Who does what by when?
And some thoughts on why and how
In this edition
Who does what by when? [repost from LinkedIn]
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Who does what by when?
What probably happens when action items do not have owners or timelines? 😒
I use a simple question to ensure proper ownership and accountability for plans and action items: “who does what by when?”
A founder recently showed me a doc, and I immediately pointed out that the action items had owners but not dates. 🚩
When I was operating, I developed the habit of asking “who does what by when” whenever I saw plans and action items. It significantly improved my ability to help my team execute, and it’s now completely automatic.
It sounds simple, but building the discipline to consistently ask this takes practice, and I’ve noticed it’s not as widespread as you might think.
I further explained to the founder that:
🧩 “Who”. “what” and “[by] when” are the core primitives for executing any plan.
🎯 The strategy is the “why” underlying a plan.
🤔 Whether, and to what extent, to get into “how” to do something depends on the context, and is more of a case-by-case decision.
On the last point: it’s frequently important for leaders to “inspect” and dive into details, which is the core behaviour underlying “founder mode”. But it’s not easy to do this effectively without disempowering, discouraging or slowing down the team. That’s perhaps for another post.
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Howard Marks from Oaktree Capital is known for his notes on investment, and he recently published his first video, a pretty good primer on how to think about risk. This Business Insider article summarises it quite well.
Here are some quick tips from the CIA and FBI on clues that someone might not be telling the truth. They’re not definitive, but if you see these behaviours, it’s a pretty strong signal to at least be skeptical.