RIPE Working Group Chair Job Description and Procedures
1. Introduction
The purpose of this document is to describe the role, responsibilities, and expectations associated with RIPE Working Group (WG) Chairs.
The document is divided into the following sections:
- WG Chairs and co-chairs
- Creating WG charters
- Updating WG charters
- Policy Development Process (PDP) responsibilities
- RIPE Meeting responsibilities
2. Working Group Chairs and Co-Chairs
RIPE Working Groups operate under a co-chair model. In this, the co-chairs share the responsibility for all tasks involved in chairing their working group. The co-chairs act together to make any formal statements (for example on policy development) that are relevant to their WG.
A WG has either 2 or 3 co-chairs.
When participating in RIPE discussions, WG Chairs and co-chairs should endeavour to make it clear whether they speak on behalf of themselves, the organisations they work for, or the WG for which they are co-chair.
3. Creating Working Group Charters
i) Working Group Created from a Task Force
A WG usually emerges from a Task Force. In this case, the procedure for creating the WG charter is as follows:
The head of the Task Force creates the charter for the new WG in consultation with other members of the Task Force. Once this has been agreed, and approved by the RIPE Chair, the charter for the new WG is officially recognised.
ii) New Working Group Emerging from an Existing WG
If a new WG emerges from an existing WG, then the chairs and co-chairs of both the new and existing WG should draw up the charter for the new WG. Once this has been agreed, and approved by the RIPE Chair, the charter for the new WG is officially recognised.
4. Updating Working Group Charters
If a WG Chair needs to update the WG charter, they must have the text approved by the WG co-chairs before presenting the revised charter to the WG for their approval via the WG mailing list. The RIPE Chair has final approval of the new charter.
5. Policy Development Process (PDP) Responsibilities
WG Chairs are expected to:
- Stay up-to-date with all phases of a policy proposal relevant to their WG
- Follow discussions on the relevant WG mailing list(s)
- Guide mailing list discussions as appropriate
- Take charge of PDP milestone decisions relevant to their WG
- Ensure PDP milestone decisions keep to the timeframe as described in the document "Policy Development Process in RIPE"
- Inform the RIPE NCC when a policy proposal has received consensus and should become a RIPE Document
Note that these responsibilities are shared between the co-chairs.
6. RIPE Meeting Responsibilities
i) General/Plenary
WG Chairs are expected to:
- Attend RIPE Meetings or ensure that a co-chair attends the meeting
ii) Working Group Specific
WG Chairs are expected to:
- Solicit relevant content for the WG session
- Post a draft agenda for their WG session (at least 2-3 weeks before a RIPE Meeting where possible)
- Lead the WG session and encourage active participation
- Review and approve the minutes from their WG session (4-6 weeks)
- Attend WG Chair lunches during RIPE Meetings
- Attend WG Chair meetings between RIPE Meetings if needed
- Update the action list of their WG after the RIPE Meeting
- Approach the RIPE Chair with any requests to fund a speaker's attendance at a RIPE Meeting. If the request for funding is deemed appropriate by the RIPE Chair, the RIPE Chair will request funding from the RIPE NCC Managing Director. The RIPE NCC Managing Director may or may not approve such a request at their own discretion.
- Develop, maintain, and implement a procedure for the selection and removal of WG Chairs for the WG.
These responsibilities may be split between co-chairs.
Changes Since ripe-542
Minor:
- Changed to Oxford comma, because we love clarity.
- Converted to gender-neutral pronouns (they).
- Updated reference to RIPE PDP.
- Chairs get "content" not "presentations" for WG sessions.
- Added "if needed" to attending WG Chairs meetings between RIPE Meetings.
Major:
- Eliminated the chair with optional co-chair model.
- Added RIPE Chair as final approval of new charters.
- Changed new charter approval only to mailing list (was "and/or at a RIPE Meeting").
- Noted that we no longer have the WG Chair responsibility to act as final approval on all new policies (outside of their own WG).
- Removed responsibility to lead Plenary sessions, since the PC now does that.
- Removed references to the EOF Coordinator since that role does not really exist now.
- Added responsibility for WG Chairs for WG selection procedure.
Approval of Document
This document was approved by the RIPE Chair.