RE: [gnso-ppsc-wg] Work style / best practices

[Liz Gasster <liz.gasster@xxxxxxxxx>]

All,

We can use Adobe Connect for future calls, staff will set this up.  Staff can 
also send an email to this group following each call that enumerates agreed 
action items.  I would prefer that staff not be asked to prepare minutes for 
each Team call, as all Work Team calls are already recorded and transcribed.  
Meeting minutes are time consuming and the policy staff are supporting more 
than a dozen work groups concurrently right now.  If this group feels strongly 
that meeting minutes are a necessary addition I am open to discussing it 
further.

Our action item summary and other deliverables from yesterday's call will be 
distributed shortly.

Thanks, Liz

From: owner-gnso-ppsc-wg@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-ppsc-wg@xxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of J. Scott Evans
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 7:02 AM
To: Working Group
Subject: Re: [gnso-ppsc-wg] Work style / best practices

Dear All:

I am in support of Thomas' suggestions here.  However, most of these are all 
support issues that must be handled by ICANN staff.  That said, I am in control 
of circulating the agenda and I wlll make every effort NOT to repeat my 
oversight in circulating only 30 minutes before our call.  I think Thomas' 
suggestion on agenda circulation is reasonable and I will do my best to meet 
this request.   As for the other more technical issues, I would ask our staff 
liaisons to respond directly to these issues.

Thanks Thomas for your support and positive suggestions.

J. Scott

j. scott evans | senior legal director, global brand & trademark | Yahoo! Inc. 
| evansj@xxxxxxxxxxxxx | 408.349.1385


________________________________
From: Cheryl Langdon-Orr <cheryl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Working Group <gnso-ppsc-wg@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 12:10:56 PM
Subject: Re: [gnso-ppsc-wg] Work style / best practices

Just reinforcing what is said below  and heartily endorsing the proposed use of 
the Adobe Connect space as an IRC backchannel +++   this is one tool we (and me 
specifically as a Chair of often tri-lingual meetings) found most successful to 
use within the diverse needs of  ALAC and At-Large... What I suggest  we do 
need to ensure however is that all WT members are listed as presenters  (it's a 
set once and forget system)  which means whilst the room itself can become a 
public archive  the WT members can edit and use the full capabilities of this 
tool for their work during and indeed between session / calls...

CLO

Thomas Roessler wrote:
Listening to the call today, it appeared to me that there might be some best 
practices that are outside the immediate scope of this work, but that might be 
worthwhile noting down and handing to GNSO chairs (of all kinds).  Much of this 
is really simple technique.

Some points:

1. Circulate minutes right after the call (within 48h, for example)

2. Make sure there is an Instant Messaging backchannel (Adobe connect or Jabber 
or IRC -- just pick something and stick to it)

3. Make sure time slots are kept consistent.

4. Make a point out of noting (in the backchannel) and minuting action items.  
Action items are commitments by a specific person to do a specific task by a 
specific time.  (If any of these elements are missing, things typically don't 
work out so well.)

5. Circulate an agenda about 24-48h before the meeting for a phone call, a week 
or two before for face-to-face meetings.

Include:
- chair
- dial-in information
- IM backchannel
- links to any documents or archived e-mail messages that the chair expects to 
refer to
- desired decisions
- list of open action items

Include the group, the date, and the word "agenda" in the subject.

Doing this in a somewhat schematic way really helps participants when they have 
to jump from one phone conference to the next.  I've also found that it leads 
to some useful discipline on the chairs themselves (including myself when in 
that role).

Additionally, I'll suggest this article as required background reading for 
everybody here, to be kept in mind while we talk about the WG model:
  http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/02/meetings.html

Regards,
--
Thomas Roessler, W3C  <tlr@xxxxxx<mailto:tlr@xxxxxx>>