Higher Education institutions are increasingly looking to devolve day-to-day digital content management to local users. Doing so, however, requires a strong system of governance. In this talk, I look at some of the ways central teams can ensure they have a digital governance model that works for everyone.

1. You touched it last
Digital governance in devolved institutions
@garius / #iwmw17

2. D E V O L U T I O N D O E S N ’ T
S O L V E P R O B L E M S
I T S W A P S T H E M F O R
D I F F E R E N T O N E S

3. Restructuring or downsizing
External factors create a central team that is
too small to effectively manage the website.
Technical pragmatism
The institution’s web presence is
scattered across a number of technical
platforms.
Political pragmatism
The institution's wider politics simply
don’t allow for a single point of
control.
‘Unblock’ development
The central team is seen as a blocker to
critical work (or work that is seen as
critical).
3Why institutions devolve digital
managementE V E R Y
I N S T I T U T I O N
I S D I G I T A L L Y
D E V O L V E D
( W E L L , A L M O S T )

4. G O O D G O V E R N A N C E I S A B O U T H O W Y O U
M A N A G E I N F O R M A T I O N , N O T S Y S T E M S

5. 5
“In the coming
battle,information
will be as potent a
weapon as the
fighter plane.”
AIR CHIEF MARSHALL HUGH CASWALL
TREMENHEERE DOWDING. (1882 - 1970)
@garius/#iwmw17

6. 6The
Dowding
System
@garius/#iwmw17
STRATEGY IS GLOBAL
TACTICS ARE LOCAL
Create a straight-forward, high-level
strategy that is easy to understand and
features clear roles. Iterate it as required.
3. Trust the people on the
spot
Local innovation is a feature, not a bug. It
creates best practice. A good system also
enables graceful failure.
2. Provide the right tools
and information
Give people only the tools and information
they need to do the job. Anything more
isn’t “signal.” It is “noise.”
1. Control strategy and
roles centrally

7. No policy should be more than three pages. If it is, it needs splitting up
and simplifying further. Apply the same principles of UX to your policies
as you do to your website!
Have clear, simple policies
1
Have broad, but well defined roles
A few simple roles are better than a lot of granular ones. Simple roles
need less training and instruction - author, local approver, digital
champion. They also ensure that backup is available when staff are on
leave or move on.
2
Use ‘working policies’ and ‘interim decisions’
If no one seems to know who should make the rules or a policies, make
them yourself. More often than not, your ‘temporary’ decisions will
become the permanent ones in due course.
3
7Control
strategy and
roles centrally
@garius/#iwmw17

8. Create products to meet the core content needs of the institution. Use
these to unify design and create consistent user interactions and journeys,
no matter who manages a page or section.
Have a product library
1
Language matters
Over time, how people talk about things changes how they think about
them too. Don’t have “pages,” have “content”. Don’t “design” pages with
authors, “build” them. Use non-emotive, objective-based language to
promote logical thinking.
2
Train less. Design better tools
Whilst an “advanced” course is a necessity, focus on consistent interface
design and removing unnecessary CMS functions. By never putting a
control in front of an author that they don’t need, you reduce cognitive
load and remove potential for error too.
3
8Provide the
right tools and
information
@garius/#iwmw17

9. Every role should have a minimum skill requirement. Ensure your policies
don’t let faculties or departments nominate people to roles when there’s a
skills gap. Enforce this.
Enforce minimum skill requirements
1
Evangelise and inform
Tell champions why your products are designed the way they are and
share the same information with them that you do your team. Keep them
informed of the wider picture and what you have in the pipeline.
2
Get out of the way
If your product library and policies are strong, then the ability to fail hard
should be minimal. Let your champions set their own direction and meet
needs their own way. When it works, publicise it as best practice. When it
doesn’t, help them learn from it.
3
9Trust the
people on the
spot
@garius/#iwmw17

10. 10
What to keep@garius/#iwmw17
System and
information
architecture
What to devolve
(HINT: THE THINGS THAT REQUIRE DIGITAL
EXPERTISE)
(HINT: THE THINGS THAT REQUIRE SUBJECT
OR ORGANISATIONAL EXPERTISE)
Design, brand
and layout
Content and
user policy
Content
creation
Author
creation
Content
approval

