Last Call

Steven Pemberton, W3C and CWI Amsterdam

Chair HTML WG

Co-chair Forms WG

Current score (2002-02-27): 6 last calls, 1 last last call (sigh).

It's all in the Process Document

End of Talk.

First Write Your Draft

Prepare for the Review

The Announcement

Announce the beginning of the review with email to chairs@w3.org, the WG mailing list, other lists to encourage public feedback. Include:

And then wait...

This will be the first time most people have even looked at your draft...

Relax a little...

And contemplate the meaning of 'last'...

It may turn out to have a different meaning to what you are used to...

And track your issues

The Working Group mailing list should be the definitive archive of issues raised and their resolutions

An issue tracking mechanism is useful...

Some last call comments may miss the deadline

Be flexible, but don't overdo it.

Personal record (for comments received): 5 months late

Attain Consensus

Decide on each issue: accept, reject, compromise, etc.

Send a mail to the commentor telling your reponse. If not an accept, ask if they can live with the result. Archive your mail. Give them 2 weeks to reply. Silence is consent.

Dissenters cannot stop a group's work, but it is better not to have dissenters, so try to resolve issues.

Create A Disposition of Comments Document

Document the group's decision for each issue.

For non-accepts, document the link to the mail to the person, and if received, the link to the reply.

Document objections. When you are sure an issue has received due consideration and is further not resolvable, document the technical arguments for not accepting.

Formal objections have to include technical arguments and proposed changes that would remove the dissenter's objection, however vague or incomplete. You must report an objection that includes such information to the Director on going to CR, but not otherwise.

Create a CR Draft

Make the changes you agreed to...

Not Process, but I believe essential

Two weeks before asking the Director to advance to CR, announce your intention to the same lists that the last call announcement went to, pointing to the disposition of comments document (this gives the chance to catch mistakes).

Go for CR

The Director must be satisfied that:

You are encouraged to include a report of present and expected implementation as part of the request.

Some recommendations

Requirements documents should be more formally a part of the process.

More support for massaging documents into publishable form.

More tracking support.

Pre-announce CR request.