[ALAC] Comments Requested: Draft 2012-2015 Strategic Plan

[Evan Leibovitch]

In response to the call for comments on the ICANN Strategic Plan, I wish to
advance the following position as ALAC advice:

> *Periodically, ICANN indulges itself in a re-evaluation of its Strategic
> Plan. There are presentations from senior staff, workshops, and a
> significant chunk of At-Large policy-making time on the Tuesday allocated
> to this endeavour.*
>
> *We submit that that this exercise is a massive waste of time and energy,
> not just on the part of At-Large but of all of ICANN. In fact, at this
> critical time (US Government contracts up for renewal, changes at both CEO
> and Board Chair, and increasing pressure from governments to scrap the
> whole multi-stakeholder experiment), such an energy consuming exercise in
> "navel-gazing" simply calls public attention to the extent of which ICANN
> is out of touch with the community it is supposed to serve. We submit that
> the abandonment of this charade of creating laminated "motherhood
> statements" and diversion of energies to matters more pressing is urgently
> called upon.*
>
> *ICANN's role is well defined and its scope should be fairly focused. It
> strategic plan should needs fine tuning at best -- and certainly not an
> overhaul of the kind being requested on a frequent and ongoing basis. That
> any broad changes are contemplated indicates either mission creep or
> capture -- or both. ICANN has never lived up to its aspirational
> "strategic" plans of the past, allowing staff rather than the community to
> really determine the priorities regardless of what the words say.
> Compounding the farce is the charging of this same staff with evaluating
> its own success. As a result, the community spends more time in endless
> reviews of the plan than in actually holding ICANN accountable for its
> execution.*
>
> *We request that ICANN focus its resources -- and those of its volunteers
> -- on genuinely implementing the strategies it has already defined before
> repeatedly coming back to the community to engage in further rounds of
> self-absorbed distraction.*
>

I have added this statement to the comment section of the appropriate
At-Large wiki page<https://community.icann.org/display/alacpolicydev/At-Large+Workspace+for+the+ICANN+Strategic+Plan+2012-2015>.
I wish to submit it for approval as a position of the At-Large Advisory
Committee. Failing that, I would like to solicit support from community
members in the submission of a minority position. I am certainly open to
modification of the message to make it more broadly acceptable but I hope
that the main point intended by the statement is reasonably unambiguous.

Note: I am doing this as an individual ALAC member, not as representing any
existing position of my region or the ALAC Executive Committee to which I
belong. A version of this statement has already been made to the NARALO
mailing list, and during an ALAC teleconference briefing on the strategic
plan.

Thank you for your consideration.

- Evan



On 4 November 2011 18:38, ICANN At-Large Staff <staff at atlarge.icann.org>wrote:

> Dear All,
>
>
>
> The message below was originally sent on 21 October 2011. However, since
> many At-Large representatives were travelling to Dakar for the 42nd ICANN
> Meeting at that time, the Chair of ALAC has asked staff to re-send it to
> ensure that as many At-Large members are made aware of the call for
> comments
> on the Draft 2012-2015 Strategic Plan as possible.
>
>
>
> ICANN is currently seeking community input on the Draft 2012-2015 Strategic
> Plan <http://goo.gl/pX4EM>  until 17 December 2011.
>
>
>
> An At-Large Workspace for the ICANN Strategic Plan 2012-2015 has been
> created to serve as a central point for information on the four strategic
> focus areas as identified by ICANN as well as the key issues that members
> of
> the At-Large community should address in their comments.  Each RALO is
> requested to submit their comments on the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan on their
> specific Regional Strategic Planning Workspaces located on the main
> Workspace.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Heidi Ullrich, Seth Greene, Gisella Gruber-White, Matt Ashtiani, Nathalie
> Peregrine, Marilyn Vernon
>
> ICANN At-Large Staff
>
> E-mail: staff at atlarge.icann.org
>
>
>
>
>
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>