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Assigning clear ownership of tasks

We understand that many tasks in today's world require great collaboration.  A complex system will have many components, integrations, and sub-systems managed by many members of a team.   However, that does not mean everyone knows everything or everyone can "get it done" when it comes to a specific item.  

As a manager, when assigning tasks, or, as is more common, asking for things to be done, it is essential to establish ownership.  I am sure you have seen emails exchanged with many people in the To field and with single line delegations like, "Can we fix this?" "Can we make sure this does not happen again? "Can we find the root cause?" etc,.  The issue with such shared allocation of responsibility is the bystander effect.  No one seems to know who is taking up the task or at least some part of it.  

Furthermore, it gets worse when managers randomly start asking questions to one team member about why "we did not do that" referring to such a "can we do..." email.  There is too much scope left open for assumptions.

For efficiency reasons, it is better to establish a clear owner when you are requesting something to be done.  More importantly, make sure you follow up only with that owner about its progress.  That owner in turn may choose to delegate as necessary, but the chain needs to be established. This may sound too "process-oriented" or "pedantic" but it saves lot of time and gets results. 

For psychological reasons, it is better to establish ownership because that entails proper accountability as well.  In a "can we.." delegation, due to the shared nature of ownership, there is a shared nature of accountability as well, which means no accountability at all.  However, when the manager requests status, it may very well be pointed to one person.  It won't be uplifting if that one person was under the assumption that someone else was going to do it.  

In a nutshell, when you are asking something to be done, also make it clear who you are assigning it to and then let everyone else know that they should collaborate with that "owner".  All of this can still happen in the email conversation with 100 people in the chain.  But make sure there is only one person in the To field and 99 in the CC field.

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