Slides from my presentation at Unicom business process event, 27 Feb 2014. Discusses what governance is and why it's important. Looks at common governance issues in organisations. Suggests some heuristics for addressing these issues.
Call Girls Navi Mumbai Just Call 9907093804 Top Class Call Girl Service Avail...
Governance isn't what you think it is - Unicom - Feb 2014
1. Governance ain’t what you think it is
(& it’s probably broken in your
company)
Process governance
Feb 2014
1
2. What happens when…
… we ask “Who decides how we organise our forums
and collaboration systems?”
Project Managers say…
Business Exec
IT Exec
Product Owner
Project Manager
Policy Unit
Team
Individual
Other
16%
40%
0%
12%
24%
4%
4%
0%
Executives say…
Business Exec 10%
IT Exec 19%
Product Owner 0%
Project Manager 33%
Policy Unit/PMO 14%
Team 19%
Individual 5%
Other 0%
Process governance
Feb 2014
2
3. Who chooses the development process?
Complex.
Belongs to team plus PM.
“Belongs to me”
Process governance
Feb 2014
3
Simple (“just do it”).
Belongs to team plus exec
10. Institute on Governance (www.iog.ca)
They follow an
acceptable process
(“due process”)
We know which
decisions matter
Governance is the process whereby societies or
organisations make important decisions, determine
whom they involve and how they render account.
They track outcomes &
act to improve them
The right people are
involved in these
decisions
Process governance
Feb 2014
12
11. Right Decision
Understand context – how decisions affect objectives
Prioritise – focus on decisions that matter
Process governance
Feb 2014
13
bertiemabootoo
12. Right People
Don’t waste time
- Deciding who to consult
- Finding the right people
- Politicking, disputing boundaries & authority levels, etc
- Of people who can’t help
Don’t get derailed from unexpected quarters
People buy in to the outcomes
Consider all relevant perspectives
Bring appropriate expertise to bear
Process governance
Feb 2014
14
The US Army
13. Right Process
People buy in to outcomes; avoid politicking
Don’t get panicked in emergencies
Don’t waste time define bespoke processes
Know how to do it
Know what to do
Process governance
Feb 2014
15
Elsie Esq.
14. Accountability
Don’t make the same mistakes over and over
Feed back to improve the decision making process
Prepared to steer back on course / fix poor decisions
Know how to recognise if off course
Know how we’ll track outcomes
Process governance
Feb 2014
16
leateds
21. Simple model: the key questions are:
Who defines policy?
Who approves policy?
Who enforces policy?
Who implements policy (makes decisions)?
Process governance
Feb 2014
24
22. Definition & Implementation may split as…
Devolved
Implementation
Centre of
Excellence
Consultative
Council
CoE
with Audit
Outsourced
Execution
Central
Unit
Central
Process governance
Feb 2014
Anarchy
Definition
25
Devolved
23. Approval overlays that…
Devolved
Implementation
Devolved
IM Council
Devolved
Anarchy
Executive
IM Centre of
Executive
Excellence
Executive
IM CoE
Executive
with Audit
Central
Devolved
Processing Unit
Central IM Unit
Executive
Central
Process governance
Feb 2014
Definition
26
Devolved
24. Enforcement Mechanisms
Self
– we trust people to follow policy
Community
– community drives behaviour
Gate reviews
– we check decisions before action
Post hoc review – we adjust decisions later
Audit
Process governance
Feb 2014
– independent team check compliance
27
25. In each case, we trade off…
Speed of decision making
(favours local)
Situational awareness
(favours local / social)
Amount of buy-in
(favours social)
Organisational consistency (favours central)
Efficiency of resource use
Process governance
Feb 2014
28
(favours central)
26. Enable people to exercise
judgement
Process governance
Feb 2014
29
Witches Fall
Cottages
27. Keep policy clear and simple
Process governance
Feb 2014
30
peddhapti
32. What happens when…
… we ask “Who decides how we organise our forums
and collaboration systems?”
