Who Does What by When

If you are struggling to gain traction in your projects with your team, begin asking this question: who does what by when? Each meeting, each scrum, each status report can benefit from the clarity this question forces. Rather than having your team return to the whirlwind of daily activity with a vague notion of what was discussed, "who does what by when?" makes explicit the responsibilities that have been generated. Here's how it works:

• As the facilitator, with about 5 minutes remaining in the meeting, transition to "who does what by when"

• For each agenda items or topic on the table, ask: who does what by when?"

• Have each team member record their individual deliverables and the due date themselves. As facilitator record all the answers in your meeting notes

• Open the next meeting with a review of the "who does what by when" from the previous meeting.

Here's why it works:

• Greater buy-in: When we write down what we're going to do and the deadline attached, we're more likely to own the outcomes.

• Greater clarity: ambiguity and confusion are the default. You must work hard to cut through the noise to create clear alignment.

• Greater accountability. There is a written record of what we've committed to do as a team. Like The 4 Disciplines of Execution says, people play differently when they can see the scoreboard.

Start asking "who does what by when?" this week. 

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