Internet DRAFT - draft-leiba-term-limit-guidance
draft-leiba-term-limit-guidance
Network Working Group B. Leiba
Internet-Draft Futurewei Technologies
Intended status: Best Current Practice 21 October 2021
Expires: 24 April 2022
Guidance to the IETF Nominating Committee About Term Limits
draft-leiba-term-limit-guidance-00
Abstract
In order to encourage more turnover in the IETF management bodies,
this document provides strong guidance to the IETF Nominating
Committee with regard to limiting the number of consecutive terms a
given participant should be selected to serve in NomCom-appointed
positions.
Status of This Memo
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Specific Guidance to the NomCom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1. Introduction
In order to encourage more turnover in the IETF management bodies,
this document provides strong guidance to the IETF Nominating
Committee (NomCom)[RFC8713] with regard to limiting the number of
consecutive terms a given participant should be selected to serve in
NomCom-appointed positions.
// The following paragraph is for draft discussion only and will be
// changed or removed before publication.
For convenience, this document will refer to NomCom-appointed
positions on the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), the
Internet Architecture Board (IAB), and the IETF Administration LLC
Board of Directors (LLC) collectively as "leadership positions", or
just "leadership". We can decide on final nomenclature for that
after we've hashed out the other details in this proposal.
2. Background
The IETF community is best served when leadership changes at regular
intervals, leading to greater diversity of thought, vision, and
perspective, and avoiding "burnout" that can result from someone
serving in time-consuming and stressful positions for an extended
time. There have been occasional proposals for hard term limits, and
many in the community support that approach, but there is concern
about the effect of limiting NomComs too strictly. This document
takes an alternative approach of using clear and strong guidance to
NomComs, which they are expected to follow, while still giving them
the flexibility to evaluate specific situations and to "do the right
thing" when strict rules would be problematic.
This section lays out some principles that inform the guidance given
here.
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The IESG comprises the Area Directors (ADs) from each of the IETF
technical areas, the IETF Chair (AD of the General Area), and the IAB
Chair (ex-officio). It is widely considered that much of an AD's
first year is spent learning the role and finding one's way. Because
of that, ADs who are doing well in the second year of their first
terms are generally re-appointed for a second term, taking advantage
of their experience and allowing them to use what they have learned.
Third terms are less common, and four terms or more are unusual, as
the role of an Area Director is a busy and stressful one. Burnout is
a danger, but even without that consideration the community thinks it
important to bring new vision and perspective into the AD position
regularly.
A complication often arises with respect to finding ADs: There are
frequently few -- sometimes only one or two -- volunteers to stand
for a particular AD position. Sometimes a NomCom has only an
incumbent candidate, and no other volunteers to choose from. While
some participants can serve -- and have served -- as ADs in more than
one area, AD positions are not readily interchangeable, making the
NomCom's work more difficult when these situations arise.
The IAB comprises members across the IETF technical areas. Because
its members are appointed "at large", rather than from specific
areas, there tends to be a broader pool of IAB candidates, giving
NomComs a greater abundance of choices than they have when selecting
Area Directors.
A challenge in selecting the IAB is that ADs who step down often
immediately vie for positions as IAB members. While the IAB is a
different body, with different roles and needs, this situation
nevertheless does not contribute to diversity in leadership,
revitalization of a stressed AD, or fresh perspectives on the IAB.
The community is particularly concerned with a pattern of ADs making
immediate transitions to the IAB.
The IETF Chair role is the busiest and most stressful, and benefits
strongly from recent experience on the IESG. "Recent", here,
requires judgment, of course, and a good candidate for IETF Chair
might be just finishing a term as a technical AD or might have held
such a role within the last few years. It is not desirable for term
limits to rule out IETF Chair candidates because they have been on
the IESG "too recently".
(This document is not covering the LLC just yet...)
The community considers it important that participants who take on
leadership positons return to the community (outside of leadership)
periodically, to serve as working group participants, document
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editors, working group chairs, and directorate members. This allows
the community to benefit from what those in leadership have learned
and the experience they have developed. It also provides
opportunities for others in the community to step into leadership,
and benefits the individuals involved by allowing them to revitalize
and regenerate, developing a new set of perspectives, before they
consider additional terms in other leadership positions.
3. Specific Guidance to the NomCom
In general, an individual should be expected to serve no more than
two terms in *any* collective NomCom-appointed positions before
returning to the community for at least one year. As an example, if
a participant is selected for the IAB in 2020 and becomes an AD in
2022, that participant would be expected to take a "gap year" in
2024. NomComs should consider a third consecutive term with no gap
to be unusual, and should consider a fourth term to be exceptional,
only to be used in exceptional circumstances. The IESG and IAB
should consider such exceptional situations as needing analysis and
possible action to see that they do not persist.
An exception to the general guidance above is for appointment to IETF
Chair: It is expected that the individual selected as IETF Chair
might be a sitting AD or IAB member, or one who is just stepping down
from one of those roles, and that there might not be a gap year in
this case.
NomComs are, given this guidance, tasked with doing the right thing
and making the best choices for the IETF, with the understanding that
situations arise where firm rules do not work well and judgment is
critical. If a NomCom makes an appointment that this guidance
considers unusual or exceptional, it is important that the situation
be explained in the NomCom Chair's report to the confirming body, as
the confirmation process needs to consider the NomCom's choice to
deviate from this guidance, and needs to understand the situation
that has arisen. The NomCom Chair should also include an explanation
in the report to the community, to the extent possible within NomCom
confidentiality rules.
4. IANA Considerations
This document makes no request of IANA.
5. Security Considerations
This document is purely procedural, and there are no related security
considerations.
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6. Acknowledgments
Thanks to Rich Salz for kicking off the discussion of term limits,
and to John Klensin, Brian Carpenter, Keith Moore, Mark Nottingham,
Kyle Rose, Eric Rescorla, Rob Sayre, Bob Hinden, Jaren Mauch, John
Levine, Joel Halpern, Michael Richardson, and others who participated
in the discussion and prompted the writing of this proposal.
7. Informative References
[RFC8713] Kucherawy, M., Ed., Hinden, R., Ed., and J. Livingood,
Ed., "IAB, IESG, IETF Trust, and IETF LLC Selection,
Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the IETF
Nominating and Recall Committees", BCP 10, RFC 8713,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8713, February 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8713>.
Author's Address
Barry Leiba
Futurewei Technologies
Email: barryleiba@computer.org
URI: http://internetmessagingtechnology.org/
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