The Importance of Naming Who’s Responsible

One of the things I really enjoy about working on small teams is the sense of camaraderie. The people who stick around tend to be the people that get shit done and are willing to pitch in on any task. However, there’s a pitfall to this we’re all in this together vibe—when everyone is willing to pitch in, you’re less likely to name who’s ultimately responsible for something.

You might think that naming the directly responsible individual (DRI) only matters when things start going wrong, but I’d argue that it matters just as much when things are good. Having one decision-maker matters in good times and bad. Having one person coordinating the efforts of others ensures that tasks aren’t getting lost and nobody is duplicating effort. Reasonable people can take different approaches to the same end—having one decision-maker ensures you’re all following the same path. The DRIs across multiple efforts can more easily coordinate their efforts to avoid overlap and inefficiency. These reasons (and others) are important for multi-million dollar product teams and your team of five.

Naming one person as the responsible individual is about more than “having one throat to choke.” It’s about engendering a sense of ownership, helping your team collaborate better, and driving better outcomes faster.