What is it?
Guidelines that determine who has ownership and responsibility for various aspects of an organization.
Why is it important?
Makes it clear who has authority to make which decisions about content and contributes to smooth operational decisions and processes.
Why does a content strategist need to know this?
Having a governance model is a critical aspect of implementing a successful content strategy. It is important to have a clear chain of command and a clear understanding about who is responsible for which decisions.
Often, organizations leave the task of determining the governance model until the very end of the process—almost after the strategy is complete. People in the organization assume that everyone knows who the decision makers are along the content lifecycle. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case.
When the governance model is not clearly defined, even the most well-thought-out content strategy will become stuck, unable to move forward, because the decision maker(s) are either unaware of the decisions that need to be made, think that someone else is responsible for making the decisions, or do not understand the urgency of their role.
By determining the governance model early in the development of a content strategy, organizations can ensure that workflows and decision trees are clearly delineated, agreed to by all parties, and strictly adhered to as the strategy is put into action.
About Val Swisher
Val Swisher founded Content Rules in 1994, an end-to-end content services provider that helps customers plan their global content strategy, create content in structured and non-structured environments, and work with their source content to prepare it for translation. Content Rules is the exclusive provider of The Rockley Strategic Method™ and a certified service provider for the Acrolinx optimization software. Val is the author of Global Content Strategy: A Primer (XML Press, Summer 2014).
Email: mailto:vals@contentrules.com
Website: contentrules.com
Twitter: @contentrulesinc
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/valswisher