We have two lead product developers who are both incredibly talented and have shared the Head of Product seat for years. It is causing confusion for the engineering team. How do we resolve this one seat, two people problem when both refuse to report to the other?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having two people in one seat is a classic organizational bottleneck. When two people share accountability, nobody is actually accountable. It leads to consensus-driven decision-making, slower execution, and ultimate confusion for the direct reports who do not know which leader to listen to.

To resolve this, you must enforce the EOS rule of having only one name in a seat. Start by looking at the Head of Product seat on your Accountability Chart. Break down the five major roles of that seat. You will likely find that the seat actually encompasses two distinct areas of focus.

For example, one area might be strategic product roadmap and user experience design, while the other is technical execution and software architecture. Split the single seat into two distinct seats with clearly defined, non-overlapping roles. One could be the Head of Product Strategy, and the other could be the Head of Technical Architecture.

Both seats can report directly to the Integrator. This keeps both developers at the same organizational level without making one report to the other.

However, if the seat cannot be cleanly split and genuinely requires a single leader, you must make a hard choice. Evaluate both individuals using the GWC tool. Determine who is the absolute best fit to lead, manage, and hold people accountable for that specific seat. The person who does not get the seat must either accept a reporting relationship or transition to an individual contributor role. You cannot let personal pride get in the way of structural clarity.