I think for most things, it’s important to have a specific person in charge, and have that person be responsible for the success of the thing as a whole. Having someone in charge makes sure there’s a coherent vision in one person, makes a specific person accountable, and helps make sure nothing falls through the cracks because it was “someone else’s job”. When you’re in charge, everything is your job.
If no one else has taken charge, stepping up yourself can be a good idea. In my software job, I often feel this way when no one is really championing a particular feature or bug. If I want to get it done, I have to own it and push it through myself. This usually works well.
But I don’t think taking heroic responsibility for something someone else already owns is a good idea. Let them own it. Even if they aren’t winning all the time, or even if they sometimes do things you disagree with (obviously, consistent failure is a problem).
Nor do I think dropping everything to fix the system as a whole is necessarily a good idea (but it might be, if you have specific reforms in mind). Other people are already trying to fix the system; it’s not clear that you’ll do better than them. It might be better to keep nursing, and look for smaller ways to improve things locally that no one is working on yet.
I think for most things, it’s important to have a specific person in charge, and have that person be responsible for the success of the thing as a whole. Having someone in charge makes sure there’s a coherent vision in one person, makes a specific person accountable, and helps make sure nothing falls through the cracks because it was “someone else’s job”. When you’re in charge, everything is your job.
If no one else has taken charge, stepping up yourself can be a good idea. In my software job, I often feel this way when no one is really championing a particular feature or bug. If I want to get it done, I have to own it and push it through myself. This usually works well.
But I don’t think taking heroic responsibility for something someone else already owns is a good idea. Let them own it. Even if they aren’t winning all the time, or even if they sometimes do things you disagree with (obviously, consistent failure is a problem).
Nor do I think dropping everything to fix the system as a whole is necessarily a good idea (but it might be, if you have specific reforms in mind). Other people are already trying to fix the system; it’s not clear that you’ll do better than them. It might be better to keep nursing, and look for smaller ways to improve things locally that no one is working on yet.