At its 21 April 2010 meeting, the GNSO Council approved the use of a set of recommended new operating procedures designed to enable GNSO Councilors to begin categorizing and prioritizing their major work projects so that the Council can fulfill its new role as a strategic manager and coordinator of policy development activities within the GNSO. The ICANN community is invited to provide comments on those recommended new procedures.
Background/Explanation:
One of the fundamental tenets of the GNSO Improvements efforts has been to move the GNSO Council away from being a legislative body concerned primarily with voting towards becoming a more focused strategic entity with strengthened management and oversight of the policy development process. As part of that effort a newly restructured GNSO Council was seated at the Seoul ICANN meeting in October 2009.
One of the new Counci's first items of business was to organize a Drafting Team (the GNSO Work Process Model Drafting Team – "WPM-DT") to develop a methodology for prioritizing the GNSO’s project work. The ICANN Secretariat and Policy Staff had conducted an analysis for the Council of the actual levels of participation and attendance for GNSO Working Groups and Work Teams from the beginning of 2008 and continuing through approximately early September 2009. Staff’s final report, delivered to the Council in Seoul, found " evidence of sporadic attendance and, in some cases, very low participation by some Constituencies and inconsistent participation by others." The Staff encouraged additional community dialogue concerning the following questions:
- How might the GNSO’s work be prioritized?
- Is there too much GNSO work and, if so, what might be done to assess the total capacity?
- Are Constituencies providing enough recruits to the groups being formed?
- What levels of group participation should be targeted for each Constituency?
The WPM-DT focused its efforts on that first question regarding Council priorities. On 9 April 2010, the WPM-DT delivered a recommended model methodology and set of procedures to help the Council prioritize its work. The WPM-DT’s intent was to ensure that the recommended process:
- is user-friendly, unambiguous, and straightforward to execute;
- produces realistic outputs that will help the Council to make effective management decisions; and
- is structured as an on-going task that accommodates change including the introduction of new projects as they are proposed in the future.
At its 21 April meeting the Council accepted the deliverable of the WPM-DT and approved the use of a new Operating Procedures Chapter 6 and ANNEX http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/wpmg-section-6-and-annex-09apr10-en.pdf [PDF, 137 KB] for conducting its first Work Prioritization effort. In addition to directing the opening of this public Comment Forum, the Council established a timetable for conducting its initial effort at a group working session when councilors travel to Brussels, Belgium for the June 2010 ICANN meeting. The full GNSO Council Resolution containing the timeline of the initial effort is linked below. Community members are invited to review and comment on these new procedures.
Document Links:
- Proposed Chapter 6 and ANNEX to GNSO Operating Procedures [PDF, 137 KB]
- Transmittal Letter to GNSO Council from the WPM-DT Chair [PDF, 13 KB]
- WPM-DT Presentation to GNSO Council (21 April 2010) [PDF, 559 KB]
- GNSO Council Resolution Inviting Public Comment (21 April 2010)
- WPM-DT Presentation: GNSO Council Status Update (Nairobi) [PDF, 1.90 MB]
- Presentation by D. Michel: GNSO Participation Study (Seoul) [PDF, 524 KB]
The Process From Here:
At the end of this Public Comment Forum period, ICANN Staff will review the comments submitted and prepare a summary analysis of the various submissions for GNSO Council review. The Council conditioned approval of the new procedures and said it reserves the right to modify the procedures described in Chapter 6 and the ANNEX after the conclusion of both the public comment period and the first Work Prioritization effort.
Deadline and How to Submit Comments:
At the direction of the GNSO Council, the Staff is opening a 21-day public consultation forum, from 26 April through 16 May 2010 and invites community comments on this document.
The formal Public Comment Forum Box is located here: http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201005-en.htm#wp
To submit comments: work-prioritization@icann.org
To view comments: http://forum.icann.org/lists/work-prioritization/
Staff Responsible: Robert Hoggarth