Governance

Governance of bodies has always been of great interest to me, mostly for my own understanding of how things work and why they do not.

John Adams wrote the following, in a letter to his wife:

“The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” - John Adams, 2nd US president, in a letter to his wife

Adam's words made sense to me, and, when writing the governance principles for The Supply Chain Interoperability Specification and OpenEvo Foundation, I kept his words in mind while researching objectives from NIST, FDA, NATO, the World Economic Forum, and the World Health Organization.

This is what I came up with:

Principles:

1. Simple

2. Purposeful

3. Innovative

4. Safe

5. Effective

6. Diverse

7. Equitable

8. Inclusive

9. Modular

10. Interoperable

11. Composable

12. Accountable

13. Open

Factors:

Universally, ecologically, biologically, socially, culturally, economically, and governmentally healthy, for stakeholders.

Objectives:

1. Explore far, wide, and deep

2. Learn everything possible

3. Consider carefully

4. Nurture lovingly

5. Improve continuously