A defense technique against "Can you do that too? ❤️"
Introduction
When you’re at work, you may find tasks suddenly piling up that you didn’t originally have. Sometimes it’s simply because the person who used to handle them quit and you automatically took them on, and other times it’s because you were promoted and your responsibilities changed. In fast-growing companies, new tasks often emerge naturally as the business expands.
In organizations that exceed a Dunbar’s Number "village" or "tribe" size, job requirements tend to be well defined, and the difference in what Team A versus Team B does may be minimal. But in (Tokyo) IT companies—which are said to have more "players" than ramen shops—teams are often small, making it unclear who should pick up stray balls.
Sometimes stepping up to catch the harder balls can boost your standing internally, so it’s not all bad—but it can get overwhelming. You pick up the tasks from the person who left, then you absorb work that strays from your core responsibilities on a new project…and before you know it, you think, "Don’t I already have enough on my plate?"
That’s when you might want to gather your colleagues and try Job Description Poker. I had this idea recently, so here’s a draft proposal.
What Is Delegation Poker?
Job Description Poker is a variant of Delegation Poker, so let’s start with the original game.
Delegation Poker is a tool for managers and team members to granularly agree on decision-making authority. You break work down into seven categories:
- Tell: I will tell them
- Sell: I will try to sell the idea to them
- Consult: I will consult with them and then decide
- Agree: We will decide together
- Advise: I will advise, but they will decide
- Inquire: I will check in after they decide
- Delegate: I will fully delegate
Level 1 means no delegation; Level 7 means full delegation. As you move from "manager decides and tells" toward "manager trusts and lets go," Level 4 (Agree) is the equilibrium point. Then you move to "just report back afterward," and eventually reach "it’s all yours."
This tool is from Management 3.0 and is typically used to clarify authority between two people in a direct reporting relationship.
Playing Job Description Poker Between Overlapping Roles
What struck me about Delegation Poker is its focus on authority. But you could extend the same idea to decide who picks up which tasks between overlapping roles.
It could be between Sales and PM, or PM and EM. Maybe even between EM and Tech Lead.
My proposal is to expand Delegation Poker into Job Description Poker for roles whose responsibilities overlap.
Here’s how the seven levels might translate. If it feels too granular, you could reduce them to five or even three levels.
- A-Only: A makes the decision entirely. No proactive report to B.
- A-Decides, B-Informed: A decides and then reports to B.
- A-Drafts, B-Consulted: A creates the draft, consults B, then A finalizes.
- A & B Decide Together: A and B discuss equally and decide.
- B-Drafts, A-Consulted: B creates the draft, consults A, then B finalizes.
- B-Decides, A-Informed: B decides and then reports to A.
- B-Only: B makes the decision entirely. No proactive report to A.
With Delegation Poker you often use physical cards and summarize results on a delegation board. For Job Description Poker, you could map the outcomes to a Kanban board or a simple spreadsheet.
Elevating the Job Description Board to a Job Posting
A Job Description Board does more than just sort who catches which balls.
When you visualize the hand-offs between the same roles across different teams, you start to see company-wide patterns. You might discover, "Our team’s A handles this task, but overall B handles it elsewhere—maybe we should align."
In organizations with a lot of overlap, new hires often face surprise duties. If you create too many custom roles unique to your company, you’ll struggle to attract applicants. By clarifying tasks through this process, you can refine your job postings and make them both accurate and sustainable.
Conclusion
I’ve outlined a method for preventing your scope of work from continuously expanding when others are available to catch those stray balls.
If there really is no one else to pick up the slack, your options include leveraging SaaS tools or building in-house systems to lighten the load, or hiring consultants or freelancers. But at a fundamental level, the only true solution is to hire someone at the same level.
