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rfc:rfc4144

Network Working Group D. Eastlake 3rd Request for Comments: 4144 Motorola Laboratories Category: Informational September 2005

  How to Gain Prominence and Influence in Standards Organizations

Status of This Memo

 This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
 not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
 memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

IESG Note:

 This RFC is not a candidate for any level of Internet Standard.  The
 IETF disclaims any knowledge of the fitness of this RFC for any
 purpose and notes that the decision to publish is not based on IETF
 review apart from IESG review for conflict with IETF work.  The RFC
 Editor has chosen to publish this document at its discretion.  See
 RFC 3932 for more information.

Abstract

 This document provides simple guidelines that can make it easier for
 you to gain prominence and influence in most standards organizations.

Table of Contents

 1. Introduction ....................................................2
 2. Human Organizations .............................................2
 3. Eighty Percent of Success is Showing Up .........................2
 4. Sit Up Front ....................................................3
 5. Break Bread .....................................................3
 6. Develop Friends and Mentors .....................................4
 7. Be Helpful ......................................................4
 8. Learn The Traditions and Rules ..................................5
 9. Acronyms and Special Terms ......................................5
 10. Pick Your Points ...............................................6
 11. Technical and Communications Skill .............................7
 12. Do Not Try Too Hard ............................................7
 13. Security Considerations ........................................7
 14. Informative References .........................................8

Eastlake Informational [Page 1] RFC 4144 Prominence and Influence September 2005

1. Introduction

 This document contains simple guidelines that can help you to gain
 prominence and influence in most standards, and many other human,
 organizations.  It takes only normal communications and technical
 skills and moderate effort to follow these guidelines.

2. Human Organizations

 All organizations composed of human beings give the appearance to
 newcomers of having an inner clique that runs things.  This happens
 whether there is a semi-permanent cohesive inside group that actually
 tries to keep all power in its own hands or those in positions of
 power are genuinely trying to be open and willing to share and there
 is a system for their regular replacement.  It is just the nature of
 human society.  It always takes time and effort to get to know new
 people. [Carnegie]
 All organizations have procedures.  It always takes time and effort
 to learn how things are done in an organization.  In an organization
 of any size, those who happen to be in positions of authority can't
 spend equal time talking with everyone about every issue in the
 organization.  Their positions mean they will necessarily be in many
 conversations with each other and fewer conversations with the
 average member.  And there are some types of information that should
 normally be kept confidential, at least until verified, and sometimes
 even then.  Examples are charges of ethical or other violations
 against individuals.
 But, despite all this, following some simple guidelines can greatly
 accelerate the rate at which you will become favorably known in an
 organization.  Favorable prominence can increase your chance of being
 selected for positions such as editorship of documents, secretary or
 clerk of a group (so you get to produce the record of what *actually*
 happened), or possibly even some level of chair or deputy chair
 position.

3. Eighty Percent of Success is Showing Up

 It is the simplest thing! If you are absent, how can you have much
 prominence or influence?
 This applies to all venues, email/messaging, telephone/video
 conference, and especially in-person or face-to-face meetings.  You
 do not need 100% attendance, but your absences should be rare.  If
 possible, only miss less important events.

Eastlake Informational [Page 2] RFC 4144 Prominence and Influence September 2005

 Attendance is obviously most important at meetings of the specific
 body in which you are interested.  But you should also watch for
 higher-level or lower-level meetings that are open.  Many standards
 groups have a multi-level structure.  As well as attending the group
 you are interested in, if there are open meetings of various group
 chairs or the like, attending those can be a fast track, even if you
 only get to observe and be noticed.  And if there are sub-groups of
 the group you are most interested in, consider attending them also to
 become better known more quickly.  These meetings may be before the
 beginning or after the end of the regular member meetings, so, if you
 are really serious, you should be prepared to arrive early and leave
 late.

4. Sit Up Front

 If a meeting is very small, say less than 20 people, it does not make
 much difference.  But for meetings of any size, especially when
 starting with an organization, sit up front.  Do not be afraid of the
 first row even if it is empty, although the second and sometimes even
 the third are not too bad.  Show up early if you need to, but this is
 usually not necessary, as most people are extraordinarily reluctant
 to put themselves in an exposed place like the front row.
 After you have some experience, you may decide to sit with some group
 that sits together.  But, in larger meetings, the prominent people
 generally sit either near the front, or way at the back.  (Being in
 the back, at least in large rooms, may mean you can wander around and
 talk to people without disrupting things.)

