a core issue in implementing good policy, is a sound understanding of the problem to be solved. let me unpack that a bit. policy is good if it can solve a problem; it needs to address some issue which reasonable people collectively agree is worth solving. for exampe, lets say, building code is in place to ensure fire safety standards or to withstand environmental tragedy (say earthquake) or similar. most people would agree saving lives due to non-standard building implementations is a good thing. so in order to attack that problem, groups of people (non-profit/industry groups, industry, government, academics, etc) advocate, strategize, architect, pass and implement policy (standards, law, regulation, executive order etc) which solve the problems around standarization of building codes.
good policy stands the test of time, is robust to challenge, moves with opinion (popular, scientific and/or otherwise) and is high on the adoption curve; which is to say people generally want to adopt it. so for the sa