[council] Draft agenda for GNSO teleconference on terms of reference for the GNSO review - 25 August 2005

[Michael D. Palage]

Ross:

I think you raise a very important point, and I hope that we will be
able to discuss this tomorrow in more depth.

In an effort to contribute to this thread, I would like to try to answer
your question. I believe the goals and expectations of the GNSO are
clearly defined in the bylaws, specifically that the GNSO shall be the
"policy-development body ... for developing and recommending to the
ICANN Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains."

Similar to an employee evaluation process, the party directly
responsible for receiving the work of the employee (i.e. the ICANN
Board) should have a direct role in the evaluation process of the
employee (GNSO). Moreover, I believe this interaction needs to be at the
very beginning of the process in accessing the performance of the
employee. Only after these questions have been answered is it truly
possible to undertake an independent evaluation process and recommend
changes. My point is, if the Board doesn't comment at the outset on what
is working and what is not, how would any independent evaluation
undertake a meaningful review with no reference points?

As someone that has spent a number of years at both the Board and GNSO
constituency level, these are the two fundamental questions which I
believe all Board members should be asked: (1) are you satisfied with
the output of the GNSO Policy recommendations and (2) are you satisfied
with the process of how the GNSO goes about Policy recommendations.

Now if the answer to both of these questions are yes, then we really do
not need to start with some of the broader fundamental questions that I
believe this process has started off with. Moreover, I am concerned that
some of the questions are so broad, that it potentially undermines the
first part of an constructive process that Patrick Sherry undertook last
year.

So if the council believes that this would be a constructive process I
would encourage council to instruct staff to undertake a formalized Q&A
process with the ICANN Board ASAP to provide specific reference points
of what is and is not working.

Comments, questions?

Best regards,

Michael D. Palage



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-council at gnso.icann.org [mailto:owner-council at gnso.icann.org]
On Behalf Of Ross Rader
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:56 AM
To: Bruce Tonkin
Cc: council at gnso.icann.org
Subject: Re: [council] Draft agenda for GNSO teleconference on terms of
reference for the GNSO review - 25 August 2005


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Bruce - a quick question regarding the agenda...


> (1) Review the goals and expected outcomes of the GNSO review, at both
> the Council and constituency level

Whose goals and expectations will we be reviewing? I have mentioned to
others that I have an expectation that this process will be a
constructive, bi-directional communication that will hopefully provide
the GNSO with feedback and direction regarding structural and procedural
improvements that will help it serve and work within the ICANN community
in a more effective manner. To that end, it would be helpful to
understand and discuss not only what our goals and expectations are for
this process, but more importantly, those of others (the other SOs, the
staff and primarily, the Board having commissioned this review in the
first place).

Thanks in advance,



                       -rwr








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