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Governance vs Operations
Leadership / Dualities
Two distinct functions that leaders must keep separate.
Governance (Setting the Rules)
- Defines what should happen and why.
- Creates policies, principles, and boundaries.
- Focused on the long term.
- Asks: "Are we doing the right things?"
Operations (Doing the Work)
- Defines how things get done.
- Executes within the boundaries governance sets.
- Focused on the short term.
- Asks: "Are we doing things right?"
Why the Distinction Matters
When the same people do both governance and operations, operations always wins. The urgent crowds out the important.
A board sets strategy (governance), executives run the company (operations). Similarly, engineering leadership should separate:
- Governance: Architecture principles, hiring standards, tech strategy.
- Operations: Sprint planning, incident response, daily execution.
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