Session Date/Time: 03 Nov 2021 13:30

IETF Plenary

Summary

The IETF Plenary provided updates from the IETF Chair, IAB, IRTF, RFC Editor, NomCom, and IETF LLC Board. Key discussions included experiments running across the organization (e.g., plenary scheduling, NomCom eligibility, AD reviews), the transition of IETF tools, efforts to attract new work, and the IETF's financial sustainability and planning for future hybrid meetings. Several decisions and recommendations for future work were announced, notably the extension of the NomCom eligibility experiment and the IETF Trust initiating a consultation on its legal structure.

Key Discussion Points

Participation & Logistics: As of November 2, 1037 registrations (210 fee waivers), 200 hackathon participants (17 projects). Detailed attendance stats to follow. Support available via [email protected] and [email protected]. A meeting survey will be sent out post-IETF week, including questions about the plenary experiment. The Schmooze Working Group is developing guidance for meeting planning.
Organizational Experiments:
- Plenary Experiment: Moving the plenary to a week before the main meeting frees up 8-9 working group session slots. Feedback is sought via the post-meeting survey. An apology was issued for a conflict with the Nanog conference.
- Online Social Events: An online welcome reception and Hot RFC session are being held in Gather.town immediately after the plenary to recreate in-person social interactions.
- BoF Deadlines: An experiment is running to have earlier BoF deadlines to allow IESG/IAB feedback, aiming for better planned and run BoFs. Feedback is requested on its effectiveness.
- NomCom Eligibility: The experiment extending NomCom eligibility to include participation in virtual meetings (defined in RFC 8989) has been extended for another year. This is due to the continued virtual meeting format and a need to gather more data on the effectiveness of other eligibility tracks.
- AD 360-degree Reviews: The first round of 360-degree reviews for Area Directors (ADs) has concluded. Individual AD results are private, but an aggregated view for the IESG will be published. Community feedback indicated a need to revamp the questionnaire for future rounds.
Tools Transition: Services at tools.ietf.org are being replaced, with a wind-down expected before IETF 113. authors.ietf.org is in beta to replace xml2rfc, but requires further work on bibxml and conversion services. Due to limited resources, not all niche tools under tools.ietf.org will be maintained. Community feedback is encouraged via GitHub or the tools-discuss mailing list.
Immorter Activities: Joey Salazar has stepped down as co-coordinator. The Immorter team (education, mentoring, outreach) is seeking a new co-chair and aims to re-energize efforts, especially with the return to hybrid meetings.
IAB Activities:
- An IAB Workshop on Analyzing IETF Data is scheduled for late November to study IETF participation trends and author demographics, including pandemic impacts.
- The RFC Editor Future Development Program is nearing completion, with its main document (describing the new RFC model) currently in program last call until November 5th.
- Adrian Farrel will step down as Independent Submission Editor in February; candidates are sought for this critical role.
- Diversity in Leadership: The IAB is seeking diverse candidates for the ISOC Board of Trustees, emphasizing the need for more women and individuals from various global regions.
IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP): Three awards for 2021 were announced for work on BGP extensibility (Thomas Wirtgen), third-party service dependencies (Xunqi Li), and internet censorship (Kevin Bock). Nominations for ANRP 2022 are open until November 19th.
RFC Editor Process: 461 RFCs have been published in XML over 1.5 years, with the process working well and meeting pre-XML SLAs. Work continues on improving tools (e.g., XML diff, SVG support) and exploring alternative input formats like Markdown. Issues with the SVG profile currently in use were noted.
NomCom 2021: A call for community feedback on nominees and incumbents is open via the datatracker. NomCom office hours are scheduled in Gather.town.
IETF LLC Operations:
- Sponsorship: Continued thanks to Ericsson, Cisco, Juniper, and other global and diversity/inclusivity sponsors for their support.
- IETF 113 (March 2022): The next meeting will be held in Europe (venue negotiations near completion), as Bangkok/Asia and North America were ruled out due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. It is planned as a smaller, hybrid meeting with an on-site cap of approximately 650 people. The dates remain unchanged. Future meetings will gradually ramp up capacity.
- Endowment: Lee Berkeley Shaw was introduced as the new Director of Development. The IETF Endowment aims to ensure long-term financial sustainability and diversify funding sources. LACNIC made a $100,000 gift, which will be matched two-to-one by the Internet Society.
IASA2 3-Year Retrospective: Completed as required by BCP 101 (RFC 8711).
- 61 out of 63 requirements were rated as achieved or on track.
- Two requirements were "partly achieved/in progress": "Improve the IETF's technical environment" (due to remaining technical debt and ongoing transition to new toolsets) and "Develop a sustainable funding model" (progress made with ISOC agreement, new sponsorships, endowment growth, but more work is needed).
New Work Intake: Concerns were raised about a distinct drop in zero-zero drafts and BoF proposals, attributed to difficulties socializing complex work in a virtual format and a lack of informal in-person interaction. The Hot RFC session and existing mentoring programs were highlighted as avenues to support new work.

Decisions and Action Items

Decision: The experiment to count participation in virtual meetings towards NomCom eligibility (defined in RFC 8989) is extended for another year.
Decision: The IETF 113 meeting (March 2022) will be a smaller, hybrid meeting in Europe, with an on-site attendance cap of approximately 650 people.
Decision: The LLC Board has completed the IASA2 3-year retrospective and published its final report.
Decision: The LLC Board has completed the consultation on LLC role requirements and sent updated requirements to the NomCom.
Action Item: The post-IETF week survey will include questions specific to the plenary experiment and BoF deadlines experiment.
Action Item: The IESG plans to publish an aggregated view of the AD 360-degree review feedback within 1-2 weeks.
Action Item: The IAB is actively seeking candidates for the Independent Submission Editor position.
Action Item: The IAB is actively seeking diverse candidates for the ISOC Board of Trustees.
Action Item: The Immorter team is seeking a new co-chair for its activities.

Next Steps

Ongoing: Collect feedback on the plenary experiment and BoF deadlines via the post-meeting survey.
Near-term: The IAB workshop on analyzing IETF data will be held at the end of November.
Near-term: The program last call for the RFC Editor Future Development Program's main document closes November 5th.
Near-term: NomCom feedback period is open until January. NomCom office hours continue this week and next.
Near-term: Nominations for the ANRP 2022 close November 19th.
Near-term: The LLC Board will hold an independent discussion on investment policy changes recommended by Goldman Sachs in December.
Future Planning: The LLC Board recommends a periodic assessment of IASA (every three years), modest financial planning adjustments, and that the IETF Trust initiate and lead a consultation on its legal structure (due to issues with directors' personal liability and insurance coverage).
Future Planning: Continued work on the tools.ietf.org transition and development of new toolsets.
Future Planning: Continued efforts to foster new work intake, including exploring ways to support complex discussions in virtual/hybrid formats and strengthening mentoring programs.
Immediately following Plenary: Online Welcome Reception and Hot RFC session in Gather.town.
Next week: IAB Open Meeting (Thursday), IRTF Open Meeting (Tuesday), RFC Editor Future Development Program session (Wednesday) during IETF 112.