One document matched: draft-secretaries-good-practices-02.txt
Differences from draft-secretaries-good-practices-01.txt
Network Working Group M. Vigoureux (Editor)
Internet Draft Alcatel-Lucent
Updates: 2418 (if approved) D. King (Editor)
Intended status: Best Current Practice Old Dog Consulting
Expires: August 2014
February 14, 2014
Working Group Secretaries Good Practices
draft-secretaries-good-practices-02
Abstract
The role of Working Group Secretaries has greatly evolved and
increased in value since the writing of RFC 2418 ("IETF Working Group
Guidelines and Procedures"). This document further refines and
enriches the description of the Working Group Secretarial role, and
consequently updates RFC 2418. This document complements the succinct
description of the role of Working Group Secretaries by providing a
compilation of good practices and some general guidelines regarding
the fulfilment of the role.
This document may also be useful for Working Group Chairs to help
develop and better appreciate the value of Working Group Secretaries.
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
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The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html
This Internet-Draft will expire on August 14, 2014.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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. WG Secretary's Functions and Responsibilities..................3
2.1. An IETF Meeting...........................................3
2.1.1. Preparation Phase....................................3
2.1.2. A Working Group Session..............................5
2.1.3. Conclusion of an IETF Meeting........................6
2.2. Between IETF Meetings.....................................7
3. Conclusions and Perspectives...................................8
4. Security Considerations........................................9
5. IANA Considerations...........................................10
6. References....................................................10
6.1. Normative References.....................................10
6.2. Informative References...................................10
7. Acknowledgments...............................................10
Contributors' Addresses..........................................10
Authors' Addresses...............................................11
1. Introduction
The Working Group (WG) Secretarial role was defined as a minute taker
and to record WG discussion points and decisions (see Section 6.2 of
RFC 2418). Over time, the WG Secretarial role has evolved to include
a number of additional functions and responsibilities which are
critical to the smooth operation of IETF WGs. This document describes
these additional functions and responsibilities. However, the
framework and perimeter of action associated to the WG Secretarial
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role, depends on the WG Secretary and the WG Chairs, as well as on
the professional relationship they establish. Therefore this document
does not prescribe what must be performed, but what might be
performed by a WG Secretary. Also, this list shall not be considered
as exhaustive. This document is therefore not a rigid job
description.
It shall be noted that a certain number of tools and means exist in
support of WG operation (e.g., Session Request Tool, Meeting Material
Manager, the Datatracker, Trac Tool, Wiki). 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 and means.
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.
Finally, certain tasks described herein require the use of
credentials and some rights associated to these. The WG Chairs should
make sure the WG Secretary has the necessary access and privileges to
perform the various tasks.
2. WG Secretary's Functions and Responsibilities
We classify the functions and responsibilities of a WG Secretary
according two distinct phases: an IETF meeting, and the period
between two consecutive IETF meetings. The following sub-sections
reflect that classification.
2.1. 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.
2.1.1. Preparation Phase
In a (non absolute) chronological order, the tasks of a WG Secretary
could consist of:
o Submitting a session request for the WG.
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Using the means available, the WG Secretary could submit a request
for a WG session at the upcoming IETF meeting. The WG Secretary
should coordinate with the Chairs in order to correctly formulate the
request, especially with regards to the number of sessions to request
for, and their respective duration. It shall be noted that holding a
WG session is typically driven by the need for the WG to discuss some
topics or documents, and that the identification of this need may
imply having interactions with the WG before requesting a session.
o Calling for presentation slots.
Working Group Chairs may organise WG sessions in different ways. As
part of this organisation, they may allocate all or part of the
session to people wishing to present and discuss their work. In that
context, and 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 WG Chairs may wish to
set policies for accepting presentation slots requests. The call for
presentation slots should remind these policies as well as how should
the requests be formulated, together with a deadline for sending
them.
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/she is aware of
all the formulated requests by 1) clearly indicating in the call for
presentations slots that he/she must be (one of) the recipients of
the requests, and 2) checking with the Chairs that they wouldn't have
received requests sent to them only.
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/her 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 finalise the agenda in view of publishing a first draft
agenda.
o Submitting the WG session agenda.
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At the deadline, or even earlier, 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,
the WG Secretary could inform the participants having requested but
not assigned a presentation slot, of the reason why they were not
allocated a slot in the final WG session's agenda.
o Requesting presentations materials.
In combination with 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.
Working Groups' 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 materials and to the person responsible
for displaying the materials during the session.
2.1.2. A Working Group Session
The role of the WG Secretary could also cover the phase of a WG
session.
o Before the WG session.
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For the WG Chairs to enjoy their lunch, coffee or cookie until the
last minute, the Secretary could sacrifice his/her time and enter the
meeting room well in advance to prepare the session. This might
include: checking if blue sheets are available, 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 During 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.
