Governance

Last Verified: 2026-02-17 | Owner: John

Governance & Decision-Making Framework

Version: 1.0 Last Updated: 2026-01-28 Owner: Alem Basic Prepared by: John (Director) + Dženan Rizvanović (Risk & Compliance)


Executive Summary

This document defines WHO makes decisions, WHAT decisions require approval, HOW to make strategic vs operational decisions, and WHEN to escalate. It ensures Alem maintains control while empowering the team to move fast.

Core Principle: Alem has final authority. John executes. Team delivers.


1. Decision Authority Framework

1.1 Decision Categories

Category Examples Decision Maker Escalation Path
Strategic New products, markets, partnerships, fundraising, exits Alem (final) John prepares options → Alem decides
Operational Daily execution, task assignment, priorities, bug fixes John (immediate) Logged for Alem review
Technical Architecture, tech stack, infrastructure Lejla (proposes) → Amina → John (approves) Major changes → Alem
Financial (<€5K) Tools, services, small purchases John (immediate) Logged to DB
Financial (€5K-€50K) Insurance, legal, marketing campaigns Alem (decides) John prepares business case
Financial (>€50K) Series A, major contracts, acquisitions Alem (decides) Formal proposal
Legal/Compliance Contracts, IP, regulatory Dženan (reviews) → John → Alem Always escalate
HR (hiring real humans) Employees, contractors Alem (approves) John screens, Alem decides
Customer/Product Feature priorities, pricing, packaging Amina (proposes) → John → Alem RICE-scored backlog

1.2 Alem's Reserved Powers (Non-Delegable)

Only Alem can decide:

Process:

  1. John gathers data, prepares 2-3 options with pros/cons
  2. John presents to Alem (written + verbal if needed)
  3. Alem reviews and decides
  4. John executes and logs decision

Timeline: John aims to present options within 48 hours, Alem decides within 48 hours.

1.3 John's Delegated Authority (No Approval Needed)

John can decide immediately:

Requirement: All decisions logged to john.db immediately for Alem's visibility.


2. Strategic Decision-Making Process

2.1 When to Make a Strategic Decision

Triggers:

Examples:

2.2 Strategic Decision Workflow

1. TRIGGER / OPPORTUNITY identified
   ↓
2. JOHN (or agent) gathers initial data
   ├─ What is the opportunity?
   ├─ Why now?
   ├─ What resources needed?
   └─ What are the risks?
   ↓
3. JOHN prepares decision brief (2-3 options)
   ├─ Option A: [Description, pros, cons, cost, timeline]
   ├─ Option B: [Description, pros, cons, cost, timeline]
   └─ Option C: Do nothing (status quo)
   ↓
4. JOHN presents to ALEM
   ├─ Written brief (1-2 pages)
   ├─ Verbal discussion (if needed)
   └─ Recommendation (John's opinion)
   ↓
5. ALEM reviews and decides
   ├─ Approve Option A/B/C
   ├─ Request more info
   └─ Defer decision (set deadline)
   ↓
6. JOHN executes decision
   ├─ Log to database
   ├─ Communicate to team
   └─ Track progress

Timeline:

2.3 Decision Brief Template

# Strategic Decision Brief: [Title]

**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Prepared by:** John
**Decision Owner:** Alem Basic

## Summary (2 sentences)
[What is the decision? Why does it matter?]

## Context
[Background, why now, what triggered this]

## Options

### Option A: [Name]
**Description:** [What would we do?]
**Pros:**
- [Benefit 1]
- [Benefit 2]
**Cons:**
- [Risk/downside 1]
- [Risk/downside 2]
**Cost:** €X
**Timeline:** X weeks/months
**Resources:** [Team, budget, tools]

### Option B: [Name]
[Same structure]

### Option C: Do Nothing
**Description:** Maintain status quo
**Pros:** No cost, no risk
**Cons:** Opportunity cost, competitive risk

## Recommendation
I recommend **Option A** because [rationale].

## Next Steps (if approved)
1. [Action 1] — Owner: [Name], Deadline: [Date]
2. [Action 2] — Owner: [Name], Deadline: [Date]

## Risks & Mitigation
- **Risk 1:** [Description] → **Mitigation:** [Plan]
- **Risk 2:** [Description] → **Mitigation:** [Plan]

## Decision
[ ] Approved — Option: _____
[ ] Defer — Reason: _____
[ ] Rejected — Reason: _____

**Decided by:** Alem Basic
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD

3. Operational Decision-Making

3.1 Operational Decisions (John's Domain)

Examples:

Process:

JOHN makes decision → Logs to DB → Executes → Reports to Alem (weekly summary)

No approval needed. Alem reviews logs and intervenes only if needed.

3.2 Operational Decision Checklist (John Self-Audit)

Before making operational decision, John asks:

If ANY answer is No → escalate to Alem.


