RE: A concept resurrected(?) - WG secretary?

[carl@manros.com]

Hi all,

Sorry for joining in on this subject rather late, but here is my experience
from the Internet Printing Protocol (ipp) WG.

Although this WG is now in the maintenance phase and hasn't met for several
IETF meetings, we were "lucky" to have a consistent WG secretary throughout
the project. That person also fulfilled a more formal role as secretary in
the Printer Working Group subgroup on ipp, which provided much of the input
for the IETF WG. Hence he was well informed about the subjects being
discussed and was a vey good and consistent note taker. In addition, his
role in general was more of an observer, which means that he seldom got
heavily involved in the technical discussions, but could focus on his
recording role.

It should also be mentioned that the interaction between the WG chair and
the secretary is very important. The chair has to make sure that the
consensus of discussions are summaried for the secretary. Now and again, the
secretary intervened during the meetings to determine whether a conclusion
or agreed solution had been achieved, or if the subject for discussion was
still wide open. I usually got the draft minutes from the secretary about
one week after the meeting and checked them for completeness and consistency
before they were sent to the IETF. I seldom had any complaints to the drafts
as written.

In the case of the ipp WG, the secretary got his recognition more from his
role in the Printer Working Group, but it would be nice to also get some
form of public recognition from the IETF. It certainly makes it easier for
somebody to get the funding from his/her employer for IETF meetings, if
their role is recognised in some form beyond the name as note taker in the
minutes themselves after the meeting.

Carl-Uno

Carl-Uno Manros
700 Carnegie Street #3724
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Email carl@manros.com
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