We are implementing a massive ERP system that touches every department, and my leadership team wants to put a committee name or three co-owners in the ERP Implementation seat because they say one person cannot possibly understand all the workflows. How do we maintain the one-name-per-seat rule for a critical, cross-functional project?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Putting a committee or multiple names in a project seat is a recipe for missed deadlines and budget overruns. The EOS framework is clear: only one name can occupy a seat on the Accountability Chart. When everyone is responsible, nobody is responsible.

Even for a massive ERP implementation that touches every department, you must assign a single leader to the seat. This person is not expected to do all the work or understand every technical detail. Their role is to drive the project forward, manage the timeline, and hold others accountable.

Define the ERP Project Lead seat with roles like managing vendor relationships, coordinating cross-functional milestones, tracking project budget, and communicating updates.

The department heads will still be heavily involved, but they will own individual Rocks related to their specific department workflows. They report their progress to the ERP Project Lead for this initiative. If you try to run this project by committee, your implementation will drag on for years and bleed cash.