Business: Digital Governance

This is a sample chapter from Lisa Welchman’s new book Managing Chaos. 2015 Rosenfeld Media.

Chapter 7: Getting It Done

The governance framework design effort is a good opportunity for your organization’s digital stakeholders to learn how to work and collaborate better. So, even if you already have a sense of who on your digital team ought to have the authority to make decisions related to digital strategy, policy, and standards, it’s still important to go through the design effort with a larger team. Because it’s not just the end state that is important, but rather the interim conversation, collaboration, and compromise required to build your framework. Those activities will bring your team into better communication, better community, and better alignment. Read More

All companies, regardless of their industry or size, must operate in compliance with specific government rules and regulations. In fact, regulatory compliance refers to a set of rules that businesses must abide by under the law. For instance, it could entail following the guidelines the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established to provide a secure working environment for your staff members. Or it could require adhering to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) regulations that guarantee impartial hiring procedures.

Some regulations are specific to certain industries—for instance, food-industry regulations that cover the entire supply chain—and ensure the safety of specific types of products. Of course, food-industry standards are very different from those for the financial-services sector—some of which concentrate on cybersecurity and the secure handling of sensitive data. Read More

In her book Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design, Lisa Welchman shows us how to tame the digital beast. Her reality-tested approach and holistic view make for a great read that is worth every minute of your time.

The book’s subtitle promises digital governance by design, which will get the attention of curious designers and other digital workers alike. But it will also likely produce some skepticism in her audience. After all, don’t we owe a huge part of our creativity to the boundless freedom and chaos the digital environment provides? But if we can hold back the romantic within us for a moment, we’ll remember various situations in which our energy and creativity were stifled by chaos. Read More