Hello All, Here are my notes from the meeting this morning. There were three main topics discussed: - policy development process - end-to-end project management to deliver outcomes to the ICANN community - ICANN staff resource management (1) Policy development process A document needs to be created as a manual for participants in the policy process. Chairs of task forces or Council should ideally have experience within the GNSO policy development process prior to becoming chairs. The role of a task force or council member is to work as a member of the team to create a new consensus policy. The member should bring their expertise from their relevant constituency, but should work to understand the positions of the other constituencies and identify compromises that lead to an overall improvement for the ICANN community as-a-whole (rather than just the specific constituency). The overall duty of a task force or Council member is to the ICANN community as-a-whole. The role of the chair is to manage the policy development process and ensure that all members of the committee can contribute using their particular skills and expertise. Currently there is a heacvy reliance on chairs to do much of the editing of reports and analysis of public comments or constituency positions. The aim with the additonal ICANN budget is to reduce the reliance on the chairs, and encourage people expeirneced in the GNSO policy process to take on the role of chair. The role of the staff support person is as described in: http://www.icann.org/general/jobs/GNSO-policy-support-officer.htm Ie - Liaise with the Chair and members of the GNSO Council to conduct background research, data gathering and data analysis of current issues of importance to the Council - Assist with the formation of a Task Force or Sub-Committee and provide guidance to those participating in the policy development processes on relevant steps and timelines (as set out in the bylaws) - As part of the policy development processes, assist the GNSO Council and eventual Task Forces or Sub-committees in the management of their tasks, drafting and producing reports, posting and evaluating public comments, as well as related activities, such as coordination and incorporation of reports from outside advisors - Attend meetings of the Council, Task Forces and/or Sub-committees (mostly by teleconference and including outside office hours) - Provide other assistance to the GNSO Council as may be needed to ensure the smooth running of the policy processes - Where relevant, prepare reports and other materials to the ICANN Board The meeting noted that it would be useful for staff support personnel to have a thorough understanding og the ICANN bylaws with respect to policy development, and assist the chair with the process steps necessary to comply with the policy development process. Note although the staff support person is intended to assist in the editing of reports, members must work to contribute the raw material that allows the report to be created using their specific areas of expertise. A report cannot be created in a vacuum. (2) Project management The ICANN community currently has 3 policies in the implementation phase that were approved early in 2003: - transfers - WHOIS - deletes The implementations of these policies are not complete. The ICANN community currently has 3 issues in the policy development phase: - next improvement of WHOIS (broken up into 3 components) - approval process for gtld registry service changes - .net criteria We need to work collectively to establish a project management framework that sets out the steps from issues report, through to policy, through to implementation, through to measurement of outcomes, through to review of policy - and re-start the process. We should be able to report on the projects as a whole to the ICANN community with clear indivations of status and estimated dates for project deliverables. It was recognised that the bylaws specify a set of dates for all issues, when in fact some issues (such as WHOIS) are far more complex and more contentious than other issues (e.g redemption grace period). To encourage participation and build confidence in ICANN we need to work to make incremental improvements to the main policy areas each year, rather than trying for years to form an ideal policy, and then struggling for years to implement that policy. This needs better project management. (3) ICANN staff resource management =================================== In the past there were a few ICANN staff members that were required out of necessity to do everything. With ICANN's new budget there will be additional staff resources available. It is important for ICANN staff to work with the GNSO Council to create a view of the current staff resource allocations across the projects. Projects at different stages will need different skill sets. For example during the policy implementation stage, legal changes may need to be made to registry or registrar agreements. During the policy development stage, legal advice on the current obligations of the contracts may be required. It would be useful for the chairs to have a weekly view of staff (or outside consultants) allocations across the projects, and what work is underway. This will assist us all in planning and understanding where there are resource shortfalls. An understanding of resource allocations will also assist in setting more realistic timelines for specific projects underway. Regards, Bruce Tonkin