Owner
The accountable person for a metric, area, task, or experiment. Clear ownership prevents work from stalling.
Last updated: December 12, 2025
Definition
The accountable person for a metric, area, task, or experiment. Clear ownership prevents work from stalling.
More context
An owner is the accountable person who ensures something gets done (or decided). Ownership is not just responsibility—it includes authority to act within agreed boundaries.
Why it matters
Without owners, tasks and experiments become “everyone’s job”, which usually means no one does them.
How to use it
Assign owners for sub-goals, tasks, and experiments; make ownership visible in the dashboard and weekly reporting.
Common pitfalls
Shared ownership with no clear decision-maker, or assigning ownership without time/resources.
Related terms
- Growth lead — A person who centralizes and drives the growth process (e.g. monitoring OKR deployment, maintaining the cadence, and keeping the team aligned).
- Mandate — The authority to make decisions needed to remove bottlenecks (e.g. buying tools or outsourcing). Lack of mandate is a common pitfall.
- Experiment — A test designed to create learning and move a KPI. An “optimal experiment” is tied to OKRs, measurable, learning-focused, and executable within a short cycle (e.g. a week).
- KPI Definitions — A shared set of definitions for metrics like “lead” so different teams (e.g. marketing and sales) mean the same thing when they talk about numbers.