Enterprise Design Patterns | Impact Patterns
#8: Clear Ownerships
"You need an accountability framework that balances autonomy and alignment"
- Jeanne Ross et al.
Related Patterns:
#4: Executive Buy-In, #30: Depicting Shared Understanding
You need decisions (small or big) to support the direction of a coherent Enterprise Design.
In this context:
Without clearly defined ownerships, people make isolated decisions that lead to the decay of a coherent Enterprise Design. When responsibilities are unclear, decision-makers and autonomous teams take responsibility for their own domains only, not for the enterprise as a whole. Design decisions are made without understanding the impact on the wider enterprise.
Therefore:
You help establish clear ownerships and dependencies based on architectural elements and their relationships (e.g. journeys, products, capabilities, processes). You use this framework to:
- Show that owners are responsible for the whole lifecycle (designing, building, maintaining, budgeting) of what they own;
- Help assign ownership to committees, teams and individuals;
- Define clear accountability for committees, making sure to leave enough design freedom for autonomous teams.
Consequently:
You have a strong counterforce in place against the common decay of Enterprise Design, which helps you support a managed evolution towards a well-designed enterprise.