[ih] This Review is for Everyone

[Craig Partridge]

On Sun, Mar 22, 2026 at 6:25 PM Dave Crocker via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> On 3/22/2026 5:20 PM, Noel Chiappa via Internet-history wrote:
> > but the person in charge of the nascent IETF needed a rare mix of skills
>
>
> It is indeed a rare mix.  And I think many of us worked very hard -- and
> very well -- over the decades, demonstrating just how rare it is.
>

Expanding here (and recognizing that Dave and Noel were both on the initial
IESG with me), figuring out how to get the IETF to work was a tortuous
effort (and we can argue about definitions of "work").  If a working group
(WG), especially one working on a critical problem, failed to make progress
between successive meetings (which were roughly every 3.5 months) that was
a red flag, and failure to make progress over three meetings was an
emergency.  The IETF leadership tried different things, including:

   - snap WG meetings, scheduled on short-notice, where in-person
   participation was required.  This was used by SNMP and MIB WGs to deal with
   efforts to slow down the WG to favor impending non-SNMP products (it worked
   but I think in retrospect feels expedient and anti-openness);
   - changing WG chairs -- notably worked well for 8-bit SMTP (John Klensin
   stepped in and averted a disaster [with a LOT of technical help from
   others]);
   - splitting WGs and/or allowing competing WGs -- e.g. IS-IS and OSPF
   (generally worked well and continues as a practice to this day);
   - advertising that certain decisions would happen at the WG's next
   meeting e.g. for IP over ATM (worked well because it shut off debate -- a
   form of a closure vote);
   - closed WGs -- most notably the ROAD group, which sought to find a
   solution to IPv4 address exhaustion (mixed reviews on whether this worked
   or caused problems and I don't think has been done again)

Part of what allowed things to come out OK in the end as we experimented
with different management solutions was that the vast majority of IETF
attendees wanted the Internet to work -- the cats were all trying to get to
the same destination -- the challenge was getting them to move briskly
together in that direction (which is less bad than the usual cat herding
problem).

Craig
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