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<p>FYI--Would appreciate any additional insights from BC members who participated in or observed the GNSO Council meeting --</p>
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<p><a href="http://domainincite.com/icann-staff-swamped/">http://domainincite.com/icann-staff-swamped/</a></p>
<p> </p>
<h2><a href="http://domainincite.com/icann-staff-swamped/">ICANN</a><a></a><a href="http://domainincite.com/icann-staff-swamped/"> staff swamped</a></h2>
<div class="singleflanel"><a href="http://domainincite.com/about">Kevin Murphy</a>, January 14, 2011, 16:13:16 (UTC<a></a>),
<a title="View all posts in Domain Policy" href="http://domainincite.com/category/domain-policy/" rel="category tag">
Domain Policy</a> </div>
<p><strong><a></a><strong>ICANN’s</strong> board of directors is giving its staff and policy-making bodies more work than they can handle.</strong></p>
<p>The GNSO<a></a> Council yesterday voted to shelve board-requested work on the new top level domains program because no ICANN<a></a> staffers have the time to help coordinate the project.</p>
<p>Last month, the board <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-10dec10-en.htm#6">
asked</a> the GNSO<a></a> and other constituencies to come up with ideas, before mid-March, about how to measure the consumer benefits of new TLDs<a></a> after they launch.
</p>
<p>But the Council yesterday was faced with having to suspend other policy development, in order to get the required staff support, so decided instead to defer the new work.</p>
<p>A senior ICANN<a></a> executive at the meeting said that ICANN<a></a> staff is “not an unlimited resource” and has “no bandwidth to keep taking these projects”.
</p>
<p>This has apparently been an issue for over a year.</p>
<p>In this particular instance, the problem project comprised part of ICANN’s<a></a> obligations under its Affirmation of Commitments with the US government, so it’s not trivial stuff.</p>
<p>As others have <a href="http://domainnamewire.com/2010/08/13/icann-community-faces-policy-overload/">
noted</a>, sometimes the amount of policy development going on in ICANN<a></a> can appear overwhelming to outsiders, but it seems that this problem also extends to ICANN<a></a> internally.</p>
<p> </p>
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