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skills/negotiation-alignment-governance/SKILL.md
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skills/negotiation-alignment-governance/SKILL.md
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name: negotiation-alignment-governance
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description: Use when stakeholders need aligned working agreements, resolving decision authority ambiguity, navigating cross-functional conflicts, establishing governance frameworks (RACI/DACI/RAPID), negotiating resource allocation, defining escalation paths, creating team norms, mediating trade-off disputes, or when user mentions stakeholder alignment, decision rights, working agreements, conflict resolution, governance model, or consensus building.
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---
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# Negotiation Alignment Governance
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## Table of Contents
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- [Purpose](#purpose)
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- [When to Use](#when-to-use)
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- [What Is It](#what-is-it)
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- [Workflow](#workflow)
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- [Common Patterns](#common-patterns)
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- [Guardrails](#guardrails)
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- [Quick Reference](#quick-reference)
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## Purpose
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Create explicit stakeholder alignment through negotiated working agreements, clear decision rights, and conflict resolution protocols—transforming ambiguity and tension into shared understanding and actionable governance.
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## When to Use
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**Decision Authority Ambiguity:**
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- Multiple stakeholders believe they have final say
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- Unclear who should be consulted vs informed
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- Decisions blocked because no one owns them
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- Frequent "I thought you were doing that" moments
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**Cross-Functional Conflict:**
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- Departments optimizing for different goals
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- Resource contention between teams
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- Trade-off disputes (quality vs speed, innovation vs stability)
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- Scope disagreements between stakeholders
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**Alignment Needs:**
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- New team forming and needs working agreements
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- Org restructure creating unclear boundaries
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- Cross-functional initiative requiring coordination
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- Partnership or joint venture needing governance
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**Negotiation Scenarios:**
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- Competing priorities requiring resolution
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- Stakeholder expectations needing alignment
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- SLAs and commitments to negotiate
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- Risk tolerance differences to reconcile
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## What Is It
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Negotiation-alignment-governance creates explicit agreements on:
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**1. Decision Rights (Who Decides):**
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- RACI: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed
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- DACI: Driver, Approver, Contributors, Informed
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- RAPID: Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide
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- Consent-based frameworks
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**2. Working Agreements (How We Work):**
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- Communication norms (sync vs async, response times)
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- Meeting protocols (agendas, decision methods)
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- Quality standards and definition of done
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- Escalation paths and conflict resolution
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**3. Conflict Resolution (When We Disagree):**
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- Structured dialogue formats
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- Mediation protocols
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- Disagree-and-commit mechanisms
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- Escalation criteria
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**Example:**
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Product wants to ship fast, Engineering wants quality. Instead of endless debates:
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- **Decision rights:** Product owns feature scope (DACI: Approver), Engineering owns quality bar (veto on production issues)
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- **Working agreement:** Weekly trade-off discussion with data (bug rate, tech debt, customer complaints)
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- **Conflict resolution:** If blocked, escalate to VP with joint recommendation and decision criteria
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## Workflow
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Copy this checklist and track your progress:
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```
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Negotiation Alignment Governance Progress:
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- [ ] Step 1: Map stakeholders and tensions
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- [ ] Step 2: Choose governance approach
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- [ ] Step 3: Facilitate alignment
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- [ ] Step 4: Document agreements
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- [ ] Step 5: Establish monitoring
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```
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**Step 1: Map stakeholders and tensions**
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Identify all stakeholders, their interests and concerns, current tensions or conflicts, and decision points needing clarity. See [Common Patterns](#common-patterns) for typical stakeholder configurations.
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**Step 2: Choose governance approach**
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For straightforward cases with clear stakeholders → Use [resources/template.md](resources/template.md) for RACI/DACI and working agreement structures. For complex cases with multiple conflicts or nested decisions → Study [resources/methodology.md](resources/methodology.md) for negotiation techniques, conflict mediation, and advanced governance patterns.
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**Step 3: Facilitate alignment**
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Create `negotiation-alignment-governance.md` with: stakeholder map, decision rights matrix (RACI/DACI/RAPID), working agreements (communication, quality, processes), conflict resolution protocols, and escalation paths. Facilitate structured dialogue to negotiate and reach consensus. See [resources/methodology.md](resources/methodology.md) for facilitation techniques.
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**Step 4: Document agreements**
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Self-assess using [resources/evaluators/rubric_negotiation_alignment_governance.json](resources/evaluators/rubric_negotiation_alignment_governance.json). Check: decision rights are unambiguous, all key stakeholders covered, agreements are specific and actionable, conflict protocols are clear, escalation paths defined. Minimum standard: Average score ≥ 3.5.
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**Step 5: Establish monitoring**
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Set up regular reviews of governance effectiveness (quarterly), define triggers for updating agreements, establish metrics for decision velocity and conflict resolution, and create feedback mechanisms for stakeholders.
