The Five-Question Resource-Placement Review

Resource placement should be reviewed when work changes, a person struggles, a system becomes fragile, or the owner becomes a bottleneck. Use five questions before changing personnel.

1. What outcome must reliably be true?

Describe an observable condition. If the result remains vague, placement cannot be evaluated fairly.

2. Who is accountable, and do they have authority?

One person should ensure the outcome is handled. They need appropriate access, decision rights, and escalation paths.

3. Are capability and capacity present?

Check knowledge, skill, experience, judgment, time, and attention separately. Training cannot fix impossible workload; extra time cannot replace required expertise.

4. How does the behavioral approach help or strain the outcome?

Use DISC as a hypothesis. Does Drive create needed movement or skipped closure? Does Connect create adoption or scattered commitments? Does Sustain create continuity or delayed challenge? Does Verify create quality or decision congestion?

5. Which complementary resource is missing?

Check people, skill, time, process, technology, information, authority, vendor, budget, and redundancy.

Then run a small test. Define what evidence should improve and when the placement will be reviewed. Avoid permanent conclusions from one difficult week or one personality result.

Across the 702it BOS, the review can reveal that the apparent person problem is actually a missing channel rule, authoritative record, automated safeguard, handoff, recovery resource, decision right, or useful measure.

Try this: Apply the five questions to one responsibility currently owned by the business owner. Identify the smallest resource that would reduce owner dependency without abandoning accountability.

Related terms: Resource placement · Outcome · Accountability · Capability · Capacity