My business partner and I co-founded our company, and we have both been sharing the Head of Product and R&D seat for years. We make decisions together, but our development cycles are slowing down, and our engineers are getting conflicting directions. Why is this one-seat, two-people setup failing, and how do we split this responsibility without creating a rift between us?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having two names in one seat is a classic recipe for operational drag, confusion, and a lack of accountability. When two people are responsible for a seat, nobody is actually responsible. Your engineers are caught in the crossfire of your unaligned opinions, which is why your development cycles are stalling and team morale is dropping.

In EOS®, the rule is absolute: there can only be one name in each seat on the Accountability Chart. To resolve this without driving a wedge between you and your partner, you must first define the core responsibilities of the Head of Product and R&D seat. Look at the five key roles required for that seat to succeed.

Once the seat is defined, use the GWC™ framework to evaluate both of you objectively. Ask who truly has the unique ability, passion, and mental capacity to lead this function daily. If one of you is better suited for the strategic, long-term vision of technology and the other is built for execution and project management, you may need to create two distinct seats. For example, one could be the Head of Product, and the other could be a strategic technical advisor reporting to the Visionary. Whatever you decide, ensure there is only one accountable leader for each seat. This clarity will accelerate your decision-making and restore speed to your development team.