Dear Bob ... I respect your pragmatic approach to business. You have a way of filtering through the buzz-words and the management fads to the real issues. I am a relatively new IT employee and I have been asked to briefly explain IT Governance to the CFO. If this were your assignment what would you say? Tongue-tiedDear Tongue-tied ...With a compliment like that, I'm obliged to oblige.Here's the definition Dear Bob … I respect your pragmatic approach to business. You have a way of filtering through the buzz-words and the management fads to the real issues. I am a relatively new IT employee and I have been asked to briefly explain IT Governance to the CFO. If this were your assignment what would you say? Tongue-tied Dear Tongue-tied …With a compliment like that, I’m obliged to oblige.Here’s the definition we use in our formal IT Organizational Performance Model: “The policies, processes and criteria through which an organization makes decisions for which accountability and responsibilities are clear.”A point to add for clarity: Decisions commit or deny budget, staff and time. Anything else is just talking about it.So IT governance is the means through which a business makes choices about its investments in information technology. Is that clear enough? I’ve been a consultant too long, and am no longer certain when I’m lapsing into ConsultantSpeak.– Bob Technology Industry