Owned function

A slice of the event that has exactly one name next to it, and that person knows the name is theirs. The unit an org chart is actually built from. A function is defined by what it owns rather than by what it is called, which is why “venue, check-in and signage: Marco” is a working entry and “Head of Operations” is not. One person can own several functions, and at community scale most people do. What breaks an event is not a person wearing three hats, it is a function nobody has looked at, because an unowned function is not delegated, it is still the lead organizer’s, and that gets discovered on show day.

Source: Course-coined label for a practice both major volunteer-event guides describe without naming. The DevOpsDays Organizing Guide distributes work by function rather than title, listing talk proposals, speaker communications, website, sponsorship, registration and invoicing, venue and local logistics, merchandise, and evening event as things to assign to a person or a pair. The TEDx Organizer Guide makes the same move from the other direction, saying every person on the team should be designated a role that fits their skill set, and that team members often take on more than one role depending on the size of the event.

First used in: 1.2 · The org chart: who you actually need.