# Roles: sponsor, lead, expert, one owner per task > Who decides, who does and who is consulted in a small team where one person holds several roles, and a light responsibility table with exactly one owner per task. - Course: [Project Management Without the Bureaucracy: Run One Project from Brief to Closure](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy.md) - Module: People and stakeholders - Lesson 17/32, ~23 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/roles-and-one-owner ## Where we are **Alex Tutor:** December. The plan has dates in ranges, one buffer and a budget with reserves, and Leo knows 1 February is achievable but tight. This module is about the people who make or break that plan, starting with who decides what. **Vira:** Yesterday marketing asked me to approve the landing page text, Danylo asked me to approve the test, and Leo asked me why the tutors aren't hired yet. Am I running this project? **Alex Tutor:** No, and that question is the point. Four roles matter here. The sponsor answers for why the project exists: the goal, the money, the fixed date. That is Leo. **Alex Tutor:** The lead answers for how it gets done: the plan, the buffer, the weekly status, raising decisions. That is you. The expert answers for a quality only they can judge: Vira for the program and the tutor standard. **Alex Tutor:** And every task has one owner: the person who answers for it being finished, even when others help. > **Exercise:** Match each role in the physics launch to what it answers for. ## One person, several roles **Sofia:** But Vira also writes the curriculum and scores the demo lessons. Is she an expert or a task owner? **Alex Tutor:** Both. In a small team one person often holds several roles. That's fine as long as each hat is explicit: owner of the curriculum tasks, expert on quality, consulted on the landing page claims. **Danylo:** Same for me: I own the test, the landing page build and booking by subject. I'm only consulted on the landing page text. **Alex Tutor:** Vira and Danylo each wear several hats. A problem? > **Exercise:** **True or false:** when one person holds several roles, as Vira does (curriculum owner, quality expert, consulted on the landing page), the project needs more people before the roles can work. **Alex Tutor:** Here's the draft table someone started last week. Look for rows that will fail. > **Draft responsibility table** > > | Task | Owner | Consulted | > | --- | --- | --- | > | Outside review of the curriculum | Vira | Leo | > | Landing page text | Marketing lead and Danylo | Vira | > | Tutor contracts | The team | Hanna | > | Diagnostic test | Danylo | Vira | > | Waiting list review | | Marketing lead | > **Exercise:** Which rows of the draft table will fail? Choose all that apply. ## Exactly one name per row **Sofia:** For the landing page text, I'd pick the marketing lead. Danylo builds the page, but the words are marketing's. **Alex Tutor:** Good. And the claims about the program go to Vira before publishing: she is consulted, not a second owner. Tutor contracts go to Roman, with Hanna consulted on the money. **Danylo:** And the waiting list review on 20 December? **Alex Tutor:** The marketing lead owns it and brings the numbers; you use them for the go or adjust call. Being consulted means your view is asked before the decision, not that you can block it. > **Exercise:** Marketing and Danylo both say they "own" the landing page text, and it has not moved for a week. What fixes it? **Alex Tutor:** What does "consulted" actually give someone? > **Exercise:** Danylo is consulted on the waiting list review, which the marketing lead owns. He disagrees with how the numbers are presented. What does being consulted entitle him to? ## Who decides when roles collide **Leo:** Only six candidates have passed Vira's demo lesson so far. Let's count the two who nearly passed and get to eight. **Vira:** Nearly passed means they explained Newton's laws wrongly to a fourteen-year-old. No. **Alex Tutor:** Vira sets the quality bar; the brief made "eight tutors who passed a demo lesson" a success criterion. Changing that criterion is a sponsor decision, made in writing after hearing the expert. **Sofia:** So my job is to put the options in front of Leo: a second round of demo lessons from the contingency reserve, or opening with six and fewer learners. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. The lead brings the options and their cost; the sponsor chooses; the expert's bar is not quietly lowered. > **Exercise:** The signed brief makes "eight tutors who passed a demo lesson" a success criterion, but only six have passed the demo lesson set by Vira, the quality expert. Leo, the sponsor, wants to count two candidates who nearly passed. Who decides, and how? **Alex Tutor:** Put that decision path in order. > **Exercise:** The brief requires eight tutors who passed a demo lesson. Only six have passed Vira's bar, and Leo, the sponsor, wants to count two near misses. Put the steps to a decision in order. **Alex Tutor:** One more look at the table before you fix it. > **Exercise:** A new draft of the table lists Vira as consulted on all 17 tasks, "to be safe". What is the main problem? ## Your turn: fix the table **Alex Tutor:** Rewrite the broken rows. For each task: one owner, who does parts of the work if anyone, who is consulted, and who decides if the task's goal or deadline must change. **Danylo:** Keep it short. A table nobody reads is worse than none. **Vira:** And put me where I'm really needed, not on every row. **Sofia:** One name per row, and the others only where they add something. > **Exercise:** Rewrite three rows of the table: landing page text, tutor contracts, waiting list review. For each: one owner, who helps (if anyone), who is consulted, and who decides if its goal or deadline changes. > **Key points** > > - **Project sponsor:** why the project exists, the money, the fixed date and changes to them (Leo, in writing). > - **Project lead:** how it gets done: the plan, the buffer, the status, and bringing options to the sponsor. > - **Expert:** a quality only they can judge (Vira: the program and the tutor bar). The bar isn't lowered quietly. > - **Task owner:** exactly one name per task. Two owners, "the team" or an empty cell means nobody. > - In a small team one person holds several roles; name each one. "Consulted" means asked before the decision, not a veto. **Alex Tutor:** Next time: the people outside this table. Who can stop the project, who can help it, and how to move them without any authority over them. - Previous lesson: [Case: estimates versus actuals](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/estimates-vs-actuals-case.md) - Next lesson: [The stakeholder map and influence without authority](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/stakeholder-map.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.