5. Break Bread

 All meetings of any length include refreshment and meals.  Otherwise
 the attendees would starve.
 If there is a group catered meal, try sitting with different groups
 or factions to get an idea of the different viewpoints in the
 organization.  Or try to sit at a table and eat with people who have
 some seniority and experience in the organization, if they seem
 receptive.
 Usually, for multi-day meetings, there is at least one big social
 event where the attendees can get together.  From small meetings
 (attendance under 100) and medium size (attendance under 500 or so)
 meetings, it is common for people to go to the social event.
 Typically some alcohol is available, people are more relaxed and
 informal.  These are good events at which to approach high-level

Eastlake Informational [Page 3] RFC 4144 Prominence and Influence September 2005

 officials to exchange a pleasant word or two, or even make a small
 request.  But do not expect to engage in detailed technical
 discussions, although this sometimes happens.
 Social events are commonly at noisy locations.  Sometimes, as
 organizations get larger, social events get so large and congested
 that many of the most prominent people schedule informal meetings
 opposite them.  You will have to see how it works in your
 organization.
 But there will also be plenty of informal lunch, dinner, and maybe
 breakfast groups (unless they are all catered) and other get-
 togethers.  At some standards meetings, you can more or less invite
 yourself along to such meal groups, unless they are a small
 confidential group or a group of employees of a particular company,
 or the like.  Usually people will warn you if the group plans to
 spend much of the meal discussing some particular issue, and you can
 then decide if you want to go with them.

6. Develop Friends and Mentors

 It is hard to get things done and learn what is going on entirely by
 yourself.  If you can, find a few people with more experience that
 you can go to with questions.
 Introduce yourself to people and be friendly.  But do not necessarily
 link up with the first people you meet.  You want people who are
 knowledgeable and well-regarded within the organization.
 If you follow the advice in section 7 below, you should have plenty
 of opportunity to meet experienced people in an organization.

7. Be Helpful

 Within reason, volunteer to do some of the drudgery for which you are
 competent, such as taking notes during meetings, helping someone else
 draft a proposal, or volunteering to re-write part of a draft for
 clarity and consistency.
 This sort of thing will get you noticed and put some people in your
 debt, at least in a minor way.  But be careful not to volunteer for
 more than you can actually do.  Failing to follow through will damage
 your reputation.  If you do get over committed, seek help as soon as
 you realize it.  The worst thing is to fail to meet your promises and
 not let anyone know about it until it is too late for them to
 recover.

Eastlake Informational [Page 4] RFC 4144 Prominence and Influence September 2005

8. Learn The Traditions and Rules

 It is quite important to know the traditions of an organization, how
 things get done, what rules are ignored, how rules are interpreted,
 and what rules are rigorously enforced.
 While traditions are more important, it cannot hurt to also know the
 official rules and procedures.  The probability that low level groups
 in the organization actually operate according to the officially
 adopted rules and procedures in detail is quite low, unless the
 organization has very informal rules.
 Do not object to procedure just for the sake of objecting.  If you
 repeatedly invoke little known and rarely used official rules in
 small matters, it is a sure way to make people assume that what you
 have to say is silly or obstructionist, until proven otherwise.  If
 you invoke the official rules so as to override tradition in an
 important matter, be aware that you are playing with a weapon of mass
 destruction.  You may or may not accomplish your immediate goal, but
 the blowback will almost certainly damage your future efforts in that
 organization.
 While it is always the path of least resistance to follow tradition,
 knowing the official rules makes you aware of when they could be
 invoked against you.  This may enable you to adopt a path that is
 reasonably congruent with both the traditions and the rules,
 maximizing your chances of success.

9. Acronyms and Special Terms

 Essentially all technical efforts wallow in acronyms and special
 "terms of art".  It sometimes seems as if no effort or sub-effort is
 really rolling until it has come up with several non-obvious terms to
 confuse those who have not been involved for a while.  Nor are
 acronyms constant.  Especially in the early part of a standards
 effort, when ideas are flopping around, acronyms and special terms
 frequently change, causing further confusion of those not in the most
 active part of the group.
 In fact, if you read an explanation of some deep technical matter
 written so anyone can understand it, you can be virtually certain
 that it is not how experts in the field communicate with each other,
 verbally or in writing.  This is true of all fields.  Read something
 about engineering big "air vents" and "water pipes"? Experts use
 "plenum" and "penstock".

