Somewhere between your third compliance audit and your fifteenth ITIL training, a strange thing happened: Governance became religion.
You know the rituals. COBIT chant in the morning. TOGAF in the afternoon. PRINCE2 before bed. Every framework promising salvation. Every certification a new sacrament. And yet—despite all the adherence, the risk registers, and the perfectly aligned RACI charts—something feels off.
IT still lags. Innovation still gets stuck. And when things go sideways? The frameworks are nowhere to be found.
It’s time we stop worshipping frameworks. Because IT governance doesn’t need more rule followers. It needs rebels.
The Cult of Compliance
Let’s be honest: the frameworks were meant to help. They gave us shared language, structure, predictability. In the chaos of growing tech ecosystems, they were a lifeline.
But over time, they stopped being tools and became idols.
Instead of solving problems, we started solving for the framework.
We didn’t ask “What’s the best way to govern this fast-moving DevOps environment?”
We asked, “How can I make this fit into the existing governance model?”
It’s governance cosplay—performing the motions of control while the real action happens elsewhere. Shadow IT isn’t always malicious. Sometimes, it’s just the business refusing to be shackled by irrelevant oversight.
Rebels in the Server Room
You’ve seen them. The quiet product lead who spins up a cloud instance behind your back.
The rogue architect who skips three steering committees and delivers a solution in half the time.
The UX designer who ignores “change control” and A/B tests live in production.
They’re breaking the rules—but not because they’re careless. Because the rules don’t serve the mission anymore.
We love to call them out. Slap their wrists. Remind them of “governance.”
But here’s a crazy thought: What if they’re not the problem? What if they’re the future?
IT Governance Was Built for a World That No Longer Exists
The classic frameworks were born in a different era. Waterfall ruled. Hardware had lead times. Risk was something you could plot neatly on a heat map.
But today?
- Change happens daily.
- Value is co-created, not command-and-controlled.
- Risk isn’t just failure—it’s irrelevance.
And yet, we still pretend that quarterly reviews and static policies can keep up. We govern like it’s 1999. Then wonder why digital transformations stall.
The Rise of the Governance Hacker
If we’re serious about modern governance, we need a new persona: the governance hacker.
These are the rebels who:
- Prioritize principles over process
- Design governance as a service, not a checkpoint
- Embed controls into pipelines instead of layering them on top
- Use data, not dogma, to inform decisions
- Know when to challenge the framework—and when to burn it down
They’re not reckless. They’re resourceful. They’re not anti-governance—they’re pro-outcome.
And they don’t need permission. They need a platform.
Story Time: When Rebellion Saved the Day
A Fortune 500 CIO once told me about a mission-critical rollout stuck in governance limbo. Every framework box was checked—but real progress was zero.
Enter a rogue PM who bypassed formal gates, assembled a cross-functional strike team, and used Slack, Trello, and two weekend sprints to get a prototype in front of users.
That prototype didn’t just prove feasibility. It reframed the entire project. The governance team—impressed by actual results—pivoted to support rather than stifle.
The lesson? Sometimes, it takes a rebel to remind the system what it’s here for.
The Irony of Governance
The point of governance isn’t control. It’s clarity. It’s alignment. It’s enablement.
Great governance doesn’t say “no.” It says “yes, and here’s how to do it responsibly.”
But somewhere along the way, we traded agility for auditability. We made governance the destination instead of the vehicle.
Here’s the irony: The more rigid we get, the less secure we are. Because static governance in a dynamic world is itself a risk.
🔧 Meet the Governance Hacker
Not reckless. Not a rule-breaker.
Just allergic to bureaucracy that wastes time.
They’re the ones who…
✅ Ship value while others are still filling out forms
✅ Know the framework—but only use what actually helps
✅ Bake controls into pipelines, not PowerPoints
✅ Ask forgiveness when needed—but mostly just get it right the first time
✅ Build trust through clarity, not compliance theater
Governance hackers don’t burn down the system.
They rewire it—quietly, smartly, effectively.
If governance were a car, they’d install traction control—then drive 90 on a rainy curve with confidence.
Are you one of them?
👇 Tell us your favorite “hack that helped.”
From Framework to Freeform
This doesn’t mean we throw out every model. It means we treat them as templates, not tablets.
Try this:
- Use COBIT to ask better questions, not dictate answers.
- Use TOGAF to design options, not prescribe dogma.
- Use ITIL to improve service, not entrench silos.
Frameworks are tools, not truths. The moment they stop serving the outcome, rewrite the rulebook.
So What Does Rebel Governance Look Like?
- Outcome-first: Governance starts with “What are we trying to achieve?” Not “What’s the policy?”
- Embedded: Controls are integrated into workflows, not bolted on after the fact.
- Adaptive: Policies evolve based on feedback and iteration—not annual reviews.
- Transparent: Decisions are visible and explainable, not buried in committee minutes.
- Empowered: Teams are trusted to make choices within a set of guiding principles, not micromanaged with procedures.
Rebel governance doesn’t mean chaos. It means courage. It means trusting people more than processes—and knowing when to break the rules for the right reasons.
Your Turn: Are You a Rebel or a Robot?
Let’s be real: most of us play both roles. We follow the frameworks because it’s safe. And when the mission demands it, we bend them to get things done.
But as the pace of change accelerates, the balance is shifting. We need more rebel energy. More governance hackers. More leaders who can build trust, not just templates.
So here’s the challenge:
- What’s one rule you’re ready to rewrite?
- What part of your governance model feels more like a cage than a compass?
- Who’s the rebel on your team you should be celebrating—not scolding?
Share your story. Let’s build a new playbook—together.
Because the future of governance isn’t robotic. It’s radically human.
