Your security policies are buried in 50-page PDFs that nobody reads. Meanwhile, your engineering team pushes code 50+ times per day with perfect audit trails. See the problem?

Your policies are living documents that change constantly, yet you manage them like static artefacts from 2005.

While your developers work with git commit -m "Fix critical security vulnerability", your GRC team is juggling Policy_v1_external_ready_(1.1)_NDA_reviewed_deprecated_ACTUAL_FINAL.docx files.

They solved policy management years ago.

They just called it "software development."

The companies with the best governance programs stopped treating policies like documents. They treat them like infrastructure code that deserves the same rigour as production systems.

Ready to revolutionise your security documentation?

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Secure data access, even when AI is in the loop

Formal is a data security proxy that gives you visibility and control where it matters most: at the point of data access. It sits between your AI agents, services, and datastores to inspect every request in real time.

You get protocol-level context—who made the call, what was requested, whether it involved PII or secrets, and what policy should apply.

Why It Matters 🔍

The why: the core problem this solves and why you should care

Your engineering team learned Git workflows as part of their professional development. Your GRC team is stuck in the "Document Management Delusion."

The Policy Management Crisis

The strategic problem: When your policy management creates more risk than the policies prevent, you've optimised for the wrong outcome.

This isn't about being more technical. It's about policy-like-code, not just policy-as-code. When your security policies live alongside your actual code, security becomes part of the development workflow, not an afterthought.

The magic combination: 

✅ Markdown for readability - Policies people actually read
✅ Git for version control - No more "FINAL_ACTUAL_v3" disasters
✅ GitLab for collaboration - Technical owners review from familiar tools
✅ CI/CD for policy validation - Automated reminders prevent missed reviews

Strategic Framework 🧩

The what: The conceptual approach broken down into 3 main principles

1. Version Control as Governance Infrastructure

The Philosophy Shift: Stop treating policies like documents. Start treating them like business-critical code.

Traditional approach: Create document → Email chaos → Version confusion → Manual uploads → Hope people find the right version.

Git-based approach: Create branch → Edit Markdown → Merge request review → Automated wiki publishing → Immutable audit trail.

Every policy change gets the same forensic-level tracking as code that could take down production.

2. Developer Workflows for Policy Teams

Merge requests become your governance weapon. Every policy change gets structured review, stakeholder approval, and automatic audit trail generation.

3. Automated Publishing + Professional Development

The breakthrough: Git-based authoring with automated wiki publishing delivers professional governance workflows AND user-friendly consumption.

The transformation for your team:

• GRC staff learns Git workflows - game-changing professional development

• Technical owners participate in policy reviews using familiar tools

• Security becomes integrated into development workflow

• Automated reminders prevent missed reviews and policy drift

Not all automation is created equal.

Most GRC automation tools crumble at enterprise scale. Cypago is the only Cyber GRC automation tool that was purpose-built for the complexity and scale of large orgs - hybrid environments, custom workflows, and overlapping frameworks. Fast to deploy, flexible where it matters.

Ready to give it a spin?

Execution Blueprint 🛠️

The how: 3 practical steps to put this strategy into action at your organisation

Step 1: Repository Setup

company-policies/
├── policies/
│   ├── security/
│   │   ├── incident-response.md
│   │   └── access-control.md
│   ├── compliance/
│   │   └── sox-controls.md
│   └── governance/
│       └── risk-management.md
├── templates/
└── .gitlab-ci.yml

Access Control:

• Policy Authors: Branch creation and merge requests

• Technical Owners: Review familiar workflows

• Governance Team: Merge and deployment permissions

Step 2: Lifecycle Management

Annual Review Revolution:

# No more email chaos
git checkout -b annual-review-2025
git log --since="1 year ago" incident-response.md
git commit -m "Annual review: Emergency contacts updated"

Automated Review Reminders:

schedule:
  - cron: "0 9 1 */3 *"  # Quarterly reviews
    job: create_review_branch

Pro Tip: Start with your incident response playbook. Convert to Markdown, commit to Git, watch response times improve.

Step 3: Wiki Integration

When security policies live alongside code, technical teams naturally participate in governance.

Real-World Transformation 🏢

Financial Services: 90% Faster Updates

• 6 weeks → 2 days policy updates

• 100% audit trail from Git logs

• Technical teams participate in policy reviews

• GRC staff mastered Git - career transformation

Tech Startup: SOC 2 Revolution

• 40 hours → 4 hours audit prep

• 100% automated evidence from Git history

• Security integrated into development workflow

• Team contributes to infrastructure-as-code projects

Getting Started This Week

Day 1: Assessment

• Count your "FINAL" policy versions

• Map your approval chaos

• Survey policy findability

Days 2-3: Foundation

• Create GitLab repository

• Configure automated reminders

• Set up CI/CD for validation

Days 4-5: Start with Incident Response

• Convert playbook to Markdown

• Train team on Git workflows

• Execute first emergency update

Week 2: Scale and Transform

• Measure 90% improvement in update speed

• Document 100% audit trail generation

• Celebrate GRC team's Git mastery

Content Queue 📖

The learn: This week's resource to dive deeper on the topic

In this LinkedIn Learning Course, GRC for the Cloud-Native Revolution, I’ve detailed the basics of markdown to get started with policy creation.

With that + this week’s newsletter you’ll be ready to start leveraging Git and Markdown to get your policy management to the next level.

That’s all for this week’s issue, folks!

If you enjoyed it, you might also enjoy:

• My spicier takes on LinkedIn [/in/ayoubfandi]

• Listening to the GRC Engineering Podcast 

  • Spotify

  • Youtube

  • Apple Podcasts

See you next week!