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Re: [council] GNSO Review: Phase One Paper
- To: Marilyn Cade <marilynscade@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Subject: Re: [council] GNSO Review: Phase One Paper
- From: Ken Stubbs <kstubbs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 12:32:56 -0400
- Cc: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Olof Nordling <nordling@xxxxxxxxx>, Kurt Pritz <pritz@xxxxxxxxx>, John Jeffrey <jeffrey@xxxxxxxxx>, liz.williams@xxxxxxxxx
- In-reply-to: <BAY104-DAV6F05BF5FD104EF162C8A2D3BF0@phx.gbl>
- References: <BAY104-DAV6F05BF5FD104EF162C8A2D3BF0@phx.gbl>
- Sender: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- User-agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 (Windows/20050317)
Fellow council members...
On a parallel track, I share similiar concerns about adequate time
necessary to adequately consider another item recently placed on the
agenda. Our Consitiuency has had very limited time to consider the
proposed by-law changes which are being placed before the council for
our recommendation to the Board. we have not yet even had the
opportunity to deliberate & discusss these changes proposed nor have we
had the benefit of any legal opinions with respect to both process as
well as impact etc..
From a practical perspective, I believe we are all aware that the month
of August is historically the time when many are on holiday and, as
such, not available to commit themselves to the time necessary to have
adequate dialogues regarding items of this nature..
i would certainly hope (as well as recommend), that the council
consider providing the various constituencies an adequate time to
discuss the proposed changes and provide *"informed"* direction to their
council representatives prior to taking any action.
Ken Stubbs
Marilyn Cade wrote:
I wish to raise a point of order regarding how we approach the agenda
item for the Terms of Reference for the GNSO Review and ask for the
following approach:
Under our agenda, posted 7 days before the Council meeting, as
required, we have a topic addressing the timeline for work on the ToR.
That is what I propose that Council address: reviewing and reaching
agreement on a detailed working timeline.
Unfortunately, the staff submission which I will hereafter refer to as
"staff working paper", which contains the proposed timeline did not
meet the required 7 day period. That is regrettable. Having said that,
it seems reasonable to consider this a delayed contribution and to
work from the proposed time line, which is the topic we have on our
Council agenda.
Thus, we should focus in first on Item F on the staff working
paper/delayed contribution, which provides a basic timeline. I have
concerns about some of the dates proposed and questions about the lack
of interaction between the Council and Board; I've made a proposal
about the latter in this email. While we can have further discussion
online, it is my hope to have the discussion interactively on the call
among the Councilors.
As to the substance of the staff working paper, having received it, it
is now important to have sufficient time to both discuss it, and to
carefully consider in an interactive discussion, the substance of Item
D. I am not comfortable that we can fully undertake that in Thursday's
call. We have other substantive issues already on the agenda that
require attention, and we may need to undertake a sub-group focus with
reporting back to the full Council, on completing further input and
work on the ToR. And, I would expect we will need to work on this in
between this Council meeting and the September meeting. For instance,
I am not comfortable with "information papers" that the Council hasn't
seen being sent to the Board. Thus, we need to provide staff
sufficient access to the Council, or a subset of the Council, to
provide the needed ongoing input and comment.
And, to address Ken's often expressed concerns, input does not equal
micromanagement. J
My comments below are to provide further background to fellow
councilors regarding additional materials that we need in order to
fulfill our responsibilities in the development of the ToR "with the
ICANN staff and Board" and to request that these materials/or a
response be provided for the Council meeting.
1) the development of the timing of the gNSO 'review' seems to
be based on a decision by the Board after discussions that have not
been shared with Council. Regardless of the date the decision was
reached by Board, or the rationale, that information is useful and
even necessary background to Council. Thus, since the Board decided to
prioritize the review of the gNSO above one that is required by the
bylaws of a sister organization, there may be discussions, minutes, or
even staff recommendations or board member concerns that should be
shared with the Council itself, not just the staff.
2) Council should have access to information regarding
discussion, presentations, or any materials shared with the Board
that led to the recommendation to focus on gNSO review as a priority.
Those should be provided on Thursday's meeting, or a time determined
when they will be available. This may be something very simple -- a
board discussion on DATE, staff comments provided which addressed a,
b. c... etc. If the discussions were informal, then a summary from
staff of the discussions should be sufficient. Having an
understanding of the perceptions, concerns, and interests of the Board
in supporting this prioritization is important for Council in order to
ensure an effective ToR.
3) the resolution provides for "preparing with the ICANN staff and
Board "... thus, I recommend that we, */_as Council_/*, invite the
Board to appoint a few board members, or to seek volunteer Board
members, to participate with us in the work of developing the ToR, of
course, and it goes without saying, */always/* supported by staff in
this process.
