We have two highly competent co-founders who want to share the Head of Product seat on our Accountability Chart. They argue that their skills are perfectly complementary and that they make decisions faster when they work together. Can we put both of their names in this single seat, or does this violate EOS principles?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having two names in one seat is a violation of core EOS principles. When two people are accountable, nobody is accountable. If a major product release is delayed, or if a critical bug slips through to production, who do you hold responsible? If you have two names in the seat, they will inevitably point fingers at each other, or the rest of the team will be confused about who has the final say.

To resolve this, you must split the responsibilities and create two distinct seats, or choose one person to own the Head of Product seat.

Look at the actual roles required to run your product development. One co-founder might be better suited for the strategic product roadmap and user research, while the other is better at managing the engineering team and delivery. If that is the case, create a Product Strategy seat and a Product Delivery seat. One reports to the other, or both report to the Integrator.

If they truly cannot be separated structurally, then you must make a hard decision and place only one name in the Head of Product seat. The other co-founder must step out of that seat and focus on another area of the business where they GWC the roles.