Subject: Minutes from 29 Oct meeting

From: "Salz, Rich" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2020 16:02:21 +0000

WGChairs Forum, isn’t a WG (it’s a special datatracker group), so it doesn’t have the usual WG repo. Meeting is recorded, link to be sent to this list.

Reviewed agenda.

Greg Woods, Director of Communications and Operations. (Slides to be posted here.)
As part of rethinking EMO-Dir, Greg is working on what resources/tooling are needed to help WGchairs.
Recommendations for also covering other things, like code points, ombudsteam stuff, etc.
But support organic WG behavior, since WG’s differ.

Lessons learned/challenges for running more productive working groups, discussion led by Karen
Discussion of gendispatch challenges on the “language issues” drafts.
Interims with video help damper heated email-only discussions
Iterims require more chair work, but help the WG keep progressing; it’s more than just scheduling
It’s hard to do this, not sure we’re getting newcomers as much as we used to
Interpreting silence is hard – do folks agree or are they not paying attention?
Pre-pandemic we could push contentious/hard things to F2F, can’t do that now and interims aren’t good; gendispatch did more active mailing list management

Maybe a separate session/discussion about multiple timezones?
“Sleepy” groups are more likely to disenfranchise other parts of the world (wherever), slow things down to allow global input
Velocity overall might be an issue (e.g., github participation)

Is WGChairs forum still worth doing? We have shorter tutorials now.
Good to meet F2F
Maybe meet outside IETF to avoid another lunch slot being taken?
Virtual could facilitate longer discussions

EMO dir
Discussion of current structure; new leadership might want to shift things around a bit.
Thoughts on other audiences?
No mention in newcomers training about dispute handling.
Welcome slide feedback any time (to be posted to this list shortly)  Focus is on making the week successful for newcomers (one hour now, not two [no history e.g.])
Add “feel comfortable escalating to WG chair or AD if something is going pear-shaped” to newcomer’s preso
Perhaps not enough escalations means shyness, not that everything is okay.
Input that AD’s should do more mentoring/oversight of WG chairs as more of an AD focus (adding to the full-time job)