WG, asking at the same time the WG participants to review and inform
him or her of changes that would need to be performed before final
publication.
3. Inter-Meeting Phase
Tracking is the word dominating the tasks a WG Secretary could be
expected to perform between two IETF meetings.
o Recording and tracking authors' inputs.
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At least on two occasions, the WG Secretary is in position to receive
inputs from authors of Internet-Drafts concerning the status and
plans they have for their document(s). This is during the preparation
phase (when building the WG status material) and during the WG
session when authors sometime express such plans at the end of their
presentation. The WG Secretary should record and track this
information as it is valuable for sketching a plan and a schedule of
the actions the WG Chairs will possibly have to take (e.g., poll for
adoption, WG Last Call, ...).
o Recording and tracking WG Chairs' decisions.
Decisions are sometimes taken by WG Chairs during WG sessions. These
decisions often imply some follow-up actions that the WG Chairs need
to take. The WG Secretary could record and track the action-points
for the WG Chairs.
o Tracking events.
In between the IETF meetings, a number of WG events including WG
adoption polls, WG Last Calls, and acknowledging and managing
Liaisons and Communications from/to external Standards organizations,
will occur. The WG Secretary could track these events and report
progress, or deadlines to the Chairs. For the WG adoption polls and
WG Last Calls, the WG Secretary could remind the Chairs of the end of
the poll/call together with an evaluation of the positions expressed
on the WG mailing list in response to these polls/calls.
o Monitoring IPR Polls.
As per [2] it is important for document authors and contributors to
disclosed IPR in a timely fashion. Typically an IPR poll might be
conducted prior to a WG adoption poll or WG Last Call. The WG
Secretary could monitor and track responses to IPR polls, and chase
authors and contributors where necessary. Where IPR poll responses
are not forthcoming, the WG Secretary could notify the Chairs.
o Maintaining the Datatracker and ensuring it is up to date.
An important tool in support of WG operations is the Datatracker. The
WG Secretary could have the responsibility of keeping the Datatracker
up to date so that it reflects the exact state each document is
effectively in. This could also include marking milestones as done or
updating the target date of a milestone.
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The WG Secretary could also make sure that the replacement status of
documents is correct, and request for the application of the proper
status in case it is incorrect or not indicated and necessary.
o Doing "Chair-like" work.
Depending on the established working relationship between the WG
Chairs and Secretary, the latter could take actions such as close
polls for adoption or WG Last Calls, be the Shepherd as per [3] for a
given document.
o Attending WG Chairs' training.
WG Secretaries are invited to the IETF WG chairs' lunch tutorials.
4. Security Considerations
Delegation based on trust is not expected to introduce security
issues.
5. IANA Considerations
This document does not require any action from the IANA.
6. Conclusions
The role of a WG Secretary can range from a few of these possible
tasks to the full spectrum of them, and even beyond. This depends of
his or her willingness, free time, technical knowledge, and on the
expectations and requirements from the WG Chairs.
The closer the WG Secretary and Chairs work, the more efficient it
will be. As such, it is desired that the WG Chairs and Secretary
share a common set of information. Finally, clear communication and
the setting of expectations by both parties will ensure a successful
and mutually beneficial relationship, and will directly facilitate to
the success of the WG.
7. References
7.1. Informative References
[1] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures",
BCP 25, RFC 2418, September 1998.
[2] Bradner, S., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology",
BCP 79, RFC 3979, March 2005.
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[3] Levkowetz, H., Meyer, D., Eggert, L., and Mankin, A., "Document
Shepherding from Working Group Last Call to Publication", RFC
4858, May 2007.
8. Acknowledgments
This document was prepared using 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot.
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Authors' Addresses
Martin Vigoureux
Alcatel-Lucent
Email: martin.vigoureux@alcatel-lucent.com
Daniel King
Old Dog Consulting
Email: daniel@olddog.co.uk
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