IETF | Roles in the IETF

The IETF works on a broad range of networking technologies that provide the foundation for the Internet's growth and evolution.
While most IETF work takes place online, meetings and other events such as Hackathons provide in-person opportunities to advance work within the IETF.
The IETF is the premier Internet standards organization. It follows open and well-documented processes for setting these standards. Once published, those standards are made freely available.
The global IETF community works together in many different ways to produce high quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet.
By supporting the IETF today, you are ensuring a free and open Internet exists tomorrow.
The IETF community has many ways to be involved. This page describes formally defined roles within the IETF, what is required to serve in that role, and how to engage in or where/who to contact to find out more about that role.
IETF participation can be very informal. For many people, it ranges from observing on a mailing list, to commenting on a document at the microphone during a session at an IETF meeting, to providing detailed feedback on an Internet-Draft under consideration by an IETF working group. For more information about how to start participating in the IETF, see the Introduction to the IETF webpage.
If you write a document in the Internet-Draft (I-D) format then you are an I-D author! Many I-Ds are submitted to the IETF’s I-D repository so they can be easily found and shared for consideration and discussion. While an I-D has no standing in the IETF—even if it is posted to the IETF I-D repository—this is usually the first step to have an idea considered by a working group, or for proposing a topic for a Birds-of-a-Feather conversation, or even for an informal consideration by the broader IETF community. More information about how to author and I-D is available at the I-D Authors’ wiki.
A Document Shepherd helps make sure a Working Group document (I-D) progresses through the IETF process and is ready to be submitted for Internet Engineering Steering Group review. For example, Document Shepherds usually complete the publication request write-up for working group documents. Chairs appoint Document Shepherds, and any active working group participant that has a strong understanding of the document content, is familiar with the document history, and is familiar with the IETF standards process can serve as a Document Shepherd. More information about Document Shepherds is available on the IETF Chairs wiki.
Document editors help track and implement edits to an I-D to reflect input and discussion from the relevant group considering the document (for example, a Working Group). Editors are appointed by the Chairs of the group, and it is preferred that the Chairs themselves not serve as document editors to ensure a distinction between the process of providing input to the document and the document text itself.
Every Working Group session has notes taken to ensure important discussion points and decisions are recorded. The approach to taking notes varies by group and individual, and as most group sessions are now recorded, they do not need to be verbatim. Thus, note takers should be familiar with the general topics and individuals involved in a group, but they do not need to be deep experts. Note takers are usually volunteer or several volunteers by group chairs, often identified at the start of a session.
Working session scribes help bridge in-person sessions for remote participants, particularly those who aren’t able to follow along with video. They can convey actions taken in the room via group chat, and also convey questions or comments from remote participants to the in-person session. In-depth technical knowledge generally is not required and Working Group chairs are always happy to have volunteers at the beginning of sessions.
The Secretary’s job is to record WG decisions and help organize group activities at a high level. For example, the Secretary may help identify session note takers, but the role responsibilities do not include taking notes directly. Secretaries are designated by WG Chairs. More information about the WG Secretary role is available in Section 6.2 of RFC 2418. Further information is also available in an expired Internet-Draft which even though it never achieved IETF consensus, may provide useful guidance. Serving as a WG Secretary may provide useful insight and experience for individuals considering serving as a WG Chair.
A Working Group Chair is a designated individual concerned with making forward progress on a group’s charter, through a fair and open process. Chairs are usually extremely familiar and comfortable with IETF processes, though they do not need to be experts in the technical topics covered by the group they chair. Chairs are appointed Area Directors, with usually two (sometimes there are more) chairs for each group. More details about Chair responsibilities are available on the IETF Chairs wiki, and officially documented in Section 6.1 of RFC 2418.
WG Consultants have specific technical background appropriate to the WG and experience in Internet architecture and IETF process. At the discretion of the responsible Area Director, a Consultant may be assigned to a working group.
Working Group Chairs may assign individuals as Delegates in the IETF Datatracker, so they can take actions usually reserved for group Chairs in Datatracker or other IETF Tools (such as Meetecho).
The chair of an IRTF Research Group has generally the same role as that of an IETF WG Chair, though of course the group they manage is constituted around a charter that is usually quite different from that of a Working Group and does not operate under the same IETF consensus requirements. RG Chairs often have strong interest and experience around a research group’s chartered purpose. RG Chairs are selected by the IRTF Chair and, together, constitute the In