Pattern 1.7

Two Budget Masters

A team reports to one person and is paid for by another, and the team follows the money.

In This Context

When teams draw their own org chart and then mark who funds them, many don’t know, and those who do often name someone other than the person they report to. That means the official leader can’t make independent financial decisions about the team. The team is then pulled between the priorities of its reporting line and those of its funder, and in practice it follows the funder’s calendar. Requests from the reporting line are agreed in principle and keep slipping.

The reporting line sets the official priorities.
The funder’s year sets the actual priorities.
Engineering leaders may not know the funding arrangement exists.

Therefore

Find out who holds the money for the team, and take the request to them, not just to the line manager (Find the Real Decider).

Consequently

Stalled work can move once the right person is negotiating for it.
But left alone, priorities conflict and the team is pulled between the two.
But fixing it may mean a negotiation between departments, not an instruction to a team.

Seen In

Chapter 12, figure “The same organization, as drawn in a workshop by an engineer in Payments Team B”.