Good governance isn’t about slowing people down with rules.

Good governance isn’t about slowing people down with rules. It’s about creating a clear, repeatable way for tech teams to make decisions, reduce risks, and stay aligned with business goals without reinventing the wheel every time.

In this post, we’ll look at what good governance actually looks like in real tech environments and how to spot when it’s missing.

First, a Quick Reminder

Governance is the G that ensures we’re doing the right things, the right way, with accountability.

But unlike compliance checklists or risk matrices, governance is often invisible. You only notice it when it’s broken, when projects stall, decisions get skipped, or teams move in different directions.

Signs of Strong Governance

Here’s what healthy governance looks like on a tech team:

Clear ownership: Everyone knows who approves what (and why).
Documented processes: There are SOPs, playbooks, and templates — not just tribal knowledge.
Defined workflows: Change requests, incident reviews, and escalations all follow a known path.
Aligned priorities: Work ladders up to business goals — not just Jira tickets.
Accountability without blame: When something goes wrong, there’s process-based reflection, not finger-pointing.

Examples of Governance in Action

Governance Element	Real-World Example
Change Management	Engineers submit changes through Jira. Approvals follow a risk-based workflow.
SOPs & Policies	Teams use Confluence pages to follow standardized onboarding or deployment steps.
Decision Logs	Major decisions are documented in meeting notes or Notion to track rationale.
Access Control Reviews	Admin access is reviewed quarterly and tied to documented roles.
Risk Escalation Paths	There’s a known process to raise risks, with a contact person and tracking log.

What It Looks Like Without Governance

“Who approved this?” → Silence.
“Why did we deploy with no rollback plan?” → Nobody owns the process.
“Where’s the documentation?” → Check someone’s Slack DMs from six months ago.
“We got audited and missed half the controls.” → Because no one knew they existed.

Governance doesn’t mean control rather it means clarity.

How to Start Strengthening Governance on Your Team

Even if you’re not in leadership, you can still help improve governance:

Start documenting what’s missing (even in a Google Doc).
Ask clarifying questions like “Who approves this?” or “What’s the process?”
Create reusable templates for common actions like change requests or retros.
Promote visibility by linking decisions and policies in shared team spaces.
Suggest consistency in how approvals, risks, and changes are handled.

Governance isn’t a title, it’s a practice.

Governance Artifacts Worth Building or Asking For

📄 Change Management SOPs
✅ Approval Workflows
📁 Policy Repositories (e.g. Confluence, SharePoint)
🔐 Access Review Logs
🧩 RACI Matrices for roles and decisions
📊 Dashboards or reports for oversight

What’s Next?

Up next, we’ll tackle Change Management Done Right. How tech teams can control chaos while moving fast.

👉 Next Post: Change Management Done Right
📬 Follow @neviarrawlinson for updates
💬 Drop a comment below: How does governance show up (or fall apart) in your team?

“Good governance doesn’t slow teams down, it clears the path.”

What Good Governance Looks Like in Tech Teams