--- title: "Understanding Domains" description: "A domain is something a role or circle controls exclusively. It is one of the four core governance fields carried by every role and circle page in Talkspirit." category: structure-governance section: governance-basics type: Reference lastUpdated: 2026-08-05 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/structure-governance/understanding-domains --- # Understanding Domains ## Understanding Domains A domain is something a role or circle controls exclusively: an asset, a process, a list, a tool. Talkspirit stores domains as one of the four core governance fields carried by every role and every circle, next to **Purpose**, **Accountabilities** and **Policies**. Writing a domain down publishes who decides about that thing, so everyone else knows to ask that role first. One thing to be clear about from the start: Talkspirit records the agreement, it does not enforce it. Nothing in the product stops someone editing the website because another role holds a "Website" domain. What the domain does is make the ownership visible, quotable and open to challenge through governance. ## Where you see domains Open any role or circle and stay on the **General** tab. **Domains** is its own card, between **Purpose** and **Accountabilities**, with **Policies** below it. Entries show one per row and the card header carries a count. ![The General tab of the Marketing and Sales circle, showing a Purpose card, a Domains card with a count of 6 listing six domains one per row, and an Accountabilities card with a count of 3.](/images/structure-governance/understanding-domains/01-domains-card-on-a-circle-page.png) A role or circle with no domain shows **Not set** rather than hiding the card, so the field is always there to fill. Most organisations put domains on their circles first and only later push a few down onto individual roles, so an empty card early on is normal rather than a sign that something is missing. Two things vary between organisations, so your screen may not match this description: - An administrator can rename the field. "Domain" is only the default word, and an organisation that says something else can change it everywhere at once. - An administrator can hide the field for the whole organisation. If your role and circle pages carry no Domains card, that is why. Anything already stored comes back untouched if the field is shown again. ## What belongs in a domain Use a domain for something that needs a single decision maker: "the customer email list", "the recruitment process", "the company website", "the cloud hosting account". If too many people change the website independently, giving one role a "Website" domain settles who arbitrates. Do not use a domain to describe what a role cares about or is good at. That is what its purpose and its accountabilities are for. An accountability is an ongoing activity the role performs; a domain is a thing the role controls. "Publishing the release notes" is an accountability. "The release notes page" is a domain. ## Who can add or change a domain Domains are governed content, so the interface offers the edit affordance only to decision makers: - To change a **role's** domains, you need to be a decision maker of the circle that holds the role. - To change a **circle's own** domains, you need to be a decision maker of that circle's **parent** circle. The top-level circle is judged against itself. Hover over the Domains card and a **Propose changes** control appears. It opens the role or circle edit dialog carrying the same field list, and the footer offers **Save as proposal** and **Submit for review**. Your wording does not appear on the page until that proposal is adopted. Administrators holding structure administration rights work differently. With **Architect mode** on, they edit the field in place and the change applies immediately, with no proposal. ## Domains and policies A policy is a written rule attached to a domain. It either opens the domain up to other people, or narrows how it may be used. "Anyone may answer customer enquiries as long as they tell the account owner" is the first kind. "Any presentation must use the company deck" is the second. Add one from the **Policies** card on a role or circle page. The dialog asks for a title and a **Domain**, and the Domain list offers every domain that role or circle already holds. ![The Add policy dialog on a circle page, with a required Title field and a Domain field set to "All functions and activities within the circle".](/images/structure-governance/understanding-domains/02-domain-field-on-a-new-policy.png) You do not need a domain first. The Domain list always carries the option **All functions and activities within the circle**, and that option is the default. Choosing it means the policy applies to everything the circle already controls without anything being spelled out, which is why so many policies read that way. The top-level circle holds whatever the organisation owns, and there is nothing to gain from typing "Premises" or "Bank account" into a Domains card purely to have something to point a policy at. ## What Talkspirit does not do Three things people expect of a domain and will not find in the product: - **No request-permission workflow.** Asking the holder of a domain, and their duty to answer with a reason, belong to your governance practice, in a meeting or a message. There is no control for it. - **No delegation control.** A circle that wants one of its roles to hold a domain exclusively moves the wording: the domain goes on the role instead of on the circle. - **No links and no locks.** A domain is free text. It is not attached to a file, a board or an app, and nothing becomes read-only when you write one. ## What's Next? - [Editing governance fields on a role or a circle](../structure-governance/how-to-edit-core-and-custom-governance-fields-for-roles-and-circles) - [Adding or editing a policy](../structure-governance/how-to-add-or-edit-a-policy) - [Role Overview](../structure-governance/role-overview) - [Understanding Core Roles](../structure-governance/understanding-core-roles) - [Decision makers in a circle](../structure-governance/what-is-a-decision-maker-of-a-circle)