Final Terms of Reference

[Paul Matthews (NZCS)]

Hi all,

Thanks for those that provided feedback and comments on the draft Terms of Reference. All comments were excellent and in almost all circumstances were adopted and I believe have improved the Terms. There were a couple of minor matters which couldn't be changed for various reasons - let me know if there's something you'd like to discuss.

Proposed Final Terms of Reference

The proposed final Terms of Reference are available here: http://db.tt/84XLYtni

A couple of key changes - following feedback and a request to delay the start the timeframe has extended out a little. We think it's necessary to ensure the initiative is as thorough as possible, and in that context an extra few weeks is really neither here nor there.

We were also slightly oversubscribed in funding. We've increased the resources slightly (mainly given the slightly longer project), recovered a little of the supporting contribution and put some into a "contingency". If this is unused at project end then the financial supporters will determine its use (eg used in any further phase, refunded, used for other related work, etc).

Note that the NZCS Council needs to finally sign off on the Terms (given it's being facilitated under the NZCS umbrella) however it has been indicated that this is unlikely to be problematic and we will be commencing background work in the meantime.

Principles

You'll see that immediately following the "Introduction" in the Terms of Reference is a new Principles section. This is intended to capture the underlying principles to be considered during the development of the Code (such as not reinventing the wheel, collaborative consensus-based approach, etc).

As has been clear from the feedback thus far, these are the absolute core principles to be in place at all times during the development of the Code. While this isn't a departure from the previous draft version, having them all upfront will hopefully make the purpose and structure of this work more clear to those that haven't been engaged thus far.

Project Coordinator

I'm very pleased to announce that we will be contracting Joy Cottle to work as Project Coordinator for this initiative. Her job, along with a support team, will be to engage with as many stakeholders as possible and facilitate the development of the Code under the guidance of the Steering Group.

Joy is quite deliberately NOT a "cloud expert" as her role is to facilitate the development of the Code, not write it herself from scratch. She is aware of the issues, however, having been Managing Director of iServe for 10 years or so previously.

Joy will be in touch within the next week or two.

Time to get underway!

By and large the feedback thus far has been hugely positive and in almost all circumstances those interested in this work have been passionate about ensuring a great outcome.

This project will develop using a consensus-based collaborative approach and I certainly hope most are supportive of the eventual outcome.

Those that have been involved in these types of initiatives before will know that "consensus" doesn't mean "unanimous" and no doubt there will be some unhappy with some parts of the Code. What I can promise, however, is that all stakeholders will have the opportunity to influence the outcome, not just those that speak the loudest, and all input will be duly considered.

This is an important project for New Zealand. I especially want to thank those financially supporting the work, especially the major contributors (outlined in the Terms document). Without their support this project couldn't proceed.

I'll now bow out a little from the operational side of the development code, instead focusing on putting together the Steering Group and taking on the "Project Sponsor" role, and hand things over to Joy to get things underway over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for all the support thus far.

Regards,

Paul Matthews 

Chief Executive

NZ Computer Society Inc (NZCS)

Phone: +64 4 473 1043 | Mobile: +64 21 705 212 | Twitter: @nzcspaul | www.nzcs.org.nz

(Sent via iPad)