In the attached document I added a column that contains my comments for each of the 9 recommendations that Philip listed as possible easy targets for improvement.  I picked 3 of the 9 that I personally believe fit that category: 7) Website improvement; 8) better document management; and 14) better project management methods.  I suggest for each of these cases that we first "ask staff to clarify what plans may already be in place" for these goals.
 
With the other six recommendations, I provide reasons why I do not believe that they will be that easy, are more controversial than some think, may not be implementable until late this year or early next year, or would be better reviewed in the context of the fuller GNSO improvements that hopefully will come out of the overall GNSO improvements as Ross suggested.
 
Chuck Gomes
 
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From: owner-council@gnso.icann.org [mailto:owner-council@gnso.icann.org] On Behalf Of Philip Sheppard
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2007 4:25 AM
To: 'GNSO Council'
Subject: [council] GNSO review - the easy wins

Fellow Council Members,
You may recall I discussed with some of you in Brazil as well as with staff the idea of seeing if there were some of the 24 recommendations in the LSE GNSO review that were ones that would meet with universal agreement on Council. Having reviewed the list again I would now like to make such a proposal.
The attached list of 9 of the 24 recommendations are ones that I am guessing we would all categorise as either:
- blindingly obvious to do (eg web site improvement)
- seem like a good idea (eg annual policy plan)
- what we have been asking for for years (eg funded travel).
Indeed many of the items are already in ICANN plans (see list). A kick-start with Council endorsement will be helpful.
 
(The list is NOT the full set of recommendations supported by the BC. That list is longer but we believe that the other recommendations need to be either:
- discussed more,
- considered together,
- considered with the Board governance committee,
before we can reach a view as Council).
 
However, small steps are always good to show progress so would you be kind enough to indicate if indeed you DO support this short list of the 9 easy wins ?
If there are any items you do not support, just say so with a brief explanation, and I will take them off the list: by definition they would not be easy wins!
 
That should leave us with a set of 9 or less of which we can say Council supports immediate implementation. That will mean in most cases staff do work and return to Council with a worked out proposal.
 
I hope you agree this is a good idea to demonstrate Council's enthusiasm for self-improvement.
 
Philip