So You Want To Run A Standards Group

So You Want to Run A Standards Group

Thursday 5A Convener: Justin Richer

Notes-taker(s): Justin Richer

Discussion notes, key understandings, outstanding questions, observations, and, if appropriate to this discussion: action items, next steps:

So you want to run a standards group? / Justin Richer’s Presentation at CIS 2016 We like standards Standards make things possible Where do standards come from? How people think it works Clear problems Smart people Reasonable debate Best ideas win How it actually works Pet problems All kinds of people Arguing Sometimes something wins #angrynerds

The Cast of Characters

The Bikeshedder

Pet problems are the best problems “We can’t move forward until this is solved!” The Lone Wolf Comes with a problem and a solution Nobody asked for either

The Ideas Person

Throws solutions around hoping they stick to problems eventually Can’t actually implement anything “Wouldn’t it be great if…”

The Nazgul

Sows confusion and deceit Sucks all the life out of forward progress “We need more time to think about this”

The Pragmatist

Focuses on an immediately-relevant subset Often loses track of larger picture Looks for rubber-stamps “We have this in production already”

The Politician

Gathers a bunch of people to say “yes” or “no” along with them to look like consensus Constantly running back channel conversations

The Idealist

Only wants to save the world Implementation details will get worked out The standard is good only if it solves all of the problems simultaneously

The Puppy

Gets excited by a new shiny thing every week The shiny thing is The Solution to everything

The Yak Shaver

Loves to write formal use case documents Believes we have to solve all preconditions first

The Scorpion

They’re trying to help, but stinging is in their nature

The Doctor

Has many years experience doing something else entirely unrelated Believes that this deep expertise automatically carries over into the new space “Well I was a doctor in private practice for 30 years and…”

The Debater

Every hill is one to die on No issue is too small to be argued

The Contrarian

Likes to say “no”, no matter the question Believes no consensus should ever be perfect

The Wizard

Stops in periodically to impart wisdom Doesn’t pay much attention to ongoing conversations

The Special Snowflake

Their use case is so special that it will require exceptional handling Usually has a specific solution already in mind 

The Arbitrator

Translates between sides of a debate Helps move beyond “he said / she said” loops of cross-talk

The Developer

Goes and builds new ideas as they’re brought up “I just built this in five minutes and it’s simpler this way…”

The Cross-Pollinator

Brings experience and input from another field or group “We have a similar problem…”

The Articulator

Restates everything more clearly Good at capturing forward momentum “So what we’re actually saying is…”

The Rock Star

Used to everyone agreeing with them

Dictator

What they say goes Debate is a sign of weakness

Loyal Opposition

Lightning rod for the unvoiced The Lorax

St. Bernard

Loyal, hard working Willing to climb mountains to save people

The Missionary

Just wants to spread the good news of their ideas You’ll convert because they’re right

The Proselytizer

Want to spread the good news of their ideas, by force if necessary You’ll convert, or die a heretic

The Kardashian

Only in it for the fame “This hot new area will make me rich and famous!”

Process Lawyer

The process matters more than the results

Project Manager

Applies the process to get good results Smart Questions Doesn’t purport to have all the answers but provides questions in the right directions

The Lurker

Could be brilliant, but we’d never know

The Horse Trader

Will trade you their chips for your carrot sticks and ranch dip “If you do this for me, I’ll support your idea” Working Together Agreement models Rough consensus (IETF) Member voting (OASIS, ITU, IEEE) Working group resolution to member voting (OIDF, Kantara) Agreement models IRL Politics! Intrigue! Backstabbing!

The hard truth Interpersonal relationships drive standards nearly as much as technological merit Advice for Making a Standard Keep it focused Know what problem you’re solving Learn to say “You Ain’t Gonna Need It” (YAGNI) Don’t repeat the past mistakes Build something Implement something in code Deploy it into a reasonable test environment Watch it run Document all of your sticky points, assumptions, and shortcuts

Dig into actual needs Someone coming with a solution is trying to solve a problem, figure out what that problem is Multiple proposed solutions might be incompatible, but their underlying problems likely aren’t Be Patient It’s going to to slower than you want it to Everyone else’s ideas won’t seem to have the same trouble as yours do

Choose your fights Realize that not everything you say matters Keep Records Track issues publicly Listen constructively Make sure all needs get heard Even if they’re not acted upon Short round trip times and beer You don’t run out of time or money, you run out of patience