[atrt2] Preliminary Staff Assessment/Response to ATRT2 Draft Recommendations

Alan Greenberg alan.greenberg at mcgill.ca
Fri Dec 6 17:52:53 UTC 2013


I am somewhat overwhelmed by the magnitude and 
overall tone of these comments. Just a few comments to start:

- Given the magnitude and the overall negative 
tone (negative in the sense of "don't issue this 
Rec.")to many of the comments, I find it had to 
understand why this assessment is coming at this 
time and not a lot earlier, given that the 
current time-table is to have the report all wrapped up in about two weeks.

- Although I understand the attractiveness of a 
small number of focused recommendations, in my 
mind, there has been a clear message from the 
community that this is not (solely) what we need now).

- I am particularly disturbed by the suggestion 
that we withdraw a large number of 
recommendations on the grounds that work is 
already started in similar area. Replacing these 
recommendations with observations provides none 
of the tracking and accountability to actually 
follow-through that a recommendation does. If 
work is already underway and likely to succeed, 
then these are easy wins as recommendations and 
will not entail significant additional staff 
effort. On the other hand, if the work that is 
currently going on is insufficient or does not 
achieve the desired results, the recommendations 
are warranted. From a personal point of view on 
the Cross-community collaboration 
recommendations, this is too important an issue 
from the perspective of ICANN credibility to rely 
on the current discussions all bearing fruit.

Alan

At 05/12/2013 09:21 PM, Denise Michel wrote:

>Dear ATRT2 Members,
>
>Staff appreciates the opportunity to engage with 
>the Review Team in our ongoing information 
>sharing and discussions focused on our mutual 
>goal – a Final Report that makes a significant 
>and valuable contribution to ICANN’s 
>accountability and transparency by offering 
>recommendations that are necessary, feasible and implementable.
>
>Having reviewed and considered the Draft ATRT2 
>Report and Recommendations, staff from numerous 
>departments have prepared the attached document 
>as initial feedback and to support further 
>interactions with ATRT2.  Staff welcomes the 
>opportunity for follow-up discussions within the 
>next few days, recognizing the compressed 
>timeline under which the ATRT2 is working. 
>Larisa and Charla have already arranged 
>conference calls on some topics and look forward 
>to supporting additional calls and email inquiries.
>
>Staff is pleased to observe that there is a 
>significant alignment between ATRT2 findings and 
>draft recommendations, and work that is underway 
>at ICANN. This alignment represents a positive 
>development in the evolution of the AoC Reviews 
>and staff suggests that it be noted in the 
>ATRT2’s observations, and that ongoing work be 
>factored into future reviews. For 
>recommendations where work is already underway, 
>staff proposes, for the ATRT2’s consideration, 
>that such recommendations be replaced with 
>observations acknowledging the work currently 
>being performed. ICANN commits to providing 
>public status reports, milestones and 
>deliverables to keep the community informed 
>about this work. Such reporting is well aligned 
>with the concept of an annual Accountability 
>Report, requested by the ATRT2.  Annual 
>Accountability Reporting also is anticipated to 
>be an important vehicle for communicating 
>ICANN’s continuous improvement efforts in 
>accountability and the implementation of the 
>Accountability Framework for measuring ICANN’s 
>progress through benchmarks and metrics, which 
>will be informed by the work of One World Trust. 
>In addition, at the beginning of the ATRT2 
>process, Fadi had expressed his enthusiasm for 
>the work of the ATRT2 along with his overarching 
>request that the work of the Review Team would 
>result in a small number of focused, high impact 
>recommendations that staff, Board and the community could implement.
>
>Based on experience to date, we know that the 
>large number of ATRT2 potential recommendations 
>and sub-recommendations would require a 
>significant amount of resources from staff, 
>Board and community –  public consultations, 
>tracking, reporting, and ultimately assessment 
>by the subsequent Review Team (for 
>recommendations that address work underway; for 
>new recommendations resources also will be 
>required to develop and execute implementation 
>plans).  In considering staff proposals to 
>replace certain recommendations with 
>observations, the Review Team may wish to 
>consider several factors, such as the concern 
>about “review fatigue,” challenges faced by the 
>Review Team in getting substantive feedback from 
>a diverse cross-section of the ICANN community, 
>as well as requests for simplification of 
>information to make it more accessible to a 
>wider audience, not just those with deep knowledge and experience at ICANN.
>
>We hope you find staff’s initial input on each 
>of the draft recommendations and 
>sub-recommendations useful and staff welcomes 
>the opportunity to elaborate. Again, we would 
>like to acknowledge the value of ATRT2’s work 
>and its importance to the legitimacy of 
>ICANN.  We also wish to thank all the members of 
>the ATRT2 for their dedication and hard 
>work.  Staff is committed to supporting and 
>assisting the work of the Review Team during 
>these final few weeks of your work.
>
>Regards,
>
>Denise
>
>
>Denise Michel
>VP Strategic Initiatives
>ICANN
><mailto:denise.michel at icann.org>denise.michel at icann.org
>Content-Type: application/pdf; name=" Prelim Staff Assessment of & Response"
>  to ATRT2 Draft Recommendations - 5 Dec 2013.pdf"; x-mac-creator=4D535744;
>         x-mac-type=50444620
>Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Prelim Staff Assessment of &"
>  Response to ATRT2 Draft Recommendations - 5 Dec 2013.pdf"
>
>
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