# A responsibility shared by six people does not exist
Ownership · diagnostic · https://build-here.africa/book/chapters/06-03-a-responsibility-shared-by-six-people-does-not-exist.html

## The symptom

Six people contribute to a subject. Nobody knows who coordinates the next action, or who to ask for a decision.

## The signal

A shared subject needs a name: the person who knows where it stands and moves the next step forward.

## What's going on

A list of six names does not say how the work moves. Each person does their part and assumes someone else is organising what follows. When a step gets stuck, nobody sees it, because it was nobody's part.

A point of contact changes that. A person, a pair, or a rotating role: someone who knows where the subject stands, flags the dependencies and chases. It gives the subject an address. The decisions stay with the people who hold them.

A small team launches an offer. One person follows sign-ups, another the price, a third coordinates the weekly check-in. Coordination makes sure the three pieces end up as an offer.

The name has to come with time and access. A coordinator with no means is just one more name on a list.

## Check this

On a shared subject, write together:

> Who contributes to what?
> Who coordinates the next check-in, and with what means?
> Who rules, and what happens when someone is away?

If nobody can coordinate, cut the scope rather than imposing a name. At the next check-in, see whether the questions found answers.

## To discuss

Which shared subject still has no address here?