11. S E R I O U S L Y ,
D O N ’ T D E V O L V E
D E S I G N ! ! ! ! 1 1

12. W H A T ’ S A
B R O W S E R ?
12The
Novice
@garius/#iwmw17
THE CLIENT WHO LACKS
NECESSARY SKILLS
Be clear on your skill
level requirements
All roles should have an expected level
of digital awareness. If someone lacks
those, this is an institutional issue to be
addressed first.
Provide appropriate help
and reassurance
Training and support is inevitable.
Explicitly budget time, money and
resource for providing it.
Build simple. Build
consistent
Ensure your admin systems are
consistently designed and easy to use.
This minimises training and skills
transfer issues.

13. T H A T P A G E
S H O U L D N ’ T B E
C H A N G E D
W I T H O U T M Y
P E R M I S S I O N .
I D O N ’ T O W N I T
T H O U G H .
13The
Abdicator
@garius/#iwmw17
THE CLIENT WHO REFUSES
OWNERSHIP
No ownership. No
changes
All content must be owned before it can
be changed. If you don’t own the
content, you don’t get to make
decisions about it.
Make the rules very
clear.
Ownership brings with it a responsibility
to make decisions. Make this very clear.
Who touched it last?
When in doubt, ‘playground rules’
apply. If they touched it last then a
client owns it, until they can
demonstrate otherwise.

14. I K N O W T H O S E
A R E T H E R U L E S .
B U T T H E Y D O N ’ T
A P P L Y T O M E .
14The
Snowflake
@garius/#iwmw17
THE CLIENT WHO DEMANDS A
BESPOKE SOLUTION
Freeze and grandfather
Where there is no strategic, legal or
resource issue, consider grandfathering
with clearly defined terms.
Offer a path to
development
Have a BCR process for bespoke
development. Make development
decisions ‘policy not personal.’
Explain and encourage
Make the benefits of the new system
clear, but make the risks of not using it
even clearer. And do so in writing!

15. T H I S I S A N
U R G E N T
R E Q U E S T .
J U S T P U T I T
O N L I N E F O R M E .
15The
Alarmist
@garius/#iwmw17
THE CLIENT WITH THE
‘URGENT’ REQUEST
The rules are the rules
Separate the action from the result.
If the request would break
governance it doesn’t happen
without approval.
Follow up with a debrief
This removes any excuse for
repetition, which makes future
escalation less appealing.
Help them escalate it
If the action falls on the digital
team, let them escalate it. Urgency
should never enable zero-cost
actions.

16. Y O U S H O U L D
P R O B A B L Y K N O W
T H A T I R E A D A
B O O K A B O U T
W E B D E S I G N
O N C E .
16The
Expert
@garius/#iwmw17
THE CLIENT WHO CHALLENGES
THE METHODOLOGY
Listen to them
Knowledge and ideas come from all
sources. In addition, often all people
want is to know their concerns have
been considered.
Stand your ground
The institution invests both time and
money in the digital team. This is an
acknowledgement of expertise and
responsibility.
Provide a fuller
picture
People can have a narrower
window of experience or
knowledge than they think. Help
them understand this.

17. WHO:
DESIGN DIRECTOR, MULE DESIGN
TWITTER:
@MONTEIRO
AUTHOR:
“DESIGN IS A JOB”
M I K E
M O N T E I R O
17The biggest myth ever
perpetuated in the design
field is that good design
sells itself. (The second is
that Copperplate is a
legitimate typeface.)
You’re presenting a solution
to a business problem,and
you’re presenting it as an
advocate for the end users.
The client needs to know
that you’ve studied the
problem,understood its
complexities,and that
you’re working from that
understanding.
@garius/#iwmw17

18. WHO:
HEAD OF WEB SERVICES AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE
TWITTER:
@MILLARAJ
PRESENTER:
IWMW P2
A N D R E W
M I L L A R
18It is not your website. It is
the university’s - and it is
our window to the outside
world.
@garius/#iwmw17

19. @ G A R I U S / # I W M W 1 7