Assigned Responsibility – A Parable

Post date: Sep 20, 2016 4:25:53 PM

There once worked four people: Anybody, Everybody, Somebody, and Nobody. They had a job Anybody could do. Everybody assumed Somebody would do it. But Nobody did.

In general, a model (the process part, not the end user entries) that allows just anybody to update it is an error in the making. Even if Everybody has the skills to maintain it, always assign responsibility to Somebody for maintaining the model. Otherwise, Nobody will be responsible.

The process is inconvenient. You open a model, you see something that should be changed, why not just fix it yourself? There are many reasons not to:

• 1. As a manager we must grow our people. If a modeler has made a mistake, the modeler needs to be made aware of it, given the opportunity to learn from it and fix it. This is NOT to punish or humiliate the modeler. We all make mistakes. We learn from them. When we fix other peoples’ mistakes we rob them of the chance to learn and grow.

  2. As a manager we must assign tasks appropriately. If a modeler makes the same mistake repeatedly, they may not be cut out to be a modeler. Not Everybody is. If we fix their mistakes and rob them of the chance to learn then we will never know if they are capable of learning required modeling skills or if another position would afford them more opportunities to succeed and be happy.

  3. If Anybody can fix a model then chances are we will never know the source of an omission or mistake and we have no hope of helping people improve. We condemn ourselves to repeating mistakes.

  4. If Anybody can fix a model then our testing and auditing efforts are wasted. Testing and auditing are ONLY valid for the state in which the model was audited. If the processes (formulas) of a model change to ANY degree, the model MUST be considered invalid.

Resist the temptation to fix other people’s mistakes for their own good and our company’s good. Assign a model owner. Restrict changes to them.Quality will improve.

How to enforce this is another topic: Change Management