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Seven: Sustaining Ecosystem Governance Without Becoming a Bottleneck

Imagine that your platform is live, early adopters have migrated to the system, and leadership is happy. Then, six months later, things start to drift. Agency staff turnover, a new commissioner wants a custom feature, and a campaign microsite appears on an unapproved platform because someone moved too fast.

This kind of post-launch reality doesn't mean governance failed. It means governance is an ongoing practice, not a one-and-done operation.

What scales over time

Callout section titled “Automated routines” describing how automated thresholds can trigger manual review for issues like accessibility score drops, security scan failures, or new websites appearing. It also recommends using a governance dashboard to provide a real-time view of ecosystem health.

Callout section titled “Agency independence” explaining that agencies should be able to manage their own work without relying on a central team. It emphasizes that effective governance is largely invisible to users and depends on strong documentation, ongoing training, and a collaborative community of practice among agency web managers.

Callout section titled “A community of practice” explaining that when agency web managers collaborate and troubleshoot together, the burden on central teams decreases and compliance improves through shared learning, visibility, and recognition of good practices.