Project Managers say…
Business Exec
IT Exec
Product Owner
Project Manager
Policy Unit
Team
Individual
Other
16%
40%
0%
12%
24%
4%
4%
0%
Executives say…
Business Exec 10%
IT Exec 19%
Product Owner 0%
Project Manager 33%
Policy Unit/PMO 14%
Team 19%
Individual 5%
Other 0%
Process governance
Feb 2014
35
33. What happens when…
… we ask “Who decides how we organise our forums
and collaboration systems?”
Project Managers say…
Business Exec
IT Exec
Product Owner
Project Manager
Policy Unit
Team
Individual
Other
16%
40%
0%
12%
24%
4%
4%
0%
Executives say…
Business Exec
IT Exec
Product Owner
Project Manager
Policy Unit
Team
Individual
Other
Process governance
Feb 2014
36
16%
40%
0%
12%
24%
4%
4%
0%
35. We’d need to do
an experiment or
pilot/prototype
Cynefin
We’d assemble a team of
experts
If we need to think
about this, we’re in
Process governance
Feb 2014
the wrong place
I can just decide and do it
Dave Snowden
38
36. Final thoughts
governance
He who forgets history is condemned to repeat it.
Good governance lets you focus energy on decisions, not process
If you don’t define governance up front, you revisit it for every decision
Policy, standards, guidelines support decisions – they’re not primary
All forms of governance (even anarchy & bureaucracy) have a place
But if you don’t actively address it, it decays to inappropriate forms
Process governance
Feb 2014
39
38. Graham Oakes Ltd
Making sense of technology…
Many organisations are caught up in the
complexity of technology and systems.
This complexity may be inherent to the
technology itself. It may be created by the pace of technology change. Or it may arise from
the surrounding process, people and governance structures.
We help untangle this complexity and define business strategies that both can be
implemented and will be adopted by people throughout the organisation and its partner
network. We then help assure delivery of implementation projects.
Clients…
Cisco Worldwide Education – Architecture and research for e-learning and educational systems
Council of Europe – Systems for monitoring compliance with international treaties; e-learning systems
Dover Harbour Board – Systems and architecture review
Intel – Product Lifecycle & team organisation for mobile device development
MessageLabs – Architecture and assurance for partner management portal
National Savings & Investments – Helped NS&I and BPO partner develop joint IS strategy
The Open University – Enterprise architecture, CRM and product development strategies
Oxfam – Content management, CRM, e-Commerce, Cloud strategy and procurement
Thames Valley Police – Internet Consultancy
Sony Computer Entertainment – Global process definition
Amnesty International, Endemol, Skype, tsoosayLabs, Vodafone, …
Process governance
Feb 2014
41
Editor's Notes
Collaboration process – how we manage the fuzzy collaborative bits within more structured processes.
This isn’t an isolated example. E.g. here’s the software development process in a s/w-intensive org.I’ve been doing some research with teams, especially in the Agile community. Looking at how perceptions of governance vary across their teams, and how this relates to the perceived complexity of the issues they’re dealing with. Still very preliminary.Developer group saw it as complex and a joint responsibility between them and the project manager. Project Managers saw it as simple and not their problem — they left it for the team & IT exec to decide. in an organisation, that'd be a recipe for the developers to want to plan some experimentation and expect their PM to support them in doing this, while the PM would just expect the team to make a choice & get on with it
Extends up to strategic questions. Here playing out at low level, but culture is fractal – pretty good chance I’d see similar patterns at other levels.Fingerpointing between project manager & devs, with dev managers having a totally different view again…?
Pattern – black holes, where no-one dares goGet decision vacuums – decisions just don’t get made. Lots of orgs say they’ve got a problem with making decisions. Often it’s actually a problem of not making decisions!NB having a lot of governance bodies could be a sign of weak governance – lots of groups fighting for their piece of the action, lots of overlaps and gaps…
Pattern – everyone goes their own wayInconsistency in decisions – teams go their own way.
Pattern – overlaps, fights & fingerpointingWe get a lot offingerpointing – “why aren’t you doing what you’re supposed to do / why are you so slow”. Leads to politicking and blaming.
