S3 Delegation Canvas

Overview

The S3 Delegation Canvas is a tool for negotiating and clarifying the delegation of a domain to a group of people (e.g. a team or a department) or to an individual (who can take on one or several roles).

Sections of the canvas are numbered to indicate the suggested order of moving through the canvas.

The Delegation Canvas

Each canvas is available in many different formats, so that you can print it for use in a workshop, create an online version (e.g. in Google Drive or in cnvrg), or create an offline version. See the format guide for more information.

Definitions

The delegation canvas (and this guide) uses a few terms in a rather specific way you might not be familar with, so here’s a brief explanation:

A domain is simply a distinct area of influence, activity and decision making within an organization.

Delegation is the grant of authority by one party (the delegator) to another (the delegatee) to account for a domain (i.e. to do certain things and/or to make certain decisions).

Responsibility for domains is delegated to groups or individuals, who then may do whatever they think will help them achieve their purpose, unless it is outside the domain of the organization, explicitly forbidden, they violate somebody else’s (explicit) domain, or impede other people’s contribution to the organization in some other way.

The delegator selects the delegatees and retains overall accountability for the domain.

You can find more information about domains an delegation in the introduction to the S3 Practical Guide and in the pattern Clarify and Delveop Domains

Delegation Canvas Guide

1. Purpose

What’s the primary driver and the associated requirement this team (or role keeper) is responsible for taking care of in the organization?

Why does the team/role exist?
What is the organizational need it responds to?

2. Key Responsibilities

What is the essential work and decision-making being delegated to the team (or role keeper)?

list at least the top three responsibilities
describe them in a way that enables measuring success

3. Customers and Deliverables

Whom does this team (or role keeper) deliver value to, and what specifically do they provide?

List all relevant internal and external customers who depend on, or benefit from the value provided by this team (or role keeper).
Include both customers and users (if there is a difference).
Start with a sentence or two about each deliverable, explaining what it is and why it is valuable to the customer, and then add more details if helpful.

4. Dependencies

Who is the team (or role keeper) dependent on, from other parts of the organization or the outside world, and what deliverable(s) do these people provide?

List key dependencies – the products, services, information etc. essential to the work of the team/role – both from within the organization and from the outside world. Describe who provides them, and clarify expectations about the delivery if helpful.

5. External Constraints

What are important external constraints to the team’s (or role keeper’s) autonomy and influence?

Constraints may be related to customer requirements, to the outside world, to essential stakeholders in the organization, to shared resources, to other responsibilities the members of the team or person in the role may have, or to the preference of the delegator.

6. Key Challenges

What are the most important known (or anticipated) challenges the team (or role keeper) might face?

Consider the outside world, the organization itself, the delegator and the members of the team, or person in the role. Look for risks, vulnerabilities, variables, uncertainty, complexity, and lack of skills or resources.

7. Key Resources

What are essential resources the team or role keeper can make use of?

Examples: time allocation, supply of money, privileges and permissions, facilities, hardware, software, materials, internal or external service providers, products, stock, etc.

8. Delegator Responsibilities

What responsibilities can the team (or role keeper) rely on the delegator to take care of to support them to successfully account for this domain?

Responsibilities should be specific and measurable, so they can be reviewed and developed over time.

9. Competencies, Qualities and Skills

What competencies, qualities and skills are required – or at least preferable – to successfully achieve the purpose of this domain?

Consider what you listed as Key Responsibilities, Key Deliverables and Key Challenges.

10. Key Metrics and Monitoring

What are the critical indicators of progress, performance, project health, etc, how frequently will they be measured and by whom?

Define simple and specific metrics that enable you to monitor progress and effectiveness, as well as to spot potential issues or opportunities as they arise. Specify when or how frequently key metrics will be checked, and by whom.

11. Evaluation Schedule

When and how will you evaluate the effectiveness of the domain’s design and the success of the team (or role keeper) in fulfilling the domain’s purpose?

Describe a schedule (or frequency) for evaluating the success of the team (or role keeper), the process used, and who should take part in which parts of the evaluation.

The Delegation Game

The Delegation Game is a simple and fun activity for defining and delegating a new domain, or for developing shared understanding and revealing misconceptions about an existing domain. To play, gather those delegating the domain (e.g. a manager) and those the domain is delegated to (e.g. somebody in a role or position, or the members of a team). Set a timer for 15 minutes and have each participant fill in their own copy of the canvas, then go through the canvas section by section, compare notes and agree on the details of the domain.

Examples

Here’s an example for a delegation canvas as it they might appear in a digital logbook:

Marketing Department

Downloads

printable canvas (A3 or larger, includes facilitation guide)	download pdf
canvas for visual planning tools (png, 140dpi)	plain canvas or canvas with guide or facilitation guide or canvas slide
print on A4	view online or download pdf
online version	view on Google Drive or make a copy

License

The S3 Delegation Canvas by Bernhard Bockelbrink, Lilianda David and James Priest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More information on the S3 canvas series, and versions for printing the canvas in various formats can be found at http://s3canvas.sociocracy30.org

S3 Delegation Canvas rev. 2023-12-04