• Committee meetings will be held regularly as per the schedule
• Cell phones shall be either switched off or kept on silent mode for those who are on call. Member attending urgent call shall leave the room
• Attendance of the team members shall be taken and reported in the minutes of the meeting. Partial attendance (late joining and / or early leaving) should be avoided. If it happens, it shall also be recorded in the minutes
• SMEs from all founding member organisations must be present for a meeting to be held. The meeting should be re-scheduled if the quorum drops below 80%
• Each member, though representing a specific organisation, shall work towards GDA goals
• All members shall have equal authority in discussing an issue, irrespective of their positions in their respective company
• Team members shall show respect to each other (e.g. punctuality, preparedness, appreciation for other’s ideas…). Be conscious of body language and nonverbal responses – they could be as disrespectful as words
• No side discussions will be allowed. One person shall speak at a time
• Members may respectfully challenge one another by asking questions, but they must refrain from personal attacks. Focus on ‘Ideas’
• While opposing a proposed idea, concerned member shall offer a better alternative, keeping the criticism constructive
• Every effort shall be made to reach a consensus. When this is not possible, voting will be used. In any case, once a decision is made, all members shall abide by this decision without any reservation or remorse
• If the discussion on a particular issue seems to be going in a circle, park it and move on to the next item on the meeting agenda. You can always return to this item later when the minds could be better focussed on the parked topic
• Chairperson, in his / her coordinator’s role, shall steer all discussions and can interrupt a member when going beyond the scope. In case of a deadlock situation, Chairperson shall escalate the issue to the GDA Technical Manager for guidance
• Every team meeting shall be minuted with associated points of agreement, unresolved differences (if any) and actions. GDA standard template for recording minutes shall be used
• All members shall adhere to the deadlines for actions agreed in the meeting
• For reviewing any document, a deadline shall be fixed, beyond which members’ concurrence shall automatically be assumed
• It is required for all the team members to attend all the meetings. However, if any one misses a meeting, it is his / her responsibility to update himself / herself
• All members are expected to make positive contributions. If a member is found not contributing to the project, his / her continuation in the project will be escalated to the respective SPOC
• While using ‘email’, members shall (besides the other email etiquettes):
1. Use ‘Reply to All’ only when absolutely necessary
2. Use appropriate ‘subject’ (even while replying, edit, if necessary, to reflect the content of the reply)
3. Do not attach large documents (instead post them in a shared folder and send the link)
• Do not use any flame-mail

All communications will be in electronic form, unless a specific situation demands hard-copy. Technical Committees will adopt the following communication approach:

• Each Committee will create a WhatsApp group for informal communication among its members. All Committees will also include GDA Technical Manager and GDA Technical Admin. in their respective WhatsApp groups
• All formal communications will be via emails
• Members can join a meeting through video conferencing or Skype, if not co-located. However, all members must be present physically in all quarterly meetings
• Any ad-hoc query or clarification can be obtained through phone or instant messaging
• Meeting outcome / actions will be communicated through formal minutes
• Electronic signatures can be used to endorse a formal document (e.g. charter, minutes, implementation plan, technical paper, etc.). However, each endorsed document must be accompanied by an email from the person confirming the endorsement
• Each Chairperson will submit a quarterly progress report to the GDA Technical Manager
• Each Technical Committee team will make a presentation of their plans to GDA before starting the work and subsequently present their progress every quarter
• Formal letters will be used only for external entities with financial commitments
• Financial request shall be approved by respective member organisation or GDA

Issue is anything that has happened threatening the progress. When a pre-identified risk attains 100% probability, it will be termed an ‘Issue’. Dynamic risk assessment and monitoring would avoid or minimise the number of ad-hoc issues. All issues will be reported through team meeting minutes with action points.

Throughout the committee duration, proposed changes are documented and screened by the Chairperson. He / she determines which suggested changes might be necessary, and these are investigated to determine the impact of accepting or rejecting them. When the investigation is complete, the change is either approved and the committee plan is adjusted to reflect this decision, or the change is rejected giving justification.

Generally, anyone in the committee (or from outside) may submit a change request. The Chairperson has the ultimate authority to approve or reject change requests. However, if the change appears to impact the GDA strategic goals, the change request should be escalated to the GDA Technical Manager.

Committee Chairperson is responsible for reviewing all draft deliverables and endorsing, once satisfied, prior to submitting to the GDA Technical Manager. GDA Technical Manager may seek other entities’ review before endorsing for formal acceptance (sign-off) by the GDA Secretary General.