Scalable secrets governance is essential for managing sensitive information like API keys and database credentials as teams and systems grow, emphasizing the importance of structured processes to prevent security breaches. Informal methods, such as sharing credentials through Slack or email, can lead to serious security risks, as exemplified by past incidents like Uber's 2016 data breach. Effective governance involves clear ownership, predictable approval processes, and easy audits, maintaining a balance between control and developer speed without creating bottlenecks. Change Request Policies are a practical solution for achieving this balance, offering features like required approvers, blocking self-approval, defining approval groups, and targeting policies to specific environments, all of which contribute to enhanced security, accountability, and operational efficiency. Doppler's approach showcases how these policies can be implemented to support scalable governance, enabling teams to manage secrets securely and efficiently from the outset.