Many Organizations Still Struggling with Web Policies and Standards

Last week I had the pleasure of supporting Lisa Welchman in the delivery of several Masterclasses; one in London, the other in Copenhagen. I was thrilled to see so many folks turning out to talk about Web Operations Management, and more specifically Web Governance. It is exciting to see organizations turning to a long-term solution-based approach, versus the reactionary mode that most organizations have been operating in since what seems to be the dawn of the Internet.

During these classes, and several of the breaks, I got into a discussion with folks around Web policies and standards. Web policies being the basic set of legal, compliance-related, editorial and technical constraints for the Web, and Web standards describing the specific parameters and limits for development of Web products (or, as I like to say, the “must do” and the “how to”).  What struck me most was how eager everyone is to make strides on the policies and the standards front.  That prompted me to summarize for you Dear Reader, the state of Web policies and standards as I see them, and provide some pointers which you might want to consider as you undertake adopting these useful concepts into your own organization.

So in general, what are others doing?

• From what I can tell, most organizations are struggling with the development of policies and standards. Many see these are “must haves” and focus on developing them and completing the task, rather than focusing on the underlying risks and behaviors the policies and standards are aimed at mitigating or facilitating, depending on the goal.
• The United States is trailing other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia. Some of the best Web policies and standards are coming out to the British Standards Institute in the UK.
• Those who are publishing their policies and standards in the US federal government arena (ex. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , U.S. Department of Education , or U.S. Department of Commerce ) are trying, but still falling short of a comprehensive set. 
• State and local governments are trailing a bit behind, as illustrated by the State of California .
• The not-for-profit sector (ex. PBS , or  higher education such as St. Mary’s College of Maryland , and San Francisco State University ) are struggling, with most organizations still being in the early phase of adoption.
• Most companies and corporations have identified the need for policies and standards, but most do not publish them as they provide a competitive advantage. Our experience shows that the ranges vary, from a small minority with highly proficient policies and standards, to a majority of organizations that have evidence of their existence, but still lack maturity in this area.

So specifically, what are some things that should I do?

• Ensure you have the correct representation sitting around the table to create your Web policies and standards (policies require involvement from senior managers in the organization, often at the director level, while standards discussions should be left to the subject matter experts within the organization).
• Don’t create Web standards if you cannot enforce them (hint: you need to have a Web Governance framework in place for this one).
• Prioritize those standards, or groups of standards, based on a cross-section of those most needed and the easiest to create and adopt into the organization.
• Don’t look to copy-and-paste another organization’s standards, as I have already mentioned, there is not a publicly published exhaustive list of great standards (and once it is published, it may not apply to your organization as much as you think).
• Look to create standards so that they are easily understood by the organization (i.e. make them brief and to the point) and provide a rationale or justification. Most individuals are happy to comply with what you set forth, as long as there is transparency of the process used to create the standards, and they leverage good, common sense.
• Devise a training and support model for your standards, ensuring information reaches all those individuals whom you want to adopt your standards, and they have what they need in order to make adoption a reality.

I could go on for quite a while, but I will leave that up to individual conversations, or the newly formed Web Governance discussion group.  If you are considering creating Web policies and standards for your organization, or you have already started the process and want to ask a question or share a lesson learned, drop me a line .