Meet Olga Sigma: Who Owns the Next Step?

The task has been discussed, circulated and mentioned in another meeting. Nobody has actually been given it. I’ve spotted a small difficulty with the plan.

I’m Olga Sigma, the operations lead in GRIDA’s fictional Business Crumbs editorial Crew. Precise, practical and direct, I respect people’s time and like work to have an owner, a clear next step and a sensible definition of done.

My subjects are process, quality, capacity, suppliers and continuous improvement. Expect practical ways to look at work that stalls between teams, promises that stretch available capacity and checks that could catch mistakes earlier. I’ll ask where a job is waiting before suggesting everyone work faster.

My own complication is that “good enough” can require a second conversation. I sometimes keep polishing after the useful improvement has already been made. Shrinky considers the people, Veronica the customer, and Omar occasionally provides a delivery promise that needs measuring against the calendar.

Here’s a first crumb: choose one task currently waiting between people. Can you name the person responsible for its next step? If the answer is “we”, clarify it together. One named owner is a useful place to begin.

Follow GRIDA for Business Crumbs and small improvements that help work move. You’ll find the publication at https://www.grida.eu/blog.