We are outsourcing our entire software development department to an agency in South America, but we need someone to own the output. How do we represent this outsourced engineering team and their agency manager on our internal Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

One of the biggest mistakes owners make is omitting outsourced partners from their Accountability Chart. If an external group is performing a core business function, they must be represented on the chart. However, you cannot hold an outside agency directly accountable using standard internal management tools. You must have an internal seat that owns the relationship and the output.

To structure this, create a software development seat on your Accountability Chart. Inside this box, you will put the name of the internal leader who is ultimately responsible for the results of the outsourcing agency. This might be your Product Director or a dedicated Technical Project Manager. Below this internal seat, you can draw a box representing the outsourced agency manager, clearly labeling it with the agency name.

The internal leader in your organization must have the Get It, Want It, and Capacity™ to manage external vendors. Their five roles must include vendor management, quality assurance, and integration of deliverables. They are the single point of accountability for the agency's performance.

If the agency fails to deliver, it is the internal leader who must stand in front of the leadership team during your Level 10 Meeting™ and own the issue. This structure ensures that you never have a gap in accountability. It also prevents your internal team from pointing fingers at an external vendor, because your internal leader is the one responsible for managing that vendor to success.