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 WG session, the WG Secretary could bring the blue
sheets to the Secretariat, and socialize with the very supportive and
welcoming people composing the Secretariat.
2.1.3. 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/she could polish the notes taken
(correcting typos, or even complementing missing parts with audio
recordings) and send these to the Chairs for validation.
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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 for the WG participants to review and
inform him/her of changes that would need to be performed before
final publication.
2.2. Between IETF Meetings
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.
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 by the WG, 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.
Between 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 compliance with IETF IPR rules.
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As per [2] it is important for document authors and contributors to
disclose IPR in a timely manner. Verification that authors are in
compliance with IETF IPR rules may for example be conducted prior to
a WG adoption poll or WG Last Call. The WG Secretary could monitor
and track responses to such verifications, and chase authors and
contributors where necessary. Where responses are not forthcoming,
the WG Secretary could notify the Chairs.
o Tracking of documents issues.
Working Groups have issue trackers to facilitate the tracking of
documents issues. The WG Secretary could identify the issues raised
in a review of a WG document or during WG discussions and record the
information in the issue tracker. The WG Secretary could liaise with
the document editor to find one which issues were resolved and how
they were resolved and record that information.
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.
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 launch or
close polls for adoption or WG Last Calls, verify compliance with
IETF IPR rules, 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.
3. Conclusions and Perspectives
The previous section listed the possible functions and
responsibilities of WG Secretaries. The role of a WG Secretary can
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range from a few of these to the full spectrum of them, and even
beyond.
It is essential that over time the WG Secretary and Chairs build
trust to facilitate an effective and productive working relationship.
No secret recipe is however given here on how to achieve such
relationship. Nevertheless, making clear expectations from both
perspectives and clear communication, the higher the probability of a
more efficient and productive relationship and as such, will directly
facilitate to the success of the WG. Finally, while the WG Secretary
function can be viewed as being a support function to the WG Chairs,
it is crucial that the Chairs also provide support to the Secretary
as needed.
While the apparent value of a good WG Secretary might be in the
delegation of tasks that the Chairs are expected to manage and in the
smoothed operation of WGs, this role carries a second important
value. As the WG Secretary develops the knowledge to fulfil the above
functions and responsibilities he/she will be in a position to both
extend the scope of his/her actions, and to be more and more involved
in WG operation and decision-making. The WG Secretarial role is
therefore an excellent means for training individuals in the art of
WG operation, and possibly towards the role of WG Chair.
The Secretarial role is not mandatory in WGs, hence, no formal
selection process exists and it is also difficult to identify a best
current practice for that purpose. Reality is that WG chairs select
their secretaries in different ways. Nevertheless, to become a WG
Secretary the first step is to be active and involved in the WG of
interest as well as show willingness and have time to dedicate to
that function.
4. Security Considerations
Delegation based on trust is not expected to introduce security
issues. Nevertheless, while WG Chairs may 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/her choices and actions are in line with the Chairs views on any
given matter.
Also, the WG Secretary might have access to sensitive information,
usually only destined to the Chairs. Therefore, it is very important
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that a WG Secretary acts with ethics, respecting the privacy of these
data.
5. IANA Considerations
This document does not require any action from the IANA.
6. References
6.1. Normative References
[1] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures",
BCP 25, RFC 2418, September 1998.
6.2. Informative References
[2] Bradner, S., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology",
BCP 79, RFC 3979, March 2005.
[3] Levkowetz, H., Meyer, D., Eggert, L., and Mankin, A., "Document
Shepherding from Working Group Last Call to Publication", RFC
4858, May 2007.
7. Acknowledgments
The authors thank a number of Working Group Secretaries (in
alphabetical order) who have contributed to the development of this
document: Daniele Ceccarelli, Luigi Iannone, Subramanian Moonesamy,
Ines Robles, and Sam Weiler. The authors also thank Carlos Pignataro
for his review and contributions.
This document was prepared using 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot.
Contributors' Addresses
Daniele Ceccarelli
Ericsson
Via Melen 77, Genova, Italy
Email: daniele.ceccarelli@ericsson.com
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Luigi Iannone
Telecom ParisTech
23, Avenue d'Italie, 75013 Paris, France
Email: ggx@gigix.net
Subramanian Moonesamy
76, Ylang Ylang Avenue
Quatre Bornes
Mauritius
Email: sm+ietf@elandsys.com
Carlos Pignataro
Cisco Systems, Inc.
7200-12 Kit Creek Road
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
Email: cpignata@cisco.com
Ines Robles
Universidad Tecnologica Nacional - FRM
Rodriguez 273, Mendoza, Argentina
Email: ines.robles@gridtics.frm.utn.edu.ar
Authors' Addresses
Martin Vigoureux (Editor)
Alcatel-Lucent
Email: martin.vigoureux@alcatel-lucent.com
Daniel King (Editor)
Old Dog Consulting
Email: daniel@olddog.co.uk
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