4. Financial Governance

4.1 Budget Allocation

Annual Budget (Estimated, Scale Phase):

Category Monthly Annual Owner
Infrastructure (AWS, hosting) €2,000-4,000 €24K-48K Nermin
SaaS tools €500-1,000 €6K-12K John
Marketing & sales €1,000-3,000 €12K-36K Selma
Team compensation €5,000-15,000 €60K-180K Asmir (SnowIT)
Professional services (legal, accounting) €1,000-3,000 €12K-36K Dženan
Insurance €500-1,000 €6K-12K Dženan
Trading capital (€10K allocated) Nick
Charity (50% of profit) Variable Variable Alem
Total (excluding team compensation) €5K-12K €60K-144K

Budget Review: Monthly (John reports to Alem)

4.2 Financial Thresholds & Approval

Threshold Approver Process Timeline
< €500 John Immediate, logged Same day
€500 - €5,000 John Immediate, logged, Alem notified Same day
€5,000 - €50,000 Alem John prepares business case → Alem decides 3-7 days
> €50,000 Alem Formal proposal, Alem pre-approves 1-4 weeks

4.3 Charitable Giving Governance (50% Commitment)

Policy:

Example Calculation (Year 1):

Charity Selection:


5. Risk Management Framework

5.1 Risk Identification & Logging

Who identifies risks:

Risk Categories:

Risk Register Location: ~/clawd/org/risk-register.csv + john.db

5.2 Risk Assessment Matrix

Probability Impact Risk Level Action Required
High High CRITICAL Escalate to Alem immediately
High Medium HIGH Mitigation plan within 1 week
Medium High HIGH Mitigation plan within 1 week
Medium Medium MEDIUM Monitor, mitigation plan within 1 month
Low High MEDIUM Monitor, mitigation plan within 1 month
Low Medium LOW Monitor, review quarterly
Low Low LOW Log, no immediate action

5.3 Top 10 Risks (as of 2026-01-28)

# Risk Probability Impact Level Mitigation Owner
1 HIPAA breach (LumisCare) Low Critical HIGH Dženan
2 Bank partner withdraws (Payment App) Medium High HIGH Amina
3 Regulatory rejection (Payment license) Medium Critical HIGH Dženan
4 Key person dependency (Lejla/Nermin) Medium High HIGH Amina
5 Slow customer acquisition (LumisCare) Medium High HIGH Selma
6 Cash culture resistance (Payment App) High Medium HIGH Selma
7 Security vulnerability exploited Low Critical HIGH Nermin + Tarik
8 US market competition (LumisCare) Medium Medium MEDIUM Lejla + Selma
9 Infrastructure outage Low High MEDIUM Nermin
10 Scope creep / burnout Medium Medium MEDIUM Emir

Risk Review Cadence: Monthly (Dženan leads)


6. Compliance Governance

6.1 Regulatory Compliance Framework

LumisCare (US Healthcare)

Regulations:

Compliance Owner: Dženan Rizvanović

Compliance Checklist (Quarterly Review):

Audit Schedule:

Payment App (Bosnia - Future)

Regulations:

Compliance Owner: Dženan Rizvanović

Timeline: Begin regulatory research Month 3, full compliance before GA launch.

6.2 Compliance Escalation

If compliance issue identified:

COMPLIANCE ISSUE detected
   ↓
DŽENAN investigates (within 1 hour)
   ├─ Assess severity (P1 = breach, P2 = risk, P3 = gap)
   ├─ Document findings
   └─ Escalate to John
   ↓
JOHN escalates to ALEM (within 1 hour for P1, 24h for P2/P3)
   ↓
ALEM decides response
   ├─ Notify customers (if breach)
   ├─ Notify regulators (if required)
   ├─ Engage legal counsel
   └─ Implement remediation

P1 Compliance Incidents:

Response SLA: 1 hour to escalate, 24 hours to begin remediation


7. Intellectual Property Governance

7.1 IP Ownership Policy

Policy: All IP created by SnowIT for LumisCare is owned by Fast Constructions (USA).

Mechanism: Development Services Agreement (work-for-hire clause)

IP Assets:

Assignment: All agents sign IP assignment clause in agreements.

