Guiding Principles for Forums and Work Groups

Principle #1: The Primacy of Principles

All Forum/Work Group decisions, and decision-making processes, will be based on principles that are agreed by, and openly accessible to, members of the Forum/Work Group.

Principle #2: We Inherit the Principles of The Open Group

We are committed to the achievement of The Open Group vision, mission, and to adhere to its principles:

  • Openness

  • Consensus

  • Public availability of published standards

  • No legal impediment to implementation or adoption

  • Confidentiality

  • Executable Standards

(See The Open Group Principles open external link icon.)

Principle #3: Collaboration

Everything we do is done through goodwill, trust, and collaboration:

  • The Forum/Work Group must be inviting, open to hearing everyone’s voice

  • We need to express rationale, not just positions

  • Decision-making is collaborative and informed

Principle #4: Shared Purpose

Our shared purpose is to advance a common standard:

  • Everyone has a business rationale for participation

  • Everyone has come here to make the industry better

  • Everyone shares the credit and the benefit

Principle #5: Formal Process

We follow formal processes for planning, operations, decision-making, and reaching consensus.

Principle #6: Obligations of Leadership

The higher up you are, the more you serve the Forum/Work Group and its members:

  • The obligation of the Chair and Vice-Chair is to facilitate the Forum/Work Group to pursue its agreed objectives, and to enable it to make its decisions balanced by consensus, fairness, and the voluntary nature of the organization

  • Although a Chair/Vice-Chair may often have special expertise in an area, they recognize that this is secondary to their obligations in the facilitation role and ensure that they are impartial and objective

Principle #7: Openness and Assumption of Good Intent

Seek to collaborate and understand:

  • By validating assumptions and inferences

  • By clarifying the meaning of special words used

Check Your Understanding

(For answers, please see Check Your Understanding – Answers.)

Heads and Tails – match the statements to create accurate sentences:

Heads Tails

1. The primacy of principles …​

A. …​ of openness, consensus, public availability of published standards, no legal impediment to implementation or adoption, confidentiality, and executable standards is essential to the achievement of The Open Group vision and mission.

2. A commitment to inherited principles …​

B. …​ is to advance a common standard knowing that everyone has a business rationale for participation, everyone has come here to make the industry better, and everyone shares the credit and benefits.

3. Collaboration …​

C. …​ prioritize the need to facilitate the Forum/Work Group to pursue its agreed objectives, and to enable it, in an impartial and objective manner, to make its decisions balanced by consensus, fairness, and the voluntary nature of the organization.

4. Our shared purpose …​

D. …​ ensures that all decisions and decision-making processes will be based on principles agreed by, and openly acceptable, to all members of the Forum/Work Group.

5. Formal processes …​

E. …​ we should seek to collaborate and understand by validating assumptions and inference, and by clarifying the meaning of any special words used.

6. Obligations of leadership …​

F. …​ must be followed for planning, operations, decision-making, and reaching consensus.

7. Through openness and assumptions of good intent …​

G. …​ is key to establishing goodwill and trust by being inviting, and hearing everyone’s voice; expressing rationale, not just positions; and enabling an informed decision-making process.