How we work
The IETF community works mostly online, guided by the informal principle: "we believe in rough consensus and running code".
The IETF's mission is to make the Internet work better by producing high quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet. IETF standards are built on the combined engineering judgement of participants, including individuals from academia and network operators, router vendors and open source projects. Success is measured by the extent that the protocols and practices developed in the IETF is used to make the Internet work better.
Working groups
Working Groups (WGs) are the primary mechanism for development of IETF specifications and guidelines, many of which are intended to be standards or recommendations.
Email lists
This page describes many of the IETF email lists, where most of the daily work of the IETF is conducted.
Meetings and events
While most IETF work takes place online, including on email lists, meetings and other events such as Hackathons provide in-person opportunities to advance work.
Running code
An unofficial motto of the IETF is, "We believe in rough consensus and running code." Implementation experience provides critical feedback to the standardization process.
Online tools
The IETF community works mostly online, and creates many of the tools used to develop standards documents and support IETF processes.
Birds of a Feather
This page provides information about Birds of a Feather sessions (BoFs)--initial, informal, in-person discussions about a particular the topic of interest to the IETF community--and related policies and procedures.
Open records
Public archives of most of the contributions, submissions, statements and communications that we receive.