Internet DRAFT - draft-farrel-soon
draft-farrel-soon
Internet Engineering Task Force A. Farrel
Internet-Draft Old Dog Consulting
Intended status: Informational 6 September 2023
Expires: 9 March 2024
A Definition of the Term "Soon" for Use in Discussions with Working
Group Chairs and Area Directors
draft-farrel-soon-08
Abstract
Many discussions with IETF Area Directors and Working Group Chairs
utilize the word "Soon" to qualify a commitment to action. This
document attempts to provide a definition of that term so that common
expectations may be realistically set.
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
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material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on 9 March 2024.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2023 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 (https://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. Code Components
extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. We Are All Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. The Kompella Time-Dilation Effect (KTDE) . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Possible Interpretation of the Term 'Soon' . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Optimism Is the Curse of the Drinking Man . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. Towards A Definitive Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
7. Guidance in the Use of This Term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7.1. Temporal or Meta-Temporal Applicability . . . . . . . . . 5
8. Boilerplate for Inclusion in All Communications . . . . . . . 6
9. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
10. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
10.1. Privacy Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
11. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
12. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
12.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
12.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Introduction
In everyday exchanges between IETF participants and those with IETF
management roles (for example, Area Directors and Working Group
Chairs) commitments are often made to deliver actions.
For example, a Working Group Chair may say, "I will issue a working
group last call on this document," or an Area Director could say, "I
will process your publication request and review your document."
Alternatively, a document author might say, "I will produce a new
revision of this document," and a participant sometimes says, "I will
provide more details / suggested text / a follow-up review."
In all of these interactions it is common for the speaker to offer
some expected completion time for the action. Sometimes this is
expressed in elapsed time (for example, "I will do this within the
next two lunar cycles"), frequently it is stated with reference to an
absolute point in time (such as, "I will do this by the third Sunday
in Lent"), but usually the qualifier applied is, "Soon."
Frustration and disappointment are common currency in the modern
world, but there is no need for the IETF to add to this state of
affairs. Nor should the IETF be responsible for increasing cynicism
and jaundiced pessimism. Therefore, this document attempts to
provide a definition of the term "Soon" so that common expectations
may be realistically set.
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1.1. Requirements Language
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
2. We Are All Volunteers
It is a commonly held belief that in the IETF, "We are all
volunteers." Even those of us who are paid to do our jobs are
confident that we are only working out of the goodness of our hearts,
and that our salaries are but poor recompense for our daily travails.
And, of course, it is well known that you cannot induce a volunteer
to do anything that might interfere with their otherwise compulsory
activities of looking at pictures of cats, creating memes, pipe-
smoking, or writing fairy tales [TFTW]. Therefore, it is highly
inappropriate for this document to make any attempt to constrain
anyone into giving a meaningful delivery date for any action that
they promise. To that end it is expected that this document will be
withdrawn and a fulsome apology issued, soon.
3. The Kompella Time-Dilation Effect (KTDE)
When serving as co-chair of the CCAMP working Group, Kireeti Kompella
was often called to account for not supplying a completion date for
tasks to which he committed.
After wise consideration of this situation, Kireeti would offer an
answer such as, "I will do this before the end of June," and everyone
would go away content. It was only as July gave way to August and
then to September, and when the mists drifted into the orchards
adding dampness to the smell of unpicked fruit rotting on the trees,
that Kireeti would explain that he had failed to indicate to which
year he was referring.
In cases of high residual KTDE, the use of the term "Soon" would
better set expectations, and Kireeti has given an undertaking to
transition to this term by the end of the second quarter.
4. Possible Interpretation of the Term 'Soon'
Many learned articles have been written on possible interpretation of
the term "Soon." No doubt the author will add citations and
references soon.
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Readers should note that "SOON" is also an FLA [RFC5513] although it
has not yet been registered as such by IANA. This document has not
(noticeably) been endorsed by the Standards Organisation of any
nation state.
5. Optimism Is the Curse of the Drinking Man
The software industry is infamous for its inability to provide
reliable estimates for development projects. No one is quite sure
why this should be. Is it because troops of evil mice come into the
workshop late at night, while the cobbler is asleep in his bed
alongside his long-suffering wife, and unpick the seams of carefully
constructed function calls? Is it because coders make it all up as
they go along and have no idea what they are doing? Or is it a
coincidence that sotware is so appropriately spelled?
IETF working group milestones (or "millstones" as they are more
correctly termed) are commonly held in disrepute. They are certainly
not dates that anyone has ever been held to, and inspection of most
working group charters will show that either the chairs intend
employing time travel or that no one pays any attention to the
milestones. It may be because Area Directors often say to working
group chairs that, "Milestones are just a tool for you to manage the
working group," or it may be because no one likes a bully.
