Why are Guiding Principals useless?

Governance

You may have seen a little section – ‘The Guiding Principals’, at the start of key project documents. The author writes it. The stakeholders review and sometimes debate it. Then, when the document is approved, no one ever looks at them.

Look, the problem is not in the Guiding Principals but in how they are written. Those wishy-washy bullet points are ineffective.

So, why are guiding principals useless?

Because they are all statements to attain something. e.g.

Customer experience is our top priority.

Ok, so what is the big deal about it? 99% of companies had it too!

How about we refine it to:

Customer experience is our top priority. We rather wait and invest more rather than ship a substandard product.

Do you see the difference?

Be intentional in what you are prepared to give away! Make it real, and then see the real difference!