Polling and Voting Adrian Farrel Routing Area Director Maastricht, July 2010

Why Am I Talking to You? MPLS Working Group covers MPLS-TP Unusual influx of newcomers –Welcome! –Lack of experience in “the IETF way” –Great enthusiasm to get involved Some cultural and process issues have shown up repeatedly Sorry to those of you who know all this

Welcome to the IETF – We Don’t Vote “We reject kings, presidents and voting. We believe in rough consensus and running code.” – David Clark quoted in RFC 4677 No membership and no identity checks –How could we vote? Instead of voting, we reach “rough consensus”

How Do We Judge Consensus? Consensus is “rough” WG chairs judge WG consensus Based on many things –Weight of opinion –Technical merit of concerns –Experience and expertise of different people –History of involvement in IETF (and this WG) –Vulnerability of specification under consideration –Concern for process –Urgency of work Judging consensus is an art not a science Decisions can be appealed to the AD (and upwards) –Appealing is not routine and is very significant

Asking Questions to a Working Group The WG chairs will often need to ask a question –Should we adopt this document as a WG I-D? –Which solution should we adopt? –Is this I-D ready for last call? –etc. These questions are not votes! –The chairs need to judge consensus –“Going against the flow” requires reasons All reasons need to be explained Technical reasons are best –Simply saying “no” carries virtually no weight –Even a “yes” is best supported with a reason

Adopting a Working Group Draft There are few rules –The I-D needs to be in scope of the charter –The chairs make the decisions The Tao (RFC 4677) says: An Internet Draft can be either a Working Group draft or an individual submission. Working Group drafts are usually reviewed by the Working Group before being accepted as a WG item, although the chairs have the final say. Asking the WG (polling for adoption) is a common technique used by WG chairs –Does anyone know of a good reason to not adopt? –Is there a body of people who support the work? –Are there enough people willing to work on the draft?

Egregious Behaviour Joining a mailing list just to submit a vote –If you are interested in a topic please do join the list, read the back-ground, listen to the discussions, express your opinions Voting –If you have an opinion please do express it, but also explain your reasoning Soliciting votes –Do not encourage your colleagues, friends, or family to vote –Please do have open and frank technical discussions As widely as possible On the mailing list where appropriate

Actions - Participants Newcomers –Please read the background material –Try to stick within the spirit of the IETF –Watch and learn –Ask for advice The ADs and chairs have a duty to help you Old-timers –When was the last time you read this stuff? –Do you follow the right process? Especially around working group polls

Actions – Working Group Chairs Be more sensitive to the changing make-up of the working group –Many newcomers –Experience with different processes No need to change any working group processes BUT –Take more care to explain what is happening –Phrase questions and polls more carefully State exactly what information you are looking for

Background Material RFC 4677 –The Tao of IETF –Also available at RFC 2026 –The Internet Standards Process RFC 2418 –Working Group Guidelines and Procedures