| Internet-Draft | NomCom-2years | September 2023 |
| Huston & Salz | Expires 29 March 2024 | [Page] |
Each year the NomCom process is actually two processes -- finding out anew how to be a NomCom and conduct its business, and then undertaking the work of the NomCom in selecting individuals to undertake the various roles for which the NomCom has responsibility. This applies to both the chair and to the voting volunteer members of the NomCom.¶
The inclusion of the past chair into the NomCom as a non-voting member mitigates this to some extent, but the past chair is constrained as to the level of advice that can be offerred. This acts an impediment to making concrete changes for future incarnations of the Nomcom that would improve the overall Nomcom process.¶
The NomCom process could benefit from greater levels of continuity from year-to-year to reduce the amount of time taken to by the new Nomcom to define its intended mode of operation and allow the operation each incarnation of the Nomcom with a greater level of consistency.¶
This document changes the term of office for NomCom voting volunteers from one to two years. It also changes the term of office for the NomCom Chair from two to three.¶
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.¶
Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at https://github.com/richsalz/nomcom-changes.¶
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Each year the IETF Nomincations Committee ("NomCom") process [RFC8713] is actually two processes -- finding out anew how to be a NomCom and conduct its business and then secondly performing the work of the NomCom in selecting individuals to undertake the various roles for which the NomCom has responsibility. This applies to both the Chair and to the voting volunteer members of the NomCom.¶
The inclusion of the past Chair into the NomCom as a non-voting member mitigates this to some extent, but the past Chair is constrained as to the level of advice that can be offerred. Even with such an arrangement, the degree with which the previous chair can advocate adoption of previously used processes (and supporting tools) that benefit the efficient operation of the Nomcom is limited by being a single voice within the Nomcom. Each incarnation of the Nomcom is prone to repeating the same behaviours each year, with only a limited opportunity to benefit from previous experience.¶
The NomCom could benefit from greater levels of continuity from year-to-year to assist the NomCom to get over the bootstrap period of operational process definition each year.¶
This document changes the term of office for NomCom voting volunteers from one to two years. It also changes the term of office for the NomCom Chair from two to three.¶
[RFC8713] documents how the IETF Nominations Committee operates. That document refers to the meetings by ordinals; for ease of understanding, this document uses March, July, and November instead of First, Second, Third, respectively.¶
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.¶
The voting volunteers serve for two years. The selection are to be staggered (see below) so that after the bootstrap five new members are chosen each year.¶
The NomCom chair serves for three years, each year is known as Incoming Chair, Chair, and Past Chair. The voting rules for Chair and Past Chair do not change. The Incoming Chair does not vote and does not count for quorum in Nomcom meetings.¶
ISSUE Is that last sentence what we want?¶
GH Yes, I think so!¶
To commence this process, the ISOC President selects an individual as the designated Chair, and an individual as the Incoming Chair. The order and method of selection is left to the discretion of the ISOC President. This document recommends that the Incoming Chair be announced before the current chair has made any public announcements. In suceeding years the ISOC President selects an individual as the Incoming Chair.¶
The voting volunteers for the first year of operation of this process need to be selected in two separate groups - five are picked for a one-year term, and five are picked for a two-year term. In order to prevent the Chair from having undue influence, [RFC3797] or its successor should be used. The seed material for both groups can be the same, with an additional seed provided that distinguishes them. For example, an additional lottery equivalent with "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6" as the numbers for the first group and "7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12" as the numbers for the second group could be used.¶
A single list of eligible volunteers is used for both volunteer groups in the first year of operation of this process.¶
In suceeding years the selection process will name five individuals to serve a two year term as a Nomcom member.¶
If someone is unwilling, unreachable, or otherwise unable to serve, the next person for that group should be chosen.¶
RS This comes from some other correspondence and I think there are some valid points here.¶
I hope that proposal draft explicitly addresses the problem that, perhaps because of the increased workload, the NomCom is already less diverse and less representative of the community than one might reasonably wish for. I see it as a tradeoff, rather than fatal but, unless there are other remedies, the longer commitment of more time seems likely to further reduce diversity, perhaps to the point that the typical NomCom member becomes someone with good organizational support (perhaps from organizations/ companies with ulterior motives) and little significant involvement in the IETF's technical work (aka "too much time on their hands"). I don't have a strong opinion about what you should say on the subject, but I believe not addressing the issue would be a mistake.¶
The security considerations of Section 9 of [RFC8713] are still applicable.¶
One possible concern is that organizations with an agenda now have two years to exercise it, and in their second year will be more competent to use their influence with respect to that agenda. Maintaining the requirement that at most two people can be from the same organization as defined in Section 4.17 of [RFC8713] should help mitigate that.¶
In addition, since the term of office for the Chair and the voting volunteers is being extended by a year, all will be participants in more than one NomCom "session." It seems obvious that this will make it harder to maintain confidentiality. For example, a participant in years N and N+1 will have to ensure that they do not discuss N+1 items with someone who was a participant in N and N-1.¶
GH I am not sure that the last 2 sentences are the case,¶
Note, however, that the key goal of this document is to introduce greater continuity across NomComs.¶
This document has no IANA actions.¶
The LLC is requested to provide free registration for the NomCom Chair (and only the current Chair) and the voting volunteers for the November meeting as that is when most of the candidate interviews are done.¶
GH Really? If the nomcom folk need free rego to to attend an IETF then the wheels have fallen off in my view!¶
RS Since most of the November meeting could be spent interviewing, for diversity/inclusion it makes sense to me. But TBD.¶
None so far.¶