Our Operations seat has become a massive, bloated bottleneck because it oversees both software development and customer onboarding. How do we decide whether to split this into two separate seats on our Accountability Chart, and what is the best way to divide the roles?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a seat becomes too broad, the person sitting in it is forced to split their focus, which inevitably leads to one area of the business suffering. To decide if it is time to split a seat, look at your weekly Scorecard metrics and Rock completion rates. If onboarding is slipping because software bugs are taking priority, or vice versa, the seat has outgrown a single person's capacity.

To divide the seat, map out the five core roles currently assigned to Operations. You will likely find two distinct skill sets: technical execution and client facing communication. On your Accountability Chart, create two new seats reporting to the Integrator: a Head of Product Development seat and a Head of Customer Experience seat. Define five distinct roles for each.

The Product Development seat should own system architecture, software engineering, and quality assurance. The Customer Experience seat should own customer onboarding, training, and ongoing support. This split ensures that both technical development and client happiness have dedicated advocates at the leadership table, each with their own clear KPIs.

Once the seats are defined, run your current team members through the GWC filter to see who fits where, and identify if you need to recruit outside talent to fill the newly created seat.