[CMC] Re: [Cesg-all] Charter Development Template For Comments

[Adrian J. Hooke]

At 04:26 PM 3/22/2007, Erik Barkley wrote:
>Taking a look at the project tabs, it strikes me that an important piece 
>of information is lacking.  In order to assess a project relative to its 
>overall charter I believe it is necessary to state the resources committed 
>by the various agencies.

Erik: sorry, but I have to disagree. For years we have tried to get 
accurate "nose count" information from the Agencies and this activity alone 
has chewed up more resources than it's worth. It also embarrasses the small 
Agencies, who feel obliged to slice already thin resources into 
artificially thin crumbs. CCSDS is not a "real organization", where you 
take on a project given an objective, a schedule and a specific pot of 
money. CCSDS is a "virtual organization" where work either gets done or it 
doesn't, based on a commitment of good faith from the Agencies. That's a 
fact or life and trying to pretend that a virtual organization can function 
like a real one will just drive you crazy.

What's needed before a project is initiated is a commitment from at least 
one Agency that they are willing to see it through to completion, on 
schedule. If you have this commitment, everything else is serendipity. So I 
would argue that a WG should have to demonstrate that it has secured such a 
commitment before a project is initiated, but that commitment should take 
the form of "we will see it through" not "we will allocate 0.2 FTE to this 
and 0.13 FTE to that". And if the project then falls behind and the 
"committing" Agencies don't correct the situation, it should be terminated.

///adrian

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