[council] Regarding current procedures used in the GNSO Council

[Bruce Tonkin]

Hello Philip,

> 
> PS This really does underline the need for Council to adopt 
> updated working procedures.

Yes - updating our rules of procedures has been an outstanding item
since about 2002/2003 when the DNSO transitioned to the GNSO.    It has
not been done for resourcing reasons - staff and GNSO Council members.

It now appears that we are using three types of groups:

(1) Committees of Council members - generally for issues that are
strategically important to the GNSO
- this has evolved with the new gTLD committee to allow constituencies
to substitute Council members for physical meetings, and allow these
people to also participate on the mailing list

(2) Task Forces - as per the ICANN bylaws
- currently being used for WHOIS and PDP-Feb06

(3) Working Groups - more informal groups for studying a specific topic,
either prior to commencing a PDP, or to provide input to an externally
managed project (e.g ICANN strategic Plan).  These groups are not part
of a policy development process, but may allow for further study of a
topic.   One of the learnings so far has probably been that we have
started formal PDPs too early, before there is enough understanding and
high level agreement on a particular policy action.     

We should try to at least formally describe the current state of our
processes prior to updating them as part of a review.    

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin