Proto Team D. Meyer Internet-Draft Cisco/University of Oregon Expires: September 16, 2005 March 15, 2005 The PROTO Adviser draft-ietf-proto-proto-adviser-00 Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is subject to all provisions of Section 3 of RFC 3667. By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she become aware will be disclosed, in accordance with RFC 3668. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on September 16, 2005. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). Abstract The PROTO Adviser is a designated IETF community member who will provide support to PROTO document shepherds during the first year or so after the IETF working groups begin using PROTO. He or she primarily serves as a source of institutional knowledge for the shepherds and Chairs (and any community member with an interest in PROTO). This document describes roles of the PROTO Adviser. Meyer Expires September 16, 2005 [Page 1] Internet-Draft The PROTO Adviser March 2005 Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. PROTO Adviser Roles and Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . 6 Meyer Expires September 16, 2005 [Page 2] Internet-Draft The PROTO Adviser March 2005 1. Introduction Early in 2004 the IESG undertook several experiments aimed at evaluating whether any of the several candidate changes to the IETF document approval process could yield qualitative improvements in document throughput and quality. One such experiment, referred to as PROTO [PROTO] (PROcess and TOols), is a set of methodologies designed to involve the Working Group chairs more directly in their documents' approval life cycle. In particular, the PROTO team focused on that part of the document's life cycle which occurs after the document editor and working group typically view the document as "tossed over the wall" to the IESG for publication. In the PROTO methodology, instead of tossing the document over the wall, the WG Chair takes over the Area Director's shepherding tasks (as detailed in [PROTO]). There are no changes in the document approval requirements, the IESG still must carry out its approval steps, but the Working Group Chair document shepherd is able to team with use his or her energy to greatly enhance the work done during the approval process for the document. The PROTO process represents a shift in responsibilities from AD to working group chair. This is a significant change which should improve the timeliness and quality of IETF documents. Since this change is being applied to working groups and important IETF documents, the PROTO team felt that it would helpful to have a member of the group which devised this new process available to the folks using it to ensure that transition went smoothly. Note that the Proto Adviser's responsibilities are generally to answer questions about the process and remind folks to use it. Finally, the Proto Adviser isn't intended to be directly involved in document shepherding other than as an adviser on the PROTO process. 2. PROTO Adviser Roles and Responsibilities The PROTO Adviser (PA) will provide support to the Working Group document shepherds using PROTO in the first year or so after working groups begin to use the PROTO approach to document publication. The includes serving as a source of institutional knowledge available to the Working Group Chairs during the PROTO process, both through involvement in the PROTO team and through continuing manager experience, and the following specific responsibilities: 1. Maintaining a list or website for the community of PROTO working groups. See [PROTO] for the set of cases which are excluded. The PA also reminds the ADs and Working Group Chairs that PROTO write ups are required (thus starting the PROTO process) when working group documents transition into AD Evaluation state. Note that this requires that the PA receive notifications of the Meyer Expires September 16, 2005 [Page 3] Internet-Draft The PROTO Adviser March 2005 state transitions for the PROTO documents. This reminder should point the shepherds to [PROTO] to ensure that the structure and content of the write up is full and complete. 2. Keeping track of WG progress status and activity level to ensure that the methodology is being used (and works smoothly), 3. Acting as a general resource for WGCs involved in PROTO. In particular, the PA serves as a resource for the WGC who can triage PROTO related issues and vector them appropriate resolution point, 4. The PA will periodically report to the community on the progress of PROTO, including successes and problems encountered, and incremental changes to the methodology. 3. Conclusions This document introduces the roles and responsibilities of the PROTO manager. It is important to note that the PROTO manager is an informal position and is not intended to be institutionalized. Rather, it is envisioned that the PROTO manager position will be retained as long as it proves useful, i.e., until the PROTO ways of working become very familiar, probably for a year or so. 4. Security Considerations This document specifies a change to IETF document flow procedures. As such, it neither raises nor considers protocol-specific security issues. 5. Acknowledgments Allison Mankin, Bill Fenner, Barbara Fuller, Margaret Wasserman, Aaron Falk and Henrik Levkowetz all made important contributions to this document. 6. IANA Considerations This document creates no new requirements on IANA namespaces or other IANA requirements. 7. Normative References [PROTO] Falk, A., Levkowetz, H. and D. Meyer, "The PROTO Process: Working Group Chair Document Shepherding", Internet-Draft draft-ietf-proto-wgchair-doc-shepherding, Meyer Expires September 16, 2005 [Page 4] Internet-Draft The PROTO Adviser March 2005 March 2005. Author's Address David Meyer 1225 Kincaid St Eugene, OR 97403 USA Phone: +1.541.346.1747 Email: dmm@1-4-5.net Meyer Expires September 16, 2005 [Page 5] Internet-Draft The PROTO Adviser March 2005 Intellectual Property Statement The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79. Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org. Disclaimer of Validity This document and the information contained herein are provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. Acknowledgment Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society. Meyer Expires September 16, 2005 [Page 6]