Re: APOLOGY to WOWG

Thanks for this, Jim. I know my own contribution over Christmas break,
preparing the Content Interoperability use case, for the first f2f, was
inordinate: 24+ hrs. minimally (I refuse to really calculate the time).
And I expect that kind of effort was the same for the initial folks, and
even more for Jeff et all, who are editing the current req. doc. 

We are all committed, like Lynn, but don't necessarily have the schedule
bandwidth which coincides with this working group's.

Leo

Jim Hendler wrote:
> 
> >* a note on timing/scheduling:  I and presumably a number of other folks
> >set aside time to respond to the document that we were expecting
> >considerably prior to its actual arrival.  When it became clear that the
> >deadline was slipping, I and presumably others indicated that it would
> >be colliding with some other time issues.  It has been very difficult to
> >reclaim the necessary time in the specific interval that was required.
> 
> Lynn makes a VERY valid point here - when you slip in a deadline,
> realize it doesn't effect just you, but everyone in the WG.  When you
> agree to do something by a certain date, please try hard to release
> by that date - even if you need to do what Dan C did in his "what
> Daml does" email -- he left a couple of "to be completed" notes and
> published on time.  If it becomes clear that your schedule will slip
> because other people aren't getting things done or an emergency
> arises, please let the Chairs know as soon as you can (earlier is
> better) so we can adjust schedules and/or let the rest of the WG know
> -- if one knows in advance that something will get moved, adjustments
> can be made.
> 
>   I too am overwhelmed in my personal life, and that is why I asked
> the W3C to find a cochair for the working group (and Guus is great
> and making it possible to keep this thing moving).  If you find
> yourself overwhelmed in something we've asked you to do -- come back
> to us and we'll try hard to get you more help.  Our WG deadlines are
> not very negotiable, but our "staffing", with 50 WG members, can be.
> 
> I APOLOGIZE personally for the fact that I've not been doing a great
> job of reminding people about deadlines and trying to keep things
> moving more smoothly.
> I am trying to do a better job of keeping track of action items and
> making deadlines and expectations clearer, and will continue trying
> to approve this.
> 
> I also feel very strongly that consensus is absolutely the most
> important thing we are striving for, and I try hard to make sure that
> opinions other than my own will get represented.  However, I've also
> been very personally involved in web ontology stuff for close to a
> decade, and am dedicating most of my professional life and reputation
> to make this semantic web thing happen, so sometimes I lose sight of
> the forest for the trees.  Accept my apologies for this in advance,
> and please don't refrain from letting me know via personal email if
> you feel I've gone too far or that something is being done you don't
> approve of.  While there's no way an effective chair can make
> everyone happy in a group this big, I will sure try hard to get as
> close as I can.
> 
> Thanks for the time you put into this activity - as you can see, I
> feel very strongly we're doing something important here, and I really
> appreciate your efforts to make it a success.
>   Jim H.
> 
> --
> Professor James Hendler                           hendler@cs.umd.edu
> Director, Semantic Web and Agent Technologies     301-405-2696
> Maryland Information and Network Dynamics Lab.    301-405-6707 (Fax)
> AV Williams Building, Univ of Maryland            College Park, MD 20742
> http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/hendler

-- 
_____________________________________________
Dr. Leo Obrst		The MITRE Corporation
mailto:lobrst@mitre.org Intelligent Information Management/Exploitation
Voice: 703-883-6770	7515 Colshire Drive, M/S W640
Fax: 703-883-1379       McLean, VA 22102-7508, USA

Received on Thursday, 21 February 2002 17:05:08 UTC