Friends Our GHC proposals process says * A shepherd will make a recommendation within 2 weeks * Committee will make a decision with 4 weeks after that But we sometimes drop the ball and we have no recovery mechanism, which isn't really fair on authors. At our ICFP meeting we decided to appoint a "Nudger" to watch the timetable (weekly perhaps) give the shepherds a polite nudge. If successive nudges don't work (e.g. perhaps a committee member has been overtaken by an emergency) then s/he can alert the Secretary to appoint a new shepherd. I'm happy to say that Tom Harding has agreed to act as our Nudger, for six-month term. Thank you Tom! You may want to check with Joachim about exactly what's in flight. Shepherds: note that it's fine to have an active dialogue with the author about content, before making your recommendation. That might take longer than 2 weeks, but make sure the author knows that is what you are doing. Thanks Tom! Simon