From the Ask Tom mailbag –

Thumbnail from Tuesday’s post Which Manager is Accountable?

There are three roles in play.

• Product Manager
• Marketing Manager

and

• Marketing Services

The question is, which, of the two managers listed, should be the manager of the Marketing Services role? There are four questions that must be answered before making this decision. Yesterday, we looked at the first question.

• What is the level of work in each role described?

Today, the next question.

• Which manager is in the best position to bring value to the decisions made and problems solved by the Marketing Services role?

The Marketing Services role can likely handle routine problems and decisions, it’s the tough decisions that have to be made and the tough problems that have to be solved, where the right manager makes a difference. To make that decision, we have to anticipate those decisions and problems and determine which manager will bring the most value. The answer to that question is not the only factor in our selection, but it will help us understand whether the relationship between the Product Manager and the Marketing services role will be

• a managerial relationship or
• a cross-functional relationship (service getting from the marketing department)

Tomorrow, we will look at the third question in this decision. Which manager is accountable for the output (quantity, quality, within timeframe, using allocated resources) of the Marketing Services role?