This made me giggle a little. But really, almost every roommate situation I’ve been in has been like this, even if we don’t discuss, someone is a dust/sweep/vacuum person or a dishes/windows/plants person, and everyone just does their chores like the CEO of said combo
A similar work-jargon-for-home-use example I like is “own the goal” which is more about sub-task delegation.
My family was on vacation and my parents told my brother to go shopping for groceries but then kept quizzing him on what are you going get and why this and why that. He was in business school and insisted that they let him own the goal, not the implementation.
The goal is buy groceries so that we have plenty of good healthy snacks, or get all required ingredients for the special dish or whatever. The person delegating the task (parents) gets to set the goal. But if the goal is generic healthy snacks, now the delegator no longer rules. The delegate (brother) owns the goal and chooses his own implementation. If the delegator thinks the delegate is going down the wrong path (don’t go to that grocery store, they never have all the stuff we need) that’s not welcome feedback, it’s unhelpful micromanagement.
Eve Rodsky who wrote Fair Play has this suggestion for household management too. That someone should be responsible from the beginning to the end and that it reduces conflict. She also has a system of cards that a couple (of more) people can play about what household aspects they will take ownership of.
Yeah this sounds like a great idea. I think the cards probably makes clear how many individual things there are, too. (Though some jobs are bigger than others)
Household RACI matrix when?
This made me giggle a little. But really, almost every roommate situation I’ve been in has been like this, even if we don’t discuss, someone is a dust/sweep/vacuum person or a dishes/windows/plants person, and everyone just does their chores like the CEO of said combo
A similar work-jargon-for-home-use example I like is “own the goal” which is more about sub-task delegation.
My family was on vacation and my parents told my brother to go shopping for groceries but then kept quizzing him on what are you going get and why this and why that. He was in business school and insisted that they let him own the goal, not the implementation.
The goal is buy groceries so that we have plenty of good healthy snacks, or get all required ingredients for the special dish or whatever. The person delegating the task (parents) gets to set the goal. But if the goal is generic healthy snacks, now the delegator no longer rules. The delegate (brother) owns the goal and chooses his own implementation. If the delegator thinks the delegate is going down the wrong path (don’t go to that grocery store, they never have all the stuff we need) that’s not welcome feedback, it’s unhelpful micromanagement.
I find myself coming back to this a lot.
Yes this sounds about how I see it.
Eve Rodsky who wrote Fair Play has this suggestion for household management too. That someone should be responsible from the beginning to the end and that it reduces conflict. She also has a system of cards that a couple (of more) people can play about what household aspects they will take ownership of.
Yeah this sounds like a great idea. I think the cards probably makes clear how many individual things there are, too. (Though some jobs are bigger than others)
Nice framing! I sent to the wife immediately