[Gnso-epdp-team] CPH Proposed Alternative to Small Team Approach

Tue Jan 8 03:42:43 UTC 2019

Hi, we have discussed the matter in NCSG and generally agree with Kristina's alternative proposal.  Here are a few of the reasons why:

1.  While your latest two small group proposal avoids the representation issue which we raised, we still think that it is important for SGs to reach consensus on the recommendations/questions, and the small group approach does nothing to help with that issue.  Representation here is by SG/AC not by constituency.

2.  As Kristina has pointed out, the subject matter is inextricably linked...ir it were not, we would have made better progress by now.  Atomizing the issues is tempting, but will do nothing to get us out of the challenge of considering questions organically, linked as they are.

3.  The schedule is heroic if not naive, and we have wasted much time.  Trying to take shortcuts at this point, in our opinion, will not help.  I am sure that Kristina is right when she says that people have not read the comments.   A group SG approach will help avoid further delays when we debate the outputs of a potential small group process in plenary.  I am truly sorry to think that staff went to all this work on the materials over the Christmas holidays....I did no ICANN work over that period myself.  After counting my potential Christmases on first one hand then more optimistically two, I decided to take an ICANN holiday over the holidays.  Doubtless others smarter than I reached the same conclusion without having to do a risk assessment.

4.  We need to think seriously about which questions we are not going to have answered in a consensus fashion by the deadline, and develop recommendations for next steps for the GNSO Council, in my personal view.  In the meantime, let's try Kristina' approach.

Stephanie Perrin

On 2019-01-07 18:32, Kurt Pritz wrote:
Hi Kristina:

Thanks for your thoughts and proposal.

First, I would appreciate it if any other groups on the list came in with their opinions. Obviously, time is of the essence.

Without yet changing the currently published agenda and dual meeting plan (they are still in place), I have some thoughts and also questions about your proposal.

I.

This approach undoubtably places an additional burden on the team members. Your statement of it reflects much of the thinking that the Support Team experienced Friday and through the weekend as we discussed the amount of work to accomplish. The balance is between these additional burdens and creating some opportunity to finish our work in a timely manner.

Therefore, we put this proposal out to see if the different groups were willing to endorse it. We have had some good successes with small teams in the past but also had some attempts not work out because the small team conclusions were re-litigated at the plenary level. In those efforts, we recognized that each group must be represented in the small teams and that an opportunity for coordination must be provided for the small team member to communicate with their group.

In addition, the memo outlining the approach calls for the requirement to give the small team conclusions a significant amount of deference and also provided for an inter-meeting consultation on issues if necessary. We must sign up to these conditions if the effort is to work. Certainly, no small team member would be forced to endorsing a conclusion if s/he desired to consult with her/his team.

I agree with your assessment of additional difficulty and that is the balancing that must occur as we decide whether to commit to this approach. I.e., in order for this effort to succeed, the various groups must commit to approach this with a determination to shoulder the burden and also to make sound judgments when additional coordination is needed (and when it is not). For me, given the time available to us, I thought it was imperative to suggest or to try something to expand our capacity. I came to the conclusion that trebling our capacity provided a chance of appropriately considering public comment within a time period in line with our objectives.

II.

Your assessment that the Team has not yet read the comment is disappointing (given the staff holiday work that went into it), however, I understand it. In partial mitigation of that, the agenda calls for a review of the rationale to introduce each subject and give the Team a few minutes to read through the summary prior to the discussion.

The agenda seeks to march through the first few topics on each team’s list. The Support Team has prepared new summaries to help those who have not fully formed their thoughts as of yet.

III.

With regard to your proposal, I have questions so that I fully understand it.

Where you say:

"If, after reviewing the public comments, a group would like to change their position, they need to provide a rationale as to why.  If the group's position is unchanged, they should identify why they haven't changed their position.” I wish to be careful how we manage that.

Does that mean, a group would like to change their position as stated in the Initial Report or does it mean change their position as stated in the public comment?

  *   If the former, that is appropriate, a group can change its position on an agreed upon conclusion in the Initial report based on arguments made in the public comment.
  *   If the latter, I think that is inappropriate. The comments are the comments and should be taken as written, i.e., stand on their own. There are commenters that are not seated at our table and do not have the ability to change, elaborate on, or explain their comment.

