Governance is a very broad concept, as is the word "design." Many things are designed, we all know what design means, but it is pretty tough to isolate the concept of design. To really have meaning, design has to be defined in terms of the object it affects. The statement "I design" begs the question, "what do you design?" There is a big difference between designing a heart pacemaker and designing the interior motif of a restaurant. Although both involve the ordered and planful application of best practices to an object, the object itself dictates the skill, talent and experience of the designer. It is a rare interior decorator who can also design cardiac pacemakers, and vice versa.
Similarly, the statement "I am on the Governance Board" begs the question, "What do you govern?" So the word governance also has no real meaning, unless it is paired with the object to be governed. A prison population is governed by a warden, a state is governed by a governor, and a corporation is ostensibly governed by a board of directors. So what is IT Governance?
On September 21, my post A Purely Theoretical Problem presented four guaranteed project-killers that IT Governance can help solve.
Coming up, how to use governance to make sure your technology investments, projects and corporate objectives are all aligned.
