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ORQA blog

Ramblings and tangents.


Jul 08
2009

Clear Accountability

Posted by momeara in safety, quality, Orqa, OpRisk, Culture, ActiveAgenda
momeara

Through most of my career, the most frequent root cause I've seen for large projects failing is a general lack of specific accountability that is clear among stakeholders.  That's why when I started working with Active Agenda, one of the features that impressed me most was the ability to assign accountability to an individual for almost every kind of event, policy, guidance, project, and other records.  This gives users a concise list of what's "on their plate" and I think really lays the foundation for a solid business continuity plan, as well as capacity management.

I think once an organization gets over the cultural perception that accountability is associated with blame, I think most people find comfort in knowing what they're accountable for and they perform better as well.

 Check out the screen shot from our demo system to see what Homer has on his plate.  Register for a free login account by clicking the login link on the upper right corner of the page and download a virtual appliance to get your own server going today.

 


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It's a new way of saying "deliverables" ...
written by a guest, July 10, 2009
Hi,

This concept has always existed and it is traditionally named "deliverables".

Naming it "accountability" is indeed saying that if you don't deliver what's on your plate by the date promised then you are accountable for potential delays, thus the reason many tie it to "blame".

Anyways, projects fail due to poor management and the lack of proper alignment and sharing of a common vision by the stakeholders involved.

Thanks,

The EHR Guy
Michael O'Meara
accountables/deliverables
written by Michael O'Meara, July 10, 2009
I agree with the comparison somewhat, particularly in regards to project teams. However, I think there is a significant difference. At least in how we define accountabilities in our application, all deliverables would be considered accountabilities, but not all accountabilities are deliverables.

In my experience, a deliverable is usually considered some sort of tangible and measurable output such as a document, completing a milestone objective, executing a test plan. At some point, you should be able to 'close out' that deliverable and get it off your list. However, being accountable for something can often be far less tangible since often we're talking about creating a business culture, but by documenting it still establishes clear ownership and responsibility.

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