Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design

248 Pages·2015·6.43 MB·english

by  Lisa Welchman

MANAGING CHAOS
DIGITAL GOVERNANCE BY DESIGN
Lisa Welchman
Rosenfeld Media
Brooklyn, New York
Managing Chaos
Digital Governance by Design
By Lisa Welchman
Rosenfeld Media, LLC
457 Third Street, #4R
Brooklyn, New York
11215 USA
On the Web: www.rosenfeldmedia.com
Please send errors to: [email protected]
Publisher: Louis Rosenfeld
Managing Editor: Marta Justak
Interior Layout Tech: Danielle Foster
Cover Design: The Heads of State
Interior Line Art: Michael Tanamachi
Indexer: Sharon Hilgenberg
Proofreader: Kezia Endsley
©2015 Rosenfeld Media, LLC
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 1-933820-88-8   
ISBN-13: 978-1-933820-88-0
LCCN: 2014956861
Printed and bound in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to Rhys—
a good son and a good person.
It’s my good luck to be your Mom.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Who Should Read This Book?
Anyone who has an interest and a hand in the strategic management
of digital enterprise should read this book, particularly those who
serve in bridging and management functions. This includes execu-
tive leadership, CIOs, and CMOs, as well as senior domain specialists
such as user experience experts, enterprise architects, and content
strategists.
People who work at interactive agencies and software integration
shops that often have to execute projects amid digital chaos might
also find Managing Chaos useful reading to help inform their projects
and smooth the way for more streamlined project execution.
What’s in This Book?
Part I of Managing Chaos details a practical methodology for design-
ing and implementing a digital governance framework.
• Chapter 1 gives a basic definition of digital governance and its
core concepts.
• Chapters 2–5 explore more deeply each of the key aspects of a
digital governance framework: digital team structure, digital
strategy, digital policy, and digital standards.
• Chapters 6–8 discuss some of the dynamics around digital
governance, including design factors, how to get the design job
done, and what to do if your efforts don’t get immediate traction
in your organization.
Part II of Managing Chaos highlights three different governance frame-
work examples: a global multinational company, a government agency,
and a higher education-type university. You can use these frameworks
to understand some of the practical challenges inherent in designing
and implementing your own digital governance framework.
iv
What Comes with This Book?
This book’s companion website ( rosenfeldmedia.com/books/
managing-chaos) contains a blog and additional content. The
book’s diagrams and other illustrations are available under a
Creative Commons license (when possible) for you to download and
include in your own presentations. You can find these on Flickr at
www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/sets.
How to Use This Book v
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
What is digital governance in the first place?
Digital governance is a discipline that focuses on establishing clear
accountability for digital strategy, policy, and standards. A digital
governance framework, when effectively designed and implemented,
helps to streamline digital development and dampen debates
around digital channel “ownership.” (See Chapter 1, “The Basics
of Digital Governance.”)
We don’t “govern” things inside our
organization. Why should we govern digital?
I don’t believe you. Every organization governs something. What you
are really saying is that your organization hasn’t decided to govern
digital. That is one option, but it has consequences. Make sure that you
are considering all the possible rationales for not governing digital
before you default to this “easy-to-articulate but hard-to-live-with”
conclusion. For more, see Chapter 8, “The Decision To Govern Well.”
We don’t need a governance framework.
Can’t we just have the main Web team
decide everything and run everything?
After all, we know what we’re doing.
No, that’s not a good idea. Creating a digital production silo is not
an effective practice. It doesn’t allow the digital team to understand
the rich landscape of the business. And practically speaking, it’s
very difficult to size a digital team when all the work is done in one
place. For more information on a good digital team structure, see
Chapter 2, “Your Digital Team: Where They Are and What They Do.”
vi
We’re an agile shop, so do we
still need governance? Doesn’t
governance just slow stuff down?
No, governance does the opposite. It enables agility by clarifying
roles and responsibilities and connections for a collaborative team.
If you think about it, agile software methodology itself is highly
structured with well-defined roles and responsibilities. That’s why
it works so well in the right organizational applications. A digital
governance framework, when properly designed, can enable not
hinder agile development (see Chapter 1).
OK, I get all the digital governance stuff,
and I’m a believer, but I have no authority
to establish digital governance in my
organization. What do I do if no one cares
enough to want to create a framework?
In many ways, this book is just for you. A lot of organizations are led
by digitally conservative executives (see Chapter 3, “Digital Strategy:
Aligning Expertise and Authority”). Sometimes these conservatives
are taking longer than we’d like to wake up to the strategic aspects of
digital. While you are waiting for them to pay attention, there are a
number of things that you can do to move digital governance efforts
forward, including establishing an internal community of practice
for digital inside your organization. For more details see Chapter 8.
Aren’t policies and standards different ways
of talking about the same things? What’s the
difference between a policy and a standard?
Policies and standards are not the same thing. Policies are organi-
zationally focused high-level statements established to manage risk
inside an organization (see Chapter 4, “Staying on Track with Digital
Policy”). Standards are focused on establishing development param-
eters for digital practitioners (see Chapter 5, “Stopping the Infighting
About Digital Standards”).
Frequently Asked Questions vii
Our organization is too innovative for
standards. Doesn’t creating standards stifle
creativity and cutting-edge development?
No, standards can enable innovation and creativity. Standards are the
bedrock upon which the Internet and World Wide Web rest. And, we
can all agree that there’s a lot of innovation and creativity happening
on the Internet and Web. Without a framework of digital standards
in your organization, yes, you will get some creativity. But, mostly,
you will get a chaotic mix of disintegrated content and applications.
Having standards and being able to enforce them will allow for rich,
creative development (see Chapter 5).
viii Frequently Asked Questions