Is Governance Just Theater?

governance what is it good for absolutely nothing nothing i put this topic in because i'm not a fan of governance but i feel like i need you to convince me um and i'll explain why i'm not a fan or not so much not a fan but not a fan of how a lot of people do it um so what is governance michelle

Governance is a noun.

It's a

vibe.

Webster Merriam Dictionary, define it as...

But yeah, it's kind of how things get done with your design system.

So that could be like the how components are added to the library, how patterns are added to the library or how they're not added to the library.

It's a lot around like the processes, but like the policies around those processes as You know, how do you all meet? How is the team or, you know, federated team organized? Responsibility.

So it's like all the other in-between things of outside of making things for the design system, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that, so it's basically, yeah, everything wrapped up in your, so what model you have, your approval processes, your, basically the processes to make the design happen.

And then also the big one is obviously contribution.

Contribution models kind of usually fall under governance, right? Yeah.

So, actually, no, give me the, I'm not going to, I'm not going to go straight into shifting on it.

I could do, but I won't.

Tell me why you think it's a...

Actually, no, I will go straight into shitting on it.

Because I think it'll frame it nicely.

Go for it.

So, my problem with governance.

Why I think that a lot of governance is just theatre.

It does, you know, because this is my current drum that I'm banging.

It does tie very much into that whole commodification of design systems and sort of... um wrapping design systems up as its own special entity and special team with special types of people and special processes and all the rest of it um and i do feel like sometimes um a lot of the uh processes and rituals that we put around what we do kind of enforces this it's it's almost like as um

it's a vibe

It's a vibe.

governance what is it good for absolutely nothing nothing i put this topic in because i'm not a fan of governance but i feel like i need you to convince me um and i'll explain why i'm not a fan or not so much not a fan but not a fan of how a lot of people do it um so what is governance michelle

Governance is a noun.

It's a

vibe.

Webster Merriam Dictionary, define it as...

But yeah, it's kind of how things get done with your design system.

So that could be like the how components are added to the library, how patterns are added to the library or how they're not added to the library.

It's a lot around like the processes, but like the policies around those processes as You know, how do you all meet? How is the team or, you know, federated team organized? Responsibility.

So it's like all the other in-between things of outside of making things for the design system, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that, so it's basically, yeah, everything wrapped up in your, so what model you have, your approval processes, your, basically the processes to make the design happen.

And then also the big one is obviously contribution.

Contribution models kind of usually fall under governance, right? Yeah.

So, actually, no, give me the, I'm not going to, I'm not going to go straight into shifting on it.

I could do, but I won't.

Tell me why you think it's a...

Actually, no, I will go straight into shitting on it.

Because I think it'll frame it nicely.

Go for it.

So, my problem with governance.

Why I think that a lot of governance is just theatre.

It does, you know, because this is my current drum that I'm banging.

It does tie very much into that whole commodification of design systems and sort of... um wrapping design systems up as its own special entity and special team with special types of people and special processes and all the rest of it um and i do feel like sometimes um a lot of the uh processes and rituals that we put around what we do kind of enforces this it's it's almost like as um

it's a vibe

It's a vibe.