Session Date/Time: 19 Mar 2025 04:45

WG Chairs Forum

Summary

This meeting of the WG Chairs Forum focused on improving outreach to operators and end-users, improving the experience for new IETF participants, and addressing challenges related to document management and tooling for existing working groups. There was a strong emphasis on recognizing contributions beyond code and specifications and on making the IETF process more inclusive and accessible.

Key Discussion Points

Operator Outreach:
- Several WG chairs shared their experiences with operator outreach, highlighting the importance of engaging operators early in the standards development process by soliciting their problems and needs rather than just presenting completed work.
- The need to acknowledge and value contributions from operators, even if those contributions are not in the form of code or specifications, was emphasized. This could include recognizing use cases, problem statements, and marketing-friendly materials.
- Leveraging existing operator communities like NANOG, RIPE, and APRICOT, as well as ICANN's NextGen program, was suggested.
- Assigning IETF participants with specific outreach responsibilities to attend relevant industry events was proposed.
End-User Outreach:
- Challenges in reaching end-user communities were discussed, and ideas for engaging civil society groups and other relevant organizations were solicited.
New Participant Program:
- An update was provided on the revised New Participant Program introduced in Bangkok. The program involved a full-day session with multiple volunteer-led sessions.
- Feedback collection is underway to assess the program's effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
- Ideas for making the sessions more interactive and providing more practical exercises, such as live draft editing, were discussed.
- Tracking new participants’ continued involvement in the IETF was considered important.
Document Management and Tooling:
- Challenges related to document management and version control using Git were raised, particularly around the use of XML and the lack of clear instructions and tooling.
- The importance of training existing participants on modern tooling and best practices for collaborative document editing was highlighted.
- The preference for using Cramdown for document editing over raw XML was expressed.
- Existing makefiles developed by Martin Thompson were suggested as a useful resource.
- A skeleton markdown file for IETF drafts was offered.

Decisions and Action Items

Michelle Cotton (IETF Secretariat): Collect and analyze feedback from the New Participant Program in Bangkok, including post-session surveys, hallway conversations, and the end-of-meeting survey. Adjust content, structure, and schedule of future New Participant Programs based on feedback. Explore ways to make sessions more interactive and incorporate practical exercises.
WG Chairs: Consider outreach strategies for their respective working groups, including identifying relevant communities to engage with and defining appropriate outreach materials.
WG Chairs: Review document management practices within their working groups and offer training or assistance to authors who are struggling with Git or other tools.
Hank: Create a skeleton markdown file for IETF drafts.
IETF Secretariat: Develop video training materials on IETF processes and tooling.

Next Steps

Analyze the feedback received from the New Participant Program in Bangkok and implement changes to the program for future IETF meetings.
Develop outreach plans for individual working groups to engage with operators, end-users, and other relevant communities.
Improve training resources for existing IETF participants on modern document management and tooling.