™The principles of Plain Governance are deliberately general and sequential. They are designed to guide users' reflection on how particular governance arrangements work and how they can be explained and evaluated. Applying the principles effectively requires both effort in description and in judgement: a clear description will provide the basis for a sound judgement.
- Identify the arrangement to be assessed and the question being asked about it.
- Identify the relevant requirements and criteria for the assessment.
- Identify the roles, responsibilities, authority, accountability, and duties that are involved in the arrangement.
- Establish how the arrangements operate in practice.
- Compare and contrast concepts to clarify where a difference will affect what people may or must do and how it should be assessed.
- Examine the definition of each concept as well as the relationships between the concepts.
- For acts, decisions, conduct, and other things done, establish the role who acted, what they did, and the circumstances.
- Consider the arrangement in the whole situation, including intentions, attitudes, and what followed.
- Remember that the same act may have more than one description, and that each description may have different consequences for the assessment.
- Consider ordinary applications of the arrangement, but also uncertain or unusual cases as well as the different ways in which the arrangement can fail.
- Test what changes when some aspect of the situation changes, e.g., the participants, circumstances, procedure, or subsequent conduct change.
- Explain what the arrangements are intended to achieve and what they can reasonably be taken to achieve.
- Give reasons for assigning particular roles, requirements, and powers and for choosing particular processes.
- Give clear reasons for adopting arrangements that are unusual or unfamiliar, including benefits, risks, and whether they are temporary or permanent.
Apply the framework
Apply this guidance to your own arrangement or an example.
Plain Governance, developed by Dr Julien Maréchal. © 2026 The Governance Practice.
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