[atrt2] Draft Report - version 1 for review

[Steve Crocker]

Avri,

Speaking as founding chair of SSAC, there wasn't even a requirement for operating procedures for SSAC much less a requirement they be vetted, reviewed or approved by the Board or any other group.  As part of my role as chair of SSAC, I initiated the creation of the operating procedures as a pragmatic way of capturing the tidbits of we actually operated.  It was specifically not intended to be a set of rules that bound the group to anything.  Rather, it was intended as a compendium to help the group remember what it did before.  That said, I noticed that once we wrote things down, people tended to interpret the words as binding.

Taking your point more broadly, the bylaws given almost no guidance on the structure of SSAC.  I didn't study the words associated with the other advisory committees as closely, but I think the situation is similar.  The only specific operational requirement is for the Board to approve the membership on SSAC.  In the beginning, there weren't any limitations on terms, there was any criteria regarding membership, there weren't any mechanisms for removing someone except, implicitly, to ask the Board to take such an action.  I adopted a practice of presenting to the Board nominations and I did so with sufficient documentation to make it clear we had selected people with strong backgrounds.  The Board routinely accepted all of our nominations, and when it came time to replace me as chair, the Board chose to ask SSAC to make the choice.

SSAC now has three year terms for membership, renewable, and it has an internal process for selecting new members.

Either within ATRT2 or through other community processes I can imagine attempting to provide guidance or impose structure on SSAC and/or other advisory committees.  If so, I recommend approaching that question directly.  Grabbing hold of the operating procedures may be helpful as part of such an effort, but I don't believe it's the right starting point or even the main issue.

To press this point a bit further, SSAC has begun to complain that its advice hasn't been followed.  As a matter of form, I think that's out of scope, but I also agree and am actively implementing that when they deliver advice it needs to be acknowledged and accounted for.  We have wording in our current ATRT2 report that addresses this, which is fine with me.

Steve

On Oct 9, 2013, at 10:15 AM, Avri Doria <avri at ella.com> wrote:

> 
> On 9 Oct 2013, at 13:04, Steve Crocker wrote:
> 
>>> 
>>> page 12, There was no comment period or other mechanism for community input associated with the publication of the SSAC Operating Procedures
>> 
>> This wording inappropriately implies there should be a public comment period.  The SSAC Operating Procedures is an internal document that captures the processes in effect.  It is not a policy document.  Publication is done for transparency and comments, if any, will likely be considered, but it was never intended nor would it be appropriate to suggest there is a need for community feedback or approval.
>> 
> 
> 
> In general, I thought that all SO/AC Operating Procedures go through at least a vetting by the Board and that is preceded by a public comment.  I certainly thought this was the case for GNSO Operating Principles.  Not sure if this was the case for the ALAC change that just went through, but I thought it was. I don't understand why this would not be the case for SSAC as well.
> 
> Or should we take this to mean that no SO/AC needs to go through public comment before changing it Operating procedures?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> avri
> 
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