Move Fast #6: Simplify accountability with complete commitments
When schedules start to slip or follow-ups are left unaddressed, many leaders instinctively respond by increasing the frequency of reviews or asking for more detailed reporting. While these actions are well-intentioned attempts to get things back on track, they often fail to address the root cause of the problem. In many cases, this extra work could be avoided if commitments were complete from the start.
A complete commitment is a simple concept that is tricky to implement in practice. The complexity and dependencies of the action are often unknown, making it challenging to assign an action to a single person with a specific deadline on the spot, resulting in common failure patterns:
Vague outcomes: When it's unclear how much effort is required, a responsible person will often say they will "do their best" or "look into it." This doesn't constitute a complete commitment. Figure out the first actionable step and push for a complete commitment to it. Alternatively, change the commitment to "do x and provide daily/weekly progress updates until delivery."
Lack of deadline: If it is impossible to estimate how long an action will take to complete, establish a complete commitment to a timeline. A good template is, "I'll provide a timeline by the end of the day." This gives the responsible person time to assess the action and leaves you with a complete commitment.
Shared ownership: Most actions have dependencies, and there is a temptation to make every dependency a co-owner of the outcome. However, as the saying goes, "One person equals 100% ownership; two people equal 40% ownership each." Assigning multiple people to an action dilutes responsibility and increases the likelihood of missed deadlines (and no one is ever fully in control of the outcomes they are held accountable for).
When everyone understands what they're responsible for, when it's due, and that they are on the hook for delivery, they're more likely to take the initiative, work through dependencies, and see it through to completion.
In my experience, many skilled employees with clear and complete public commitments rarely need additional project management structures to deliver. The time invested in setting complete commitments, even under uncertainty, has a much higher ROI than trying to implement reporting and accountability structures after the fact.
This is the 6th installment of the Move Fast series - check out the previous posts: Great artists steal. Winning product teams copy, Treat your engineers as adults, Set deadlines, even if you have to make them up, Ask for weekly updates, Eliminate unnecessary A/B testing