Task-doing vs. Responsibility Taking - A Subtle Distinction

The Subtle Distinction Between Task-doing and Responsibility Taking

I have been reading a book on parenthood recently (yes, tech guys also read such books :-)) and there has been a discussion about responsibility. Even when fathers devote their time to spending time with children and doing some tasks related to children and family, they may still not take responsibility for it. So you can take your children to the doctor when they are sick, bring them to school or kindergarten every day, go with them to a playground… and still not take responsibility.

How come?

Understanding Responsibility

Because responsibility is not about doing (at least in the first place), it is about having in mind what you are responsible for and taking care of it (i.e., anticipate and respond to the situation).

Common! Fuzzy? A little bit :-)

Let’s go back to the children example. You may go to the doctor because your partner told you to do it ("Honey, I have an important meeting in the morning, please go with Kate to the doctor"). This is just a task. If you accomplish it (or you can’t for some reason - for example, the doctor is not available today), you are done. Now it is again your partner’s worry. She still has to think about it. You have just done your task. To take responsibility is to think about the subject of responsibility (to have in mind).

Example: As a father, I proactively think about what to do when my child is sick (organize a medical appointment, a babysitter, or go on sick leave) and, in the longer term, remember about immunization, important dates, etc. Then you can say you take responsibility for your children’s health. It is more about thinking and being aware than doing (which is also important after all).

Responsibility in a Business Context

Ok. But what does it have in common with my team? Many leaders want folks in the team to be responsible (and what is funny, they are not able to define what it means).

In the business context, we very often use the word responsibility mostly in the context of a task. “You are responsible for this task,” which usually means: do it from the beginning to the end. But in such situations, it is much like going with a child to a doctor. It is task-doing and not responsibility-taking - for your team, process, product. Being responsible just for tasks makes folks passive, creates the illusion they have no impact on what is happening around them, that the “others” decide. And then they feel powerless, and their work becomes boring. It takes the juice of life out of you. Who likes it? Hands up!

What to Do in Real Life

• If you are a leader: Discuss with your team what “responsibility” means. Create your own definition. It is unique because of your different expectations and past experiences.
• If you are a leader: Create an environment where people are encouraged to take responsibility (and not only for task-doing): let people estimate, let people choose tasks they do (according to priorities), let people influence the way they work (through retrospectives), etc.
• If you are a team member: Suggest such a discussion in a team. Discuss the difference between task-doing and responsibility-taking and how it affects you.

Defining Responsibility

To sum up, let’s define what responsibility means when applied to different “things”:

• Task responsibility: Doing the task from the beginning to the end, anticipating problems, and proactively looking for solutions when problems arise; it is a situation when nobody else has to take care of the task (unless it is a shared task).
• Team, process responsibility: Being aware of what is happening in the team/process and proactively looking for ways to improve the way it works (yes, in my opinion, it is not only the team leader’s job); looking for ideas, improvements, experiments, insights, questions that can influence what is now.
• Product responsibility: Consciously, sometimes critically looking at a product’s evolution, looking for ideas and expressing them (and it is not only your Product Owner’s job).

To clarify: take a context into account, because sometimes you may be just a small planet at the edge of the Milky Way (let me emphasize: SOMETIMES).

(Text translated and moved from original old blog automatically by AI. May contain inaccuracies.)