IETF decision making - Since most of the technical work related to Internet standards is carried out through IETF working groups, this is also where most of the documents originate. The IETF motto is "rough consensus and running code." Working groups do not vote on their proposals but instead aim for general group agreement. They do sometimes rely on a show of hands when consensus is not clear.

• Defining the IETF - (IETF RFC 3233, BCP 58) gives a definition of "the IETF" as it understood today, Paul Hoffman and Scott Bradner, February 2002
• IETF Guidelines for Conduct - (IETF RFC 3184) October 2001
• The Internet Engineering Task Force - chapter by Scott Bradner in the book Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, 1999
• Internet Engineering Task Force and International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunications Standardization Sector Collaboration Guidelines - (IETF RFC 3356, Obsoletes RFC 2436) provides guidance to aid in the understanding of collaboration on standards development between the International Telecommunication Union -- Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and the Internet Society (ISOC) / Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Gary Fishman and Scott Bradner, August 2002
• Inventing the Internet (book) - Janet Abbate, 1999
• RFC Publication - Started in 1969 by those working on the ARPANET, these notes discuss many aspects of computing and computer communication focusing in networking protocols, procedures, programs, and concepts, but also including meeting notes, opinion, and sometimes humor. They can be obtained by emial, FTP or the Web from many RFC Repositories. The Primary Repositories have them when they are first announced, as do many Secondary Repositories. Some Secondary Repositories, however, take a few days. The RFC Editor will request for the IESG to review the document and give comments/suggestions. You can follow your document's progress by looking at the RFC Editor's Queue. Once a document is posted as an I-D, its author(s) may send e-mail to the RFC Editor at rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org, requesting that it be considered as an Informational or Experimental RFC. Once an RFC is ready to be published, author(s) are given 48 hours to look over their document for editorial nits. No changes are made once they have been published. Sometimes documents sent in as individual submissions are remanded to an IETF Working Group because the subject is already being worked on; in these cases the author is usually asked to work with the IETF to develop the document.
• The Tao of IETF - A Novice's Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF RFC 3160) describes the inner workings of IETF meetings and Working Groups, discusses organizations related to the IETF, and introduces the standards process, Susan Harris, August 2001
• Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet (book) - Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon, 1996, describes the history of the Internet development process