Role

A role is a piece of recurring work an organization expects someone to do, written down so that anyone can hold it. It has a name, a purpose that says why the work exists, accountabilities that list the ongoing activities other roles count on, and sometimes a domain it decides on alone. One person usually holds several roles and can hand one over without changing job title. In Role Based Management (RBM), a team organizes itself around these roles rather than around positions in a hierarchy.

Once every role's responsibilities are written down, everyone can see the work the team's objectives depend on. Members take on the roles that match their skills, so they get more involved. The purpose, the accountabilities and the domain each have their own writing rules. Follow them to define roles that still match the work six months later.

Each member answers for their own area of work, so they make the decisions in it and take the initiative on their tasks without asking for approval.

Roles change as the organization's needs change. The team amends, splits or archives a role as soon as someone feels a tension about it. A role and a job description answer two different needs. The job description serves the contract and the hiring process, while the role describes the work as it is actually done.