RFC 1640 (rfc1640) - Page 2 of 10

The Process for Organization of Internet Standards Working Group (POISED)

RFC 1640                    POISED WG Report                   June 1994


   As often happens during periods of conflict, communication suffered
   among the several parties.  The June communication from the IAB was
   understood by many an IAB decision or, equivalently, a sense of the
   decisions the IAB would make in the future.  In contrast, many if not
   all on the IAB felt that they were trying to open up the discussion
   and their memos were intended as advice and not decisions.  From my
   perspective, this form of miscommunication was partly due to the
   extended size of the Internet technical community.  When the
   community was much smaller, the IAB was in close contact with the day
   to day workings of the technical groups.  With the creation of the
   IESG and area directorates, there are now two or three layers between
   a working group and the IAB.

   These matters came to a head during the IETF meeting in July in
   Cambridge, MA.  It was made clear that the consideration of changes
   to the IP protocol remained open.  Work on that topic has proceeded
   and is reported in the appropriate forums.  However, it became clear
   that it was necessary to examine the decision process and the
   procedures for populating the IESG and IAB.  With respect to the
   procedures for selecting IAB and IESG members, the procedures that
   were in place derived from the creation of the Internet Society
   (ISOC) and the ISOC's sponsorship of the IAB.  These procedures had
   been developed during the early part of 1992 and had been adopted by
   the ISOC during its meeting in Kobe in June.  Hence, as fast as the
   ISOC was building the framework for supporting the Internet
   community, the community was questioning its structure and processes.

   Following the IETF meeting, Vint Cerf, Internet Society president,
   called for the formation of working group to examine the processes
   and particularly the selection process (Attachment 1).  During
   August, the working group was formed, I was asked to chair it, and a
   charter for the WG was formulated (Attachment 2).  (The acronym is
   due to Erik Huizer and originally stood for The Process for
   Organization of Internet Standards and Development.  It was shortened
   to fit into the space available on paper and in the IETF
   Secretariat's database.)

Deliberations: August through mid-November

   The formation of the POISED WG provided a forum for discussion of
   process issues.  An estimated 20 MB of messages filled up disks all
   over the world.  Much of this discussion was fragmented or focused on
   narrow issues.  The salient point that emerged was the need for a
   well defined process for selecting leaders with explicit community
   representation in the selection process.  There was also substantial
   discussion of the role of the IAB -- to what extent should it make
   decisions and to what extent should it provide technical guidance? --
   and the relationship between the IAB and IESG.



Crocker