INTERNET-DRAFT Donald E. Eastlake 3rd Motorola Laboratories Expires August 2004 February 2004 How to Gain Prominence and Influence in Standards Organizations --- -- ---- ---------- --- --------- -- --------- ------------- Donald E. Eastlake 3rd Status of This Document Distribution of this document is unlimited. Comments should be sent to the author. This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. Abstract Following some simple guidelines can make it easier for you to gain prominence and influence in most standards organizations. D. Eastlake 3rd [Page 1] INTERNET-DRAFT Prominence and Influence Table of Contents Status of This Document....................................1 Abstract...................................................1 Table of Contents..........................................2 1. Introduction............................................3 2. Eighty Percent of Success is Showing Up.................3 3. Sit Up Front............................................4 4. Break Bread.............................................4 5. Be Helpful..............................................5 6. Learn The Traditions, Rules, and Procedures.............5 7. Develop Some Friends and Mentors........................6 8. Know the Acronyms and Special Terms.....................6 9. Technical and Communications Skill......................7 10. Don't Try Too Hard.....................................7 11. Informative References.................................8 Author's Address...........................................8 Expiration and File Name...................................8 D. Eastlake 3rd [Page 2] INTERNET-DRAFT Prominence and Influence 1. Introduction There are some guidelines that can help your prominence and influence in most standards organizations. They can be done with reasonable safety and moderate effort assuming you have at least normal communications and technical skills. All organizations are composed of human beings and give the appearance to newcomers of having an inner clique that runs things. This is true whether there is a semi-permanent cohesive inside group that is actually trying 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. This 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 just 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 really are some types of information that should be kept confidential, at least until verified and sometimes even then, such as charges against individuals. But by following some simple guidelines you 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. 2. Eighty Percent of Success is Showing Up It's 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 don't need 100% attendance but your absences should be rare and, if possible, only miss less important events. Attendance is obviously most important at meetings of the specific body in which you are interested. But you should also be on the look out 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 D. Eastlake 3rd [Page 3] INTERNET-DRAFT Prominence and Influence 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. Higher-level 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. 3. Sit Up Front If a meeting is small enough, it doesn't make as much difference. But for meetings of any size, especially when starting with an organization, sit up front. Don't be afraid of the first row even if it's empty, although the second and sometimes even the third aren't too bad. Show up early if you need to, but it's 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, there may be some group that sits in some part of the audience you want to sit with. But, for larger meetings, the prominent people generally sit either up near the front, or way at the back. (Being in the back generally means you can wander around and talk to people, to some extent, without disrupting things.) 4. Break Bread All meetings of any length involve 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 everyone can get together. From small (attendance under 100) and medium size (attendance under 500 or so) meetings, it is common for most people to go to the social. Typically some alcohol is available, people are more relaxed and informal. These are good events at which to approach high-level officials to exchange a pleasant word or two or even make a small request. But don't count on being able to engage in detailed technical discussions. Social events are commonly at noisy locations. Sometimes, as organizations get larger, over a thousand say, the socials get so large and congested D. Eastlake 3rd [Page 4] INTERNET-DRAFT Prominence and Influence that many of the most prominent people schedule informal meetings or the like opposite them. You will just have to see how it works in your organization. But there will also be plenty of informal dinner groups and lunch 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. 5. Be Helpful Within reason, volunteer to do some of the drudgery for which you are competent, such as taking notes during meetings or helping someone else draft a proposal, or volunteering to re-write part of a draft for clarity and consistency, even if it is a part you don't care very much about. 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 possible thing is to fail to meet your promises and not let anyone know about it until it is too late for them to recover. 6. Learn The Traditions, Rules, and Procedures 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 can't hurt to know the official rules and procedures. The probability that the lowest level groups in the organization actually operate according to the officially adopted rules and procedures in minute detail is quite low unless the organization has pretty informal rules. But don't try to gain prominence by objecting to procedure just for the sake of objecting. If you 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 obstructionst 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 D. Eastlake 3rd [Page 5] INTERNET-DRAFT Prominence and Influence the blowback will probably damage your future efforts in that organization. Conversely, 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. 7. Develop Some Friends and Mentors Trying to get things done and learn what's going on entirely by yourself is very hard. 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 don't necessarily link up with the first people you meet. You want people who are knowledgeable and of whom their is a favorable impression within the organization. If you follow the advice in Section 5 above, you should have plenty of opportunity to get to know experienced people in an organization. 8. Know the Acronyms and Special Terms Essentially all technical standards 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 for 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 someone outside that field 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". It is not a good strategy to get lost in acronyms you don't know, so you can't understand what people are talking about and may make a fool of yourself if you guess wrong. The best thing is to find out about and learn the acronyms in advance. Failing that, unless it would be very embarrassing, ask about what acronyms or strange terms D. Eastlake 3rd [Page 6] INTERNET-DRAFT Prominence and Influence mean as soon as you can, preferably the first time you encounter them. Making a written note of their meaning couldn't hurt. Usually there will be others who also wanted to ask but were afraid to and will be grateful you took the initiative. 9. 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. Certainly, you need to understand the technical aspects of what's going on so that you can't be easily bamboozled. If you are very strong technically and can make substantial contributions, this can be helpful in accomplishing your goals if you can do it 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 in accomplishing your goals. But if you are not fluent in the dominant language of the standards organization you are interested in, you will be at a disadvantage. While the standards organization should make some attempt to be approachable by those for whom its dominent language is a second language, the best thing to do is to put in the time and effort to become fluent. [Farber] As a stop gap, 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 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 wouldn't count on it... 10. Don't Try Too Hard Lastly, after you've given it a bit of time and settled into an organization, be reasonably assertive but don't be too pushy. 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. D. Eastlake 3rd [Page 7] INTERNET-DRAFT Prominence and Influence 11. 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 Telephone: +1 508-786-7554 (w) +1 508-634-2066 (h) EMail: Donald.Eastlake@motorola.com Expiration and File Name This draft expires August 2004. Its file name is draft-eastlake-prominence-00.txt. D. Eastlake 3rd [Page 8]