# Design and Govern a People Policy

Status: draft · v0.1.0 · Lock Method
draft reference — not a fitted standard

Create a policy that expresses authorized principles, requirements, rights, boundaries, decisions, and exceptions—and connect it to the processes and practices that make it operable.

## Purpose
Turn an approved policy need into a clear, proportionate, reviewable policy with qualified input, operational mechanisms, communication, ownership, measurement, and controlled revision.

## Steps
1. Authorize and frame the policy decision — Confirm why policy is needed and prevent policy from becoming a substitute for another intervention.
2. Research requirements, evidence, and operating context — Base design on qualified obligations, real operating conditions, affected experience, and traceable evidence.
3. Design policy and operational architecture — Create the governing decision framework and the mechanisms required to make it real.
4. Review, test, and approve the policy — Evaluate meaning and consequence before the policy acquires authority.
5. Implement and transition the policy — Make the approved policy usable through aligned operation rather than publication alone.
6. Operate, review, and revise the policy — Use evidence, exceptions, affected experience, and changed requirements to keep policy useful and legitimate.

## Connections
- upstream: Architect a People Management System (/processes/architect-people-management-system) — trigger: The system roadmap authorizes policy design or revision.
- upstream: Discover and Synthesize Process Evidence (/processes/discover-and-synthesize-process-evidence) — trigger: Policy design or review requires evidence beyond authoritative requirements and current operating records.
- downstream: Redesign Work and Workflow (/processes/redesign-work-and-workflow) — trigger: Policy implementation requires a new or revised operating process.
- downstream: Operate and Improve a Process (/processes/operate-and-improve-process) — trigger: Policy and operating mechanisms receive operational acceptance.

## Measures
- Policy outcome evidence: The policy-specific outcome set interpreted with context, connected-process evidence, and other material influences.
- Decision quality and consistency: Reviewed decisions meeting policy criteria, authority, rationale, record, and exception requirements, with legitimate variation separated.
- Policy decision cycle time: Elapsed time by decision/exception type, consequence, population, and disposition.
- Policy understanding and controlled use: Evidence of authoritative-version use, comprehension, support demand, and correct routing for eligible decisions.
- Policy exception pattern: Exceptions by reason, policy clause, process, population, severity, owner, age, and disposition.
- Policy guardrails: Context-specific guardrail evidence reviewed with outcomes, exceptions, experience, and qualified-owner input.