These two factors obviously contribute to an environment in which the
term "Soon" has little or no currency except as padding to fill an
awkward gap between a promise and the full stop at the end of the
sentence.
None of which is intended to imply that:
* Women don't drink
* Women are less optimistic than men
* Women are more optimistic than men
6. Towards A Definitive Meaning
The purpose of this document is to provide a working definition of
the term "Soon" so that parsers of IETF communications may reasonably
understand the meaning, and so that a degree of linguistic
interoperability between speakers may be achieved. The following
definition applies:
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* SOON This word, or the adverb "SHORTLY", means that an item is
truly OPTIONAL. One IETF participant may choose to deliver the
item because a particular marketplace requires it or because the
participant feels that it enhances their reputation, while another
participant may omit to deliver the same item. A participant who
does not deliver a particular item MUST be prepared to continue to
work with with another participant who does deliver the item,
though perhaps with reduced credulity. In the same vein, a
participant who does deliver a particular item MUST be prepared to
continue to work with another participant who does not deliver the
item, though perhaps with less respect (except, of course, for
communications about the feature the item provides).
* TOO LATE This phrase, and the phrase "NEVER MORE", means that
the optimality of an item has been pushed to its limit, and then
slightly further. For the benefit of everyone, once one of these
phrases has been used in a communication, all work on the
referenced deliverable SHOULD be halted and all further discussion
SHOULD be transmitted as silence and MUST be ignored on receipt.
Document authors MAY choose to ignore either of these terms, but
they do so at the risk of their immortal souls. Further guidance
on this issue can be obtained from your moral guardian, your
household gods, or from any member of the IMM (Internet Moral
Majority) [RFC4041].
The term "TOO LATE" and the term "NEVER MORE" and not to be confused
with [LATE] or [CROAK].
7. Guidance in the Use of This Term
Terms of the type defined in this memo must be used with care and
sparingly. In particular, they MUST only be used where it is
actually required for explanation of when a deliverable will arrive
or to limit behavior which has potential for causing harm (e.g.,
limiting retransmissions of requests for action). For example, they
MUST NOT be used to try to impose a particular schedule on
participants where the schedule is not required for anything other
than vanity.
7.1. Temporal or Meta-Temporal Applicability
All uses of the term "SOON" made on April 1st SHOULD be treated with
caution.
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8. Boilerplate for Inclusion in All Communications
In many IETF communications a word is often used to signify the
proximity of an event described in the communication. This word is
often capitalized. This document defines this word as it should be
interpreted in IETF communications. Authors who follow these
guidelines SHOULD incorporate this phrase near the beginning of their
communication:
* The key words "SOON", "SHORTLY", "TOO LATE", and "NEVER MORE" in
this communication are to be interpreted as described in
[This.I-D].
Contrary to the overweening pedantry of [RFC8174], words used in this
document mean what they say regardless of what font they are in and
notwithstanding the color in which they are rendered.
To quote from Through the Looking Glass by Charles Dodgson [GLASS]:
* "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,
"it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
* "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so
many different things."
* "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -
that's all."
Thus, the term "Soon" is as meaningful when it is presented in
"uppercase" as it is when found in "LOWERCASE".
9. IANA Considerations
This document makes no request for any IANA actions.
10. Security Considerations
Just say no!
Further security consideration will be added to this document SOON.
10.1. Privacy Considerations
See "Author's Address" Section.
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11. Acknowledgements
Kireeti Kompella reminded me of millstones and corrected my grammar.
Thanks to John Scudder for his own overweening pedantry.
Benoit Claise supplied comments NOT BEFORE TIME.
12. References
12.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
12.2. Informative References
[CROAK] Poe, E.A., "The Raven", Poem, Ink on Vellum, 1845,
<https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven>.
[GLASS] Carroll, L., "Through The Looking Glass", Book, e-book,
<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12>.
[LATE] Windus, W.L., "Too Late", Painting, Oil on Canvas, 1858,
<https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/windus-too-late-
n03597>.
[RFC4041] Farrel, A., "Requirements for Morality Sections in Routing
Area Drafts", RFC 4041, DOI 10.17487/RFC4041, April 2005,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4041>.
[RFC5513] Farrel, A., "IANA Considerations for Three Letter
Acronyms", RFC 5513, DOI 10.17487/RFC5513, April 2009,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5513>.
[TFTW] Farrel, A., "Tales From the Wood", Book, Paperback, 2015,
<https://www.feedaread.com/books/Tales-from-the-Wood-
9781786100924.aspx>.
Author's Address
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Adrian Farrel
Old Dog Consulting
Email: adrian@olddog.co.uk
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