Unit 7 — Roles & Responsibilities: Linking People to Flow

Unit ID: FO-FND-07
Estimated Time: 90–150 minutes
Delivery Mode: Self-Guided or Catalyst-Led
Applies To: Founders, operators, managers, team leads, process owners
Prerequisites: Completion of Unit 4 (Simple Workflow) and Unit 6 (Data by Design)

Unit Purpose and Role in FlowOps

Unit 7 answers a critical question:

“Who is accountable for making this flow work — and what exactly are they responsible for?”

Up to this point, FlowOps has focused on structure:

Processes
Handoffs
Workflows
Data

Without explicit role definition, that structure collapses under real-world conditions. People improvise, overlap, or disengage — not because they are unwilling, but because expectations are unclear.

This unit establishes role clarity in service of flow, not hierarchy or job titles.

Why Role Clarity Is an Operational Issue (Not an HR One)

Many organizations treat roles and responsibilities as:

Job descriptions
Performance review criteria
Organizational charts

FlowOps treats roles as operational contracts.

Poor role clarity causes:

Work to stall while people wait
Duplication of effort
Unclear escalation
Informal decision-making

This unit prevents process ownership from dissolving into ambiguity.

1. What This Unit Solves

The Problem It Addresses

When roles are unclear, teams experience:

“I thought someone else was doing that”
Tasks bouncing between people
Decisions made too late or too early
Managers pulled into avoidable issues

These are not communication problems — they are role design failures.

Why This Appears at This Point in FlowOps

Role clarity must follow:

Defined processes
Designed handoffs
Structured workflows
Intentional data

Defining roles before flow leads to abstraction. Defining roles after flow leads to precision.

2. The Standard: What a Role Is (and Is Not)

What This Section Defines

This section defines how FlowOps uses the term role.

A role is:

A defined set of responsibilities tied to one or more points in the flow.

A role is not:

A person
A job title
A hierarchy marker

One person may hold multiple roles. One role may be held by multiple people.

Role Design Principles

Good roles are:

Flow-anchored
Outcome-oriented
Explicitly bounded

If a responsibility cannot be tied to a point in the workflow, it does not belong in the role definition.

3. Role Types in FlowOps

Why Role Types Matter

Not all responsibilities are the same. FlowOps distinguishes role types to prevent overload and confusion.

3.1 Process Owner

What It Is
The person accountable for the health, clarity, and improvement of a process or workflow.

Responsibilities

Maintain definitions
Propose improvements
Ensure handoff integrity

What They Do Not Own

Day-to-day execution

3.2 Stage Owner

What It Is
The person responsible for work execution within a specific stage.

Responsibilities

Ensure work meets acceptance criteria
Manage local priorities
Surface issues

3.3 Decision Owner

What It Is
The person authorized to make specific decisions or resolve defined exceptions.

Responsibilities

Timely decisions
Consistent application of rules

3.4 Data Owner

What It Is
The person accountable for data accuracy and integrity at specific points in the flow.

Why This Separation Matters

When these responsibilities are combined without intent:

Process improvement stalls
Decisions bottleneck
Data quality erodes

Clear separation enables scale.

4. Defining Responsibilities by Flow Point

Purpose of This Section

This section teaches how to assign responsibilities at specific points in the workflow, not broadly.

Mapping Roles to the Workflow

For each stage and handoff:

Identify the accountable role
Define what “done” means for that role
Clarify escalation boundaries

This creates clarity without micromanagement.

Avoiding Responsibility Creep

Responsibilities must be:

Explicit
Limited
Reviewable

Unbounded roles become dumping grounds.

5. Authority, Accountability, and Escalation

Why Authority Must Be Defined

Responsibility without authority creates frustration. Authority without responsibility creates risk.

This section ensures roles have:

Clear decision rights
Defined escalation paths
Boundaries

Escalation Design

Escalation should:

Be predictable
Resolve decisions
Surface systemic issues

Escalation is not failure — it is a control mechanism.

6. Coverage and Continuity

Why Coverage Matters

Flow cannot stop because one person is unavailable.

This section addresses:

Backup roles
Temporary reassignment
Knowledge continuity

Coverage should be planned, not improvised.

7. Outputs of Unit 7

By the end of this unit, the organization must have:

Defined process owners
Stage-level responsibility assignments
Decision authority mapped
Escalation paths documented
Coverage plans identified

Without these, flow depends on individuals instead of structure.

8. Governance

Ownership

The workflow owner governs role definitions.

Review Cadence

Review roles:

When workflows change
When bottlenecks appear
When exceptions repeat

9. Common Failure Modes

Treating roles as job descriptions
Assigning too many responsibilities to one role
Leaving authority undefined
Relying on “everyone knows”

Clarity must be explicit to be reliable.

10. Catalyst-Led Option

Catalyst may:

Facilitate role-mapping sessions
Normalize accountability
Reduce role overload
Align roles to flow maturity

Catalyst’s role is to remove ambiguity, not create bureaucracy.

11. Completion Criteria

Unit 7 is complete only when:

Roles are tied to workflow stages
Responsibilities are explicit
Authority and escalation are defined
Coverage is planned

Do not proceed until these conditions are met.

COPY-PASTE ROLE MAPPING TEMPLATE

(Word / Docs friendly)

Workflow Name: __________________________
Workflow Owner: __________________________

Workflow Stage	Role Name	Responsibility	Authority / Decisions	Escalation Path

Coverage / Backup Roles:

Last Reviewed: __________________________