buck@drax.gsfc.nasa.gov (Loren (Buck) Buchanan) (05/05/90)
From: buck@drax.gsfc.nasa.gov (Loren (Buck) Buchanan) In article <606@longway.TIC.COM> std-unix@uunet.uu.net writes: > >From: Jason Zions <uunet!cnd.hp.com!jason> > >I couldn't let Peter Salus' report go without comments. > >>My perception is that going to a POSIX meeting is a perk. Yes, it is a perk, but look at what it costs the individual. We spend lots of our own time getting ready for meetings, travelling there and back, and recovering from the meetings. We give up all of the creature comforts of home, for a hotel and a week of resturaunt food. Think of the fun of hauling a weeks worth of clothes, 10 pounds of documentation, and for those that are dedicated, a lap top computer with all its parts off to the airport. Worrying about if your checked on luggage will make the transfer. I could go on, but I hope you get the idea. >More than that, many companies do indeed send only one or two people to >the meetings. Larger companies may send one person to each committee. I don't have a problem with larger companies sending more than one person. People from larger companies tend to do the most work because they have the most support (this is a gross generalization with lots of exceptions, no flames please). > >>C'mon, lets get back to work, not meetings for the holiday or for the >>sake of meetings. 1003.1 did good, solid work. Some of the other >>groups are doing work, too. Partying ain't part of it. Bah! > >You're quite right. Partying is not relevant to the Monday-Friday 9-6 >work of the meeting. If you see working groups goofing off during the >week, feel free to name names and point fingers. Tarring all 1003 >groups save 1003.1 (past-tense, as well!) with the same brush of >laziness is unfair (not to mention terrible reportorial practice). > >And yes, having the Sunday before and the Saturday after a meeting in a >pleasant locale *is* a perq for many of us. Most attendees work damn >hard during the course of the week. The meetings have to be help >*someplace*; if the cost can be maintained at a reasonable level, why >object to a nice location? I have been on X3H3 (Computer Graphics) for over 5 years, and I assume that things are pretty similar across all standards committees. Part of any meeting should be set aside for socialization. Sitting in a committee room for 8, 9, 10, and even more hours a day "discussing" various technical topics we tend to forget that the other members of the committe are human. We typically set aside Tuesday night for some sort of social event. This is entirely up to the person(s) who are sponsoring the meeting. Also the work does not end when the committee breaks up at 6PM. I have spent untold number of nights reading, reviewing, writing, or meeting with a small working group for up to 4 or more additional hours. I don't think that it is always appropriate to name names and point fingers at groups that take off as a group during working hours because if that group has its work done. During the development of any standard there comes a point at the end of the development where there isn't much to do, and these people have earned their morning or afternoon off to go to the zoo or whatever. Even then, not everyone on a "partying" committee will go, some of them will take the opportunity to sit in on one of the other meetings or will catch up on unfinished small assignments (this almost always includes the document editor). Even when a meeting is at a nice location, the bulk of the committee flys in Sunday evening or Monday morning and fly back out Friday evening or Saturday morning. They have other responsibilities at home that are more important. Granted there are those that extend their stays at either end. The only time that I have seen the location have any real effect on the meeting was when we met in Hawaii (It was the only meeting I worked less than 50 hours). I do know that two committees (that I am not on) usually had at least 10 hours a day in the meeting room (one committee met until well after midnight one day). The location of the meeting is determined by the meeting sponsor. It takes a lot of leg work and sweating blood to set up a successful meeting. I applaud anyone who been a sponsor. No matter where you organize a meeting, there will be things in the area that will be of some interest to some of the committee. I took of one afternoon when we met in Tulsa OK to go sight seeing (but I still put in about 55 or 60 hours that week). Before you condemn someone, walk a mile in their shoes. B Cing U Buck Loren "Buck" Buchanan | internet: buck@drax.gsfc.nasa.gov | standard disclaimer CSC, 1100 West St. | uucp: ...!ames!dftsrv!drax!buck | "By the horns of a Laurel, MD 20707 | phonenet: (301) 497-2531 or 9898 | sky demon..." Volume-Number: Volume 19, Number 105