00100	        PROPOSED PERSONNEL POLICY FOR THE STANFORD ARTIFICIAL
00200	                       INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY

00300	
00400	
00500		This  proposal covers programmers, engineers, and non-faculty
00600	researchers.  It  doesn't  cover  secretaries  or  technicians.   The
00700	normal university personnel policies are OK for the excluded groups.
00800	
00900		The  problem  arises  from  the  fact  that the AI project is
01000	critically dependent on the  ability  and  interest  of  programmers,
01100	engineers, and researchers.  Many of the things we do just won't work
01200	with people whose ability and interest is at the industry norm.
01300	
01400		When we hire people, we sometimes make mistakes and also  for
01500	various  reasons  people  sometimes lose interest in their work.  The
01600	work resembles academic work in that it is not easy to  tell  over  a
01700	period of even a few months whether a person is working well or not.
01800	
01900		The  academic world has evolved a personnel policy that works
02000	out fairly well, and the  proposal  is  to  adopt  it  in  miniature.
02100	Namely,  people  are  appointed  for  fixed  periods,  and it takes a
02200	positive act of reappointment to extend and  appointment  beyond  the
02300	period.   After  seven  years,  the appointment becomes permanent and
02400	removal is possible only for cause. A  candidate  for  re-appointment
02500	has  no  preference over a candidate for a new appointment, and a new
02600	person may even be preferred to avoid a tenure commitment.  A  person
02700	doing  "satisfactory"  work may not be re-appointed if the university
02800	thinks someone else may be better.
02900	
03000		Our miniature version of the academic system  will  have  the
03100	following properties:
03200	
03300		1.  The  initial appointment is usually for one year with two
03400	year   renewals.    After   five   years,    the    appointment    is
03500	pseudo-permanent.  People with substantial research records elsewhere
03600	may receive two year initial appointments and three  year  follow  on
03700	appointments.
03800	
03900		2. Present jobs will be converted into such appointments.
04000	
04100		3.  All  appointments will be synchronized to start September
04200	
04300		4.  This  policy  is  that  of  the  management  of  the   AI
04400	Laboratory,  and does not commit the university.  Commitments undr it
04500	may be broken for the following reasons:
04600	
04700			1.  The  experiment  may  work  out  badly  in   some
04800	presently unforseen way, and the AI Laboratory.
04900	
05000			2. The University may change the management of the AI
05100	Laboratory or require that the policy be changed in order to  conform
05200	to some other University policy.
05300	
05400			3.  Shortage  of grant funds may force a reduction in
05500	personnel.
05600	
05700			4. The AI Laboratory may need fewer  people  doing  a
05800	certain kind of work.
05900	
06000		The  above  qualifications  are all I can presently think of,
06100	but there may be others.  On the other hand, all  the  qualifications
06200	seem to me to be low probability events.
06300	
06400		The  purpose  of  the policy is to get the best people we can
06500	for the lab and to be fair to everyone by letting them know what kind
06600	of place this is.
06700	
06800		Comments on this proposal are solicited.
06900	
07000							John McCarthy