Eastlake Informational [Page 5] RFC 4144 Prominence and Influence September 2005

 It's a bad strategy to get lost in acronyms you do not know, so you
 cannot understand what people are talking about and may make a fool
 of yourself if you guess wrong.  The best thing is to find out the
 meaning of and learn the acronyms in advance.  Failing that, ask
 about acronyms or strange terms as soon as you can, preferably the
 first time you encounter them.  Making a written note of their
 meaning could not hurt.  Usually there will be others who also wanted
 to ask but were afraid to and will be grateful that you took the
 initiative.

10. Pick Your Points

 Think a bit about the impression you make on people.
 If you insist on speaking to every issue, even if you don't have any
 really strong points, you will get a reputation as a blowhard who
 doesn't add much and just slows things down.  If you only speak
 occasionally, but have solid points to make when you do, people will
 pay much more attention to your occasional speeches.
 Similarly, if you quibble about everything, you will use up good will
 you have acquired and may be viewed as an obstructionist who causes
 needless delay.  If an organization is doing or developing something
 complex, all the decisions are not going to go the way you want.
 Consider the points where you could try to get your way, figure out
 how important they are to you, how strong your arguments would be,
 and how much opposition you are likely to encounter.  Keep in mind
 that your arguments will usually seem more impressive to you than
 they do to others.  Based on this, you can make a reasoned choice of
 where to really put up a fight and possibly recruit allies or call in
 favors.
 This is not to say that you should ignore minor issues and never
 speak up about them if you have new information or opinions to
 contribute.  Just do not invest a lot of effort in fighting an issue
 or making a point unless it is important to you and you judge that
 you have a reasonable chance of succeeding.

Eastlake Informational [Page 6] RFC 4144 Prominence and Influence September 2005

11. Technical and Communications Skill

 You may be surprised that I have said very little about technical and
 communication skills, although in the Introduction above it was
 assumed that you had normal skills in these areas.  You do need to
 understand the technical aspects of what is going on so that you
 cannot be easily bamboozled.
 If you are very strong technically and can make substantial
 contributions, you can be helpful, if you can contribute in a way
 that does not offend too many people.  But, especially in a large
 technical standards body, not everyone can be a strong technical
 contributor.
 If you have strong verbal and written communications skills, this can
 also be helpful.  But if you are not fluent in the dominant language
 of the organization, you will be at a disadvantage.  While the
 organization should make some attempt to be approachable by those for
 whom its dominant language is a second language, the best thing to do
 is to put in the time and effort to become fluent. [Farber]  As a
 stopgap, you can team up with someone with whom you communicate well
 and who is fluent in the standards organization language.  They can
 speak for you in meetings, if necessary, and co-author written
 contributions with you.
 If you are the rare genius with superb technical, communication, and
 interpersonal skills, you are wasting your time reading this and
 might be able to get away with doing exactly the opposite of some of
 its recommendations.  But I would not count on it.

12. Do Not Try Too Hard

 Lastly, give yourself a bit of time to get settled into an
 organization.  Then, be reasonably assertive, but do not be too pushy
 unless an issue is so important you are willing to risk the
 reputation you have built up.  And try to never lose your temper.
 Unless you are a genius at inter-personal relations, you will not
 gain substantial prominence and influence in a standards organization
 overnight.  These things take time and patience.

13. Security Considerations

 This RFC raises no new security issues.

Eastlake Informational [Page 7] RFC 4144 Prominence and Influence September 2005

14. Informative References

 [Carnegie]  "How To Win Friends And Influence People", Dale Carnegie,
             1990, ISBN 0671723650.
 [Farber]    "How to Learn Any Language", Barry Farber, 1991, ISBN
             1-56731-543-7.

Author's Address

 Donald E. Eastlake 3rd
 Motorola Laboratories
 155 Beaver Street
 Milford, MA 01757 USA
 Phone:  +1 508-786-7554 (w)
 EMail:  Donald.Eastlake@motorola.com

Eastlake Informational [Page 8] RFC 4144 Prominence and Influence September 2005

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Acknowledgement

 Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
 Internet Society.

Eastlake Informational [Page 9]

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