7.2 Patent Strategy

Current Status:

Governance:

Process:

  1. Lejla documents technical innovation (2 weeks)
  2. Dženan identifies patent attorney (2 weeks)
  3. Attorney drafts application (4 weeks)
  4. Alem reviews and approves (1 week)
  5. File provisional (before 60-day deadline)

7.3 Trademark & Brand Governance

Current Trademarks:

Action Required:

Owner: Fast Constructions (USA) Timeline: File within 6 months (Month 6) Budget: €1,000-2,000 (US trademark)


8. Data Governance

8.1 Data Classification

Data Type Sensitivity Examples Protection
PHI (Protected Health Information) Critical Patient names, diagnoses, visit notes AES-256, TLS 1.3, RBAC, audit logs
PII (Personally Identifiable Information) High Email, phone, address AES-256, TLS 1.3
Financial High Credit cards, bank accounts, transaction history PCI-DSS, tokenization
Business Confidential Medium Revenue, customer list, roadmap Access control, NDA
Public Low Marketing content, blog posts No special protection

8.2 Data Retention Policy

Data Type Retention Period Rationale Disposal Method
PHI (patient records) 6 years minimum (HIPAA) Legal requirement Secure deletion + audit log
Financial records 7 years (IRS requirement) Tax compliance Secure deletion
Audit logs 6 years (HIPAA) Compliance Secure deletion
Customer account data 90 days after cancellation Business continuity Secure deletion
Backups 30-90 days Disaster recovery Encrypted, auto-delete
Marketing data (non-PHI) Indefinitely (or until opt-out) Business use Delete on request (GDPR)

8.3 Data Breach Response Plan

If PHI or PII breach detected:

1. DETECT breach (monitoring, report, audit)
   ↓
2. CONTAIN (within 1 hour)
   ├─ Nermin: Shut down affected system (if needed)
   ├─ Lejla: Identify scope of breach
   └─ Dženan: Begin documentation
   ↓
3. ASSESS impact (within 4 hours)
   ├─ How many individuals affected?
   ├─ What data was exposed?
   ├─ Was data encrypted?
   └─ Is this a HIPAA "breach" (legal definition)?
   ↓
4. NOTIFY (within legal deadlines)
   ├─ Customers affected (without undue delay, max 60 days)
   ├─ HHS (if >500 individuals, within 60 days)
   ├─ Media (if >500 individuals)
   └─ Business associates (if their data)
   ↓
5. REMEDIATE
   ├─ Fix vulnerability
   ├─ Enhance controls
   └─ Post-mortem
   ↓
6. DOCUMENT everything (legal defense)

Dženan owns breach response plan. Documented in ~/clawd/org/breach-response.md.


9. Performance & Accountability

9.1 KPI Governance

Monthly Business Review (MBR) — Last Friday of Month

Attendees: Alem, John, Amina

Agenda:

  1. Revenue & growth (MRR, customers, churn)
  2. Product & development (features, velocity, tech debt)
  3. Operations (uptime, incidents, support)
  4. Trading (P&L, ROI)
  5. Risks & compliance
  6. Next month priorities

Dashboard: John maintains live dashboard (Notion, Grafana, or spreadsheet)

KPI Targets:

KPI Target Owner Frequency
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) 10%+ MoM growth Selma Monthly
Customer count 10 by Month 6, 50 by Month 12 Selma Monthly
Churn rate < 5% monthly Selma + Amina Monthly
Uptime 99.9% (LumisCare), 99.99% (Payment App) Nermin Daily
Deployment frequency Daily (staging), weekly (prod) Nermin Weekly
Sprint velocity Consistent ±10% Emir Per sprint
Bug escape rate < 5% Tarik Per sprint
Test coverage ≥ 80% Tarik + Lejla Per release
Support response time < 30 min (Tier 1) Selma Daily
Trading ROI 5%+ monthly Nick Monthly
Charity donations 50% of net profit Alem Annually

9.2 Accountability Mechanisms

How we ensure accountability:

Consequences for missed commitments:

Rewards for excellence:


10. Change Management

10.1 How to Change This Document (GOVERNANCE.md)

Process:

  1. Anyone can propose change (via John)
  2. John reviews and assesses impact
  3. If minor (typo, clarification): John updates, logs change
  4. If major (authority change, new policy): John prepares proposal → Alem approves
  5. Version control: All changes logged in document control table

Review Cadence: Quarterly (every 3 months)

10.2 Governance Evolution

As organization grows:

Stage Headcount Governance Changes
Startup (now) 1 owner + 1 AI + 10 agents Alem = CEO, John = Director, informal governance
Growth (10-50 users) +1-2 real humans Formalize employment contracts, add HR policies
Scale (50-500 users) +5-10 real humans Create formal board, add CFO, legal counsel
Enterprise (500+ users) +20+ real humans Full C-suite, board of directors, formal governance

Current stage: Startup. Keep governance lean, bias toward action.


11. Document Control

Version Date Changes Author
1.0 2026-01-28 Initial document John + Dženan

Next Review: 2026-04-01 (quarterly)

Owner: Alem Basic Maintained By: John (Director) + Dženan Rizvanović (Risk & Compliance)


End of Governance Document

Clear authority. Clear escalation. Clear accountability. Alem controls, John executes, team delivers.


Revision #3
Created 2026-02-17 22:15:03 UTC by John
Updated 2026-05-31 20:00:49 UTC by John