Hello, Just to make sure what i tried to say on the call last Thursday is understood as the communication was not easy. For me it was time for a break to assess progress and realign. I see the board and SSAC letters as additional motivations to this. It is good community voicing concerns now and not later... Below is my assessment of things. I may be wrong. =========================== 1- We were appointed as team from different constituencies and backgrounds and cultures. Some familiar with ICANN, some not. 2- We got together to know each other and try to understand the assigned tasks from the bylaws 3- We selected co-chairs and adopted a ToR which we shared with the board and promised we sill share detailed workplan. 4- We got some random briefings on ICANN, SSR1, etc.. Some concerned were raised about: - What ICANN does, ICANN/IANA/PTI relationship, ICANN and the community, etc... - The scope of the work - Usefulness of all the briefings when the team was setting up - Required competencies. - What shall (can) the volunteer team do and what to outsource and how - Team member relationship to their constituencies - Etc... All of these were not addressed appropriately to make the team converged to a common understanding of the tasks, scope and methods. We seem progressing but with different understandings. 5- We brainstormed, identified topics for sub-groups 6- A detailed workplace was proposed 7- Team members were invited to choose Sub-groups they want to serve. 8 - Sub-groups started working 9- We lost 2 team members( one cochair) 10- Weekly sub-groups and global calls issued pop'ed up Some concerns were also raised about : - How to better conduct the brainstorming sticking to the scope and the ToR - The scope and work plan for the sub-groups, number of sub-groups and their composition - How to compose the sub-groups, better use the expertise available and balance the work load - How to define and manage priorities... These too were not addressed as expected and combined with the points above, have not created favorable environment and conditions. We have seen low participation and Interaction at the sub-group level as well as the global level, limited email discussions while we all agreed that the 1-hour weekly call not enough to discuss everything and make progress. I don't know if what i describe here alone explains what we have seen. They may be other factors... ============================== Suggestions: - review the team composition ? - review work scope, ToR and work plan ? - review sub-groups scope, work plan, composition and progress ? - seek formal internal consensus - make necessary adjustments considering time limits - meet board and SSAC - Communicate any changes and new plans to board, SSAC and the community? I assume some of these were discussed on the call( i missed part of the call). So what are the plans ? Can we do this before Abu Dhabi ? Hope this helps —Alain