Driving University of Washington’s Digital Governance Strategy
From Many Voices to One Clear Vision
After creating a comprehensive development roadmap and recommendations for UW Housing and Food Services (HFS) new website, we were just getting started.
The long-term success of a website requires structure and accountability. That’s why we continued working with UW to tackle the next critical step: developing a complete web governance framework to guide the site’s growth, policies, consistency, and compliance for years to come.
Why does website governance matter?
In higher education and government work at large, websites must serve diverse stakeholders, comply with strict legal and accessibility standards, and scale sustainably as programs evolve. UW is no exception.
With multiple departments, dozens of contributors, and a wide variety of audiences to serve, UW needed a full governance framework to make sure their site stays on track, aligns with strategic priorities, and delivers a seamless user experience to visitors.
Breaking down silos, collaborating across departments
Over months of collaboration, we worked across teams (unit directors, IT teams, content managers, marketing, housing, dining, and conference services) to build a comprehensive governance plan.
Each section of this plan was designed to answer the big questions:
Who owns what?
How do we maintain compliance?
What’s the change process when content, code, or design needs updating?
How do we measure success and improve over time?
And, perhaps most importantly, how do we keep things running smoothly without bogging teams down in red tape?
The result: A future-proof governance policy
The final governance framework includes more than 13 detailed sections, covering everything from technical standards, branding guidelines, and SEO strategy to risk management, analytics, and change management. It establishes clear decision-making pathways, training requirements, and a roadmap for continuous improvement.
Most importantly, the end result is future-proof. We designed the structure to outlast platforms, tools, and team changes. This way, UW can evolve its digital presence with future content, campaigns, updates, and online presence that aligns with their mission while providing a great experience to every student, parent, and community member who visits the site.
Why this matters to government and higher ed leaders
If you’re managing a public-facing website with input from multiple departments or agencies, you know how hard it is to keep things consistent, compliant, and easy to use. This project is a model for how public institutions can turn complexity into clarity. It proves that with the right structure and stakeholder engagement, web governance can go from a pain point to a powerful enabler of strategic goals.