Balance adoption = Egg and governance = Chicken.
Today the office is buzzing as the GLOBAL POWER PLATFORM BOOTCAMP 2023 Denmark is happening 🚀 with both a chicken and an egg participation!
User groups and communities around the world decided to invite anyone who wants to learn more about Microsoft’s Power Platform to get together – and it’s stunning! It’s always super exciting to hear users, admins, makers etc. share their learnings and experiences 🫶 #powerplatform #GPPB23 #GPPB23DK #microsoft âś…
I want to thank my active crowd for attending my session on Power Platform Adoption at the Global Power Platform Bootcamp 2023. It was a pleasure to share my insights and experiences with you.
I hope you found the session informative and useful. I wanted to challenge you to think differently about how to adopt the platform at scale within your organization and not get bogged down by governance issues.
If you have any questions or feedback about the session, please feel free to contact me. I would love to hear from you.
Click below to see Slide from presentation on the topic: Power Platform Adoption, strike right balance between time spend on platform governance & tenant hygiene vs getting value out of using the Power Platform
As a technical IT person, I have always been interested in finding the best ways to align IT with business strategy and deliver value to our customers. I have also been aware of the challenges and risks that come with managing IT resources effectively and securely. That’s why I was intrigued when I heard about the concept of adoption vs governance in IT.
Let's explore
Adoption vs governance
is a way of thinking about how to prioritize and balance the needs and expectations of different stakeholders in IT projects. Adoption refers to how well users adopt and use the solutions that IT provides, while governance refers to how well IT controls and monitors those solutions. Both are important aspects of IT performance, but they often conflict with each other.
For example, if IT focuses too much on governance, it may impose strict rules and policies that limit user flexibility and creativity. Users may feel frustrated or constrained by the solutions that IT offers and may not use them effectively or at all. On the other hand, if IT focuses too much on adoption, it may neglect security and compliance requirements that protect the organization from external threats and internal errors. Users may enjoy using the solutions that IT provides, but they may also expose themselves and the organization to unnecessary risks.
How can we find a balance between adoption and governance?
How can we ensure that users are happy with our solutions while also protecting our assets and reputation? How can we deliver value to our customers while also meeting our obligations?
The answer is: by prioritizing adoption over governance.
This may sound counterintuitive at first but hear me out. Prioritizing adoption over governance does not mean ignoring or abandoning governance altogether. It means putting user needs and expectations at the center of our decision-making process. It means designing solutions that are easy to use, intuitive, flexible, and engaging for users. It means involving users in every stage of development, testing, deployment, and feedback. It means measuring success by user satisfaction rather than by compliance metrics.
By prioritizing adoption over governance, we can achieve several benefits:
- We can increase user engagement and loyalty by providing solutions that meet their needs
- We can improve user productivity and performance by providing solutions that enhance their capabilities
- We can reduce user resistance and frustration by providing solutions that respect their preferences
- We can foster user innovation and collaboration by providing solutions that enable their creativity
By increasing user adoption, we can also improve our governance indirectly:
- We can reduce security risks by ensuring that users follow best practices rather than circumvent them
- We can increase compliance rates by ensuring that users understand why policies exist rather than resent them
- We can enhance monitoring efficiency by ensuring that users provide accurate data rather than manipulate them
- We can optimize resource utilization by ensuring that users only use what they need rather than waste them
Adoption should come before governance
By prioritizing adoption over governance, we can create a win-win situation for both users and IT. Users will be happier with our solutions while also being more responsible for them. IT will be more effective in delivering value while also being more accountable for it.
That’s why I believe that adoption should come before governance in IT projects. That’s why I always try to put myself in the shoes of our users when designing or implementing solutions. That’s why I always seek feedback from our users when evaluating or improving solutions.
Adoption vs governance is not a trade-off or a compromise; it’s a synergy or an alignment. By focusing on what matters most to our users – adoption – we can also achieve what matters most to us – governance.
Source:
Governance in the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/govern/ Accessed 26/02/2023.
What is IT governance? A formal way to align IT & business strategy. https://www.cio.com/article/272051/governanceit-governance-definition-and-solutions.html Accessed 26/02/2023.