Involvement in this should not be extraordinarily time consuming for
the Board members, and should result in improved understanding within
the Board of the views expressed by the Council and the perspectives
of the SO.
Further, I recommend that we plan accordingly, and reach agreement
now, with the Board, that Council will present the ToR, supported by
the staff, in a joint Board/Council discussion in VC.
It seems obvious that we should be working somewhat interactively with
at least a subset of the Board, before VC, in order to avoid a
disconnect of perspectives and to work through any areas of concern. I
think we all are committed to increasing as appropriate how the
Council represents itself directly in interaction and interpretation
of the Council's input, while relying upon staff for support for
Council's work.
4) I call fellow Councilors attention to other work that is related
that must be addressed as well:
As all will recall, the bylaws called for a review of the Council.
This was completed, with several outstanding recommendations, which we
need to prioritize as work items to discuss and schedule how to
address. Those items should be a priority. They should be
specifically referenced in the working draft background document of
the staff.
On Thursday, in the discussion of the timeline, we should discuss
whether to include/incorporate these items in the ToR, or merely note
that they are work in progress, and ensure that they are indeed work
in progress, what the tracking is of progress, and what steps remain
to be taken to address them. Again, I ask that staff's supporting
documents identify the work items, address where we are in those
areas, Council can then determine its proposed action to conclude this
work, either separately, or in conjunction with the ToR and review.
Should Council prefer to have parallel tracks of work, then this
should just be noted in the ToR, so that in the review undertaken, the
independent entity is guided by an awareness that there is work in
progress in areas that have impact upon the SO.
One final comment. When we say "ICANN", we mean the collectiveness of
all the community. When we say ICANN staff, or ICANN Board, or ICANN
gNSO, then we are speaking of a subset. I notice in the staff working
paper that there is a reference in 3, to whether "ICANN is satisfied
with the advice". I confess I don't know who is meant in that
particular reference to "ICANN". If it is the ICANN Board, then we
should spell that out. If it is the "ICANN staff", then spell that
out; if it is the full community, then of course it is appropriate to
use "ICANN" here.
I suspect from personal interactions with some board members, that
this is actually a reference to questions from the Board, including
the Advisory Committee liaisons. That is quite important to
understand, in any case, and given how ICANN [the full community] is
maturing and evolving and how significant the work/policy items are
that it addresses, is quite to be expected that such a question would
arise. However, if the question is specific, as well, it is important
to understand that and to consider how to address it.
I will comment on the tone that we should seek to achieve in the ToR,
and in the review itself. Having spent many years as a manager--and
an executive with reporting staff, and having been "managed" myself by
many seriously committed executives, first in government, and then in
private industry, I have a view that "reviews" are to be used as ways
to achieve improvement, not isolation of problems for the purposes of
criticism. When one does a performance review, the goals are to help
to improve performance, even of top performers in an organization.
Organizations often undertake self review, and engage in Strategic
Planning for that very purpose; they identify things that can be
improved, and they put the processes in place to improve.
We undertook such an extensive review of the entirety of ICANN not so
long ago in the Evolution and Reform process and we decided, as a
broad ICANN community to make several changes. We are now in the midst
of institutionalizing and improving the performance of ICANN, based on
the changes made at that time... and in this review, I would hope that
we are mindful of the very recent changes that the organization
undertook and focus in on continuing improvements, not revolutionary
change. I believe we have committed to, as a community, evolutionary
and ongoing change. The review of the gNSO should reflect that as a
core principle.
Best regards,
Marilyn Cade
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Liz Williams
*Sent:* Friday, August 12, 2005 5:48 AM
*To:* council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [council] GNSO Review: Phase One Paper
Dear Colleagues
I have attached a paper which reflects the first phase of consultation
and feedback about the GNSO Review Terms of Reference. I am grateful
to everyone who has contributed ideas either by email or on the telephone.
The GNSO Review is at Item 2 on the agenda for the 18 August call.
The agenda item refers specifically to the timeline for the GNSO Terms
of Reference. This paper provides the timeline and more detailed
information.
After the 18 August call, I will prepare an information paper for
distribution to the Board. I will then incorporate their feedback
into a Second Phase paper. You will note that we have quite tight
deadlines to meet the Board's requirements for notification of items
for the Vancouver meeting. A full project plan is being developed for
the process which includes all key dates and milestones.
If you have any further questions or need clarification on anything my
numbers are below or you can email me.
Kind regards.
Liz
Dr Liz Williams
Senior Policy Counselor
ICANN - Brussels
Tel: +32 2 234 7874
Fax: +32 2 234 7848
Mob: +61 414 26 9000
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