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## Common Patterns
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### Decision Rights Frameworks
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**RACI (Most Common):**
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- **R**esponsible: Does the work
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- **A**ccountable: Owns the outcome (only ONE person)
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- **C**onsulted: Provides input before decision
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- **I**nformed: Notified after decision
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- Use for: Process mapping, task allocation
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**DACI (Better for Decisions):**
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- **D**river: Runs the process, gathers input
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- **A**pprover: Makes the final decision (only ONE)
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- **C**ontributors: Provide input, must be consulted
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- **I**nformed: Notified of decision
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- Use for: Strategic decisions, product choices
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**RAPID (Best for Complex Decisions):**
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- **R**ecommend: Propose the decision
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- **A**gree: Must agree (veto power)
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- **P**erform: Execute the decision
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- **I**nput: Consulted for expertise
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- **D**ecide: Final authority
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- Use for: Major strategic choices with compliance/legal concerns
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**Advice Process (Distributed Authority):**
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- Anyone can make decision after seeking advice from:
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- Those who will be affected
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- Those with expertise
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- Decision-maker is accountable
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- Use for: Empowered teams, flat organizations
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### Typical Stakeholder Conflicts
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**Product vs Engineering:**
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- Conflict: Feature scope vs technical quality
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- Resolution: Product owns "what" (feature priority), Engineering owns "how" and quality bar
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- Escalation: Joint recommendation with data to VP
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**Business vs Legal/Compliance:**
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- Conflict: Speed to market vs risk mitigation
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- Resolution: Business owns opportunity decision, Legal has veto on unacceptable risk
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- Escalation: Risk committee with quantified trade-offs
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**Centralized vs Decentralized Teams:**
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- Conflict: Standards vs autonomy
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- Resolution: Central team sets minimum viable standards, teams choose beyond that
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- Escalation: Architecture review board for exceptions
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### Working Agreement Templates
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**Communication Norms:**
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- Synchronous (meetings): For collaboration, negotiation, brainstorming
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- Asynchronous (docs, Slack): For updates, approvals, information sharing
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- Response time expectations: Urgent (<2h), Normal (<24h), FYI (no response needed)
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- Meeting defaults: Agenda required, decisions documented, async-first when possible
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**Decision-Making Norms:**
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- Reversible decisions: Use consent (no objections) for speed
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- Irreversible decisions: Use consensus or explicit DACI
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- Time-box decisions: If no consensus in N discussions, escalate with options
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- Document decisions: ADRs for architecture, decision logs for product
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**Conflict Resolution Norms:**
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- Direct dialogue first (1:1 between parties)
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- Mediation second (neutral third party facilitates)
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- Escalation third (manager/leader decides with input)
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- Disagree-and-commit: Once decided, all commit to execution
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## Guardrails
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**Decision Rights:**
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- Only ONE person/role is "Accountable" or "Approver"
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- Avoid "everyone is consulted" (decision paralysis)
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- Consulted ≠ consensus—input gathered, then decider decides
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- Define scope: What decisions does this cover?
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**Working Agreements:**
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- Make agreements specific and observable (not "communicate well" but "respond to Slack in 24h")
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- Include both positive behaviors and boundaries
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- Revisit quarterly—agreements expire without review
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- Get explicit consent from all parties
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**Conflict Resolution:**
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- Assume good intent—conflicts are about goals/constraints, not character
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- Focus on interests (why) not positions (what)
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- Use objective criteria when possible (data, benchmarks, principles)
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- Separate people from problem
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**Facilitation:**
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- Remain neutral if mediating (don't take sides)
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- Ensure psychological safety (no retribution for honesty)
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- Make implicit tensions explicit (name the elephant)
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- Don't force consensus—sometimes need to escalate
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**Red Flags:**
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- Too many decision-makers (slows everything)
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- Shadow governance (real decisions made elsewhere)
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- Agreements without accountability (no consequences)
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- Conflict avoidance (swept under rug, not resolved)
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## Quick Reference
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**Resources:**
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- `resources/template.md` - RACI/DACI/RAPID templates, working agreement structures, conflict resolution protocols
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- `resources/methodology.md` - Negotiation techniques (principled negotiation, BATNA analysis), conflict mediation, facilitation patterns, governance design for complex scenarios
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- `resources/evaluators/rubric_negotiation_alignment_governance.json` - Quality criteria
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**Output:** `negotiation-alignment-governance.md` with stakeholder map, decision rights matrix, working agreements, conflict protocols, escalation paths
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**Success Criteria:**
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- Decision rights unambiguous (one Accountable/Approver per decision)
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- All key stakeholders covered in framework
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- Agreements specific and actionable (observable behaviors)
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- Conflict resolution protocol clear with escalation path
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- Regular review cadence established
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- Score ≥ 3.5 on rubric
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**Quick Decisions:**
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- **Clear stakeholders, simple decisions?** → RACI or DACI template
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- **Complex multi-party negotiation?** → Use methodology for principled negotiation
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- **Active conflict?** → Start with mediation techniques from methodology
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- **Distributed team?** → Consider advice process over hierarchical approval
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**Common Mistakes:**
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1. Multiple "Accountable" roles (diffuses responsibility)
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2. Everyone consulted (decision paralysis)
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3. Vague agreements ("communicate better" vs "respond in 24h")
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4. No review/update cycle (agreements decay)
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5. Shadow governance (official RACI ignored, real decisions made informally)
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6. Forcing consensus (sometimes need to disagree-and-commit)
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**Key Insight:**
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Explicit governance reduces coordination costs over time. Initial investment in alignment pays dividends through faster decisions, less rework, and lower conflict.
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