Governance is fuzzy in most orgs. It’s got a bad name, as it’s been captured by the compliance industry – people groan when you mention it; see bureaucracy.Hard to do well – need to consider lots of factors, evolve as org & market change, take overview when overwhelmed with day-to-day detailsPolitical benefits – people with power use fuzziness to keep people off guard & avoid accountability; people without power use fuzziness to push their agendas quietly, etcVendors use title inflation try to sell tools (for GRC, for process management) – replace compliance and management with governanceNet effect is we miss strategic value of governance – get caught up in the weeds of compliance and tracking who did what. (Important, but if you’re focused there, you’re looking backwards, not pushing forwards.)
Exacerbated because governance has got a bad name, as it’s been captured by the compliance industry – people groan when you mention it; see bureaucracy.
Focus on the right decisions
Appropriate expertise is brought to bearConsider the relevant perspectivesPeople buy-in to the outcomesDon’t waste time deciding who to consultDon’t waste time finding the right peopleDon’t waste time agreeing authority levelsDon’t get caught up in politicking & boundary disputesDon’t get derailed from unexpected quarters
Know what to do – info to gather, criteria to use, etcKnow how to do it – training, systems, etcPeople buy-in to outcomesDon’t spend time defining bespoke process & criteriaDon’t get panicked in emergenciesDon’t get caught up in politicking
Know how we’ll track outcomesKnow how we’ll recognise if we’re off courseKnow how we’ll steer back onto courseHave process, systems, etc, in place to do thisWill feed back in to the decision making processDon’t leave poor decisions uncorrectedDon’t repeat the same mistakes over and over
Wastes timePut effort into unimportant decisionsCreating bespoke decision-making processesBring people into decisions that don’t concern themPoliticking and boundary disputesRevisiting decisions that don’t stickLeads to poor decisionsDon’t involve key stakeholdersOverlook key information and criteriaLack of timePanic in emergenciesNo steering
How does this relate to management?Governance is about defining who can make which decisions, what are the bounds to their authority. Management is actually making the decisions.
How does this apply to process governance? Two layers:Who defines the processesWho makes which decisions as we execute the process – we have lots of decisions
How does this apply to process governance? Two layers:Who defines the processesWho makes which decisions as we execute the process – we have lots of decisions
A big question in all this is the degree of centralisation…
Versus decentralisation…Most governance issues seem to revolve around this – how far to devolve control, how to retain oversight once devolved, …
6 principles / things to think aboutEnable people to exercise judgementKeep policy clear and simple.Articulate organisational objectivesFavour devolved controlRegular cadence; small batchesLearn from feedback
6 principles / things to think aboutEnable people to exercise judgementKeep policy clear and simple.Articulate organisational objectivesFavour devolved controlRegular cadence; small batchesLearn from feedback
6 principles / things to think aboutEnable people to exercise judgementKeep policy clear and simple.Articulate organisational objectivesFavour devolved controlRegular cadence; small batchesLearn from feedback
6 principles / things to think aboutEnable people to exercise judgementKeep policy clear and simple.Articulate organisational objectivesFavour devolved controlRegular cadence; small batchesLearn from feedback
6 principles / things to think aboutEnable people to exercise judgementKeep policy clear and simple.Articulate organisational objectivesFavour devolved controlRegular cadence; small batchesLearn from feedback
6 principles / things to think aboutEnable people to exercise judgementKeep policy clear and simple.Articulate organisational objectivesFavour devolved controlRegular cadence; small batchesLearn from feedback
Come back to the initial slide -- Key things is knowing when you’ve got stuff like this … people with different idea of how decisions should be made & who is responsibleFind these and build common understanding, and you’ll make huge impact on governance of most orgsMore detailed stuff should come later – get this basic stuff in place first…
Come back to the initial slide -- Key things is knowing when you’ve got stuff like this … people with different idea of how decisions should be made & who is responsibleFind these and build common understanding, and you’ll make huge impact on governance of most orgsMore detailed stuff should come later – get this basic stuff in place first…
Who I amIndependent consultantDo 2 things – help set up project (untangle complexity); help keep in touch with what’s going onUnusual perspective on assurancePortfolio of mid-size projects rather than single large programmeDifferent twists, but aligns to where many organisations are at, so will share experienceAgenda