Also, there are two parts to your proposal I don’t believe I can endorse (i.e., where I think it inappropriate to further burden the team):

1) "Each group should provide their position and rationale for each purpose/recommendation in writing, in advance of the meeting where it is going to be discussed, so that Staff can present it to the whole group in a review-friendly format”

I do not see each group providing a separate writing on 20-some-odd recommendations plus several open questions for each meeting in time for the other groups to read and consider it. Given that the comments, as collected and summarized by staff, have not been read yet. I can’t burden the different groups with so many additional readings and writings and expect that to be successful.

There will likely be some issues where a written analysis is required but I believe we should take those as they arise and not create a blanket requirement for a writing on each issue.

2) "In between meetings, the list should be utilised to continue discussion, one topic at a time.  List discussion should be highly focused and structured, for example providing a response to specific questions.”

I agree with having an email discussion on issues but I would not base the success of our plan on it. That is, I think it is a good idea but I would not delay any other effort in reliance that we will be able to work difficult issues out via email. We have not yet been able to have a focused discussion on email. I lay this at the feet of the meeting cadence. With meetings twice a week there is not time for team members to formulate questions and have a thoughtful discussion.

IV

So, if you have gotten this far, I’d be happy to discuss this further but have left the agenda in place for now. If you think it would be helpful, I’d be happy to have a conversation. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the world is no longer at their desks today but we could chat in an Adobe Connect room and anyone wanting to could listen in.

Thanks for reading this,

Kurt

On Jan 7, 2019, at 12:24 PM, Rosette, Kristina via Gnso-epdp-team <gnso-epdp-team at icann.org<mailto:gnso-epdp-team at icann.org>> wrote:

All,

On behalf of the CPH members and alternates, attached and copied below is a CPH-proposed alternative to the small team approach. The CPH does not support the small team approach, and discussed it at a meeting earlier today.

-*-

Whilst we appreciate the challenge of finding an approach that is both effective and works for all members, the CPH does not support the 3 small team proposal as the best way to review public comments.[1]<x-msg://20/#_ftn1> [FN1: Although CPH representatives discussed at their meeting this morning the 3-team proposal that had been put forward over the weekend, the rationale applies also to the more recent 2-team proposal. ]

Dividing the EPDP Team into 3 Small teams creates huge coordination challenges for each group and puts a significant burden on the individuals who have to represent their group.  EPDP topics are so interrelated that it’s difficult to discuss in the vacuum of small teams and given the necessary need to ensure all differing interests are represented in each team, there is likely to be same lack of consensus that exists in the team as a whole.  Furthermore, dividing up group members will necessitate an increase in the amount of time that will have to be spent discussing progress and concerns within each group.  Being on the EPDP Team is already a huge time commitment for its members, and presumably few can afford to commit even more time to be able to keep up to date on 3 teams, instead of 1.

Therefore the CPH would like to propose the following alternate approach:

1) Staff confirm the order in which each purpose/recommendation is going to be reviewed

2) Instead of meeting as a team (or small teams) allow this Tuesday’s (8 January 2019) call time to be used by each group to go through the public comments themselves.  We appreciate that members have already been asked to review all public comments, but in practise, it is unlikely that most have had the time to do so.

3) Each group should review the public comments for each purpose and recommendation (in the order specified by staff as per 1) and agree on their position. If, after reviewing the public comments, a group would like to change their position, they need to provide a rationale as to why.  If the group's position is unchanged, they should identify why they haven't changed their position.

4) Each group should provide their position and rationale for each purpose/recommendation in writing, in advance of the meeting where it is going to be discussed, so that Staff can present it to the whole group in a review-friendly format

5) The EPDP Team continues to meet as a whole team on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but instead of discussing the individual public comments, it discusses the position of each group on the public comments of each recommendation/purpose, where there is no consensus.

6) In between meetings, the list should be utilised to continue discussion, one topic at a time.  List discussion should be highly focused and structured, for example providing a response to specific questions.

-*-

Kristina

Kristina Rosette
Senior Corporate Counsel, IP – Domains
rosettek at amazon.com<mailto:rosettek at amazon.com> | 703.407.1354

________________________________
[1]<x-msg://20/#_ftnref1> Although CPH representatives discussed at their meeting this morning the 3-team proposal that had been put forward over the weekend, the rationale applies also to the more recent 2-team proposal.
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