One Person DepartmentA Workable Week
Map your responsibilities before planning another busy week
Map what must keep moving, agree a simpler standard and plan a week that leaves room for interruptions and help.
The operating manual for a department of one
A whole function. One person.
Keep essential work covered within the time and support available.
When requests, routines and responsibility all reach the same desk, the answer cannot always be to fit more into the day. Work out what is essential, what can be simpler, what can wait and where you need help.
One small agreement · an example
Needs help? Ask the finance lead to decide disputed items and any change to the review date.
Handbook essentials
Get your bearings →A Useful Boundary
Agree one request queue and a clear urgent route
Give ordinary requests one visible place, agree review windows and make urgent trade-offs someone’s explicit decision.
The Backup Note
A holiday handover for a department of one
Agree essential cover, available time and authority before leave, and make the work that pauses explicit when cover is unavailable.
What needs your attention?
Choose a topic with guides ready to use.
Recent guides
The Backup Note
A holiday handover for a department of one
Agree essential cover, available time and authority before leave, and make the work that pauses explicit when cover is unavailable.
Department of One Playbook
A weekly invoice-and-purchasing routine when you also run the office
Bound the preparation and follow-up work, make missing decisions visible and keep approval authority with the people who hold it.
A Useful Boundary
Agree one request queue and a clear urgent route
Give ordinary requests one visible place, agree review windows and make urgent trade-offs someone’s explicit decision.
Department of One Playbook
Document one recurring task so someone can take it over
Write a bounded task note with authorised inputs, access, completion checks and an exception route, then try it with the person taking over.
A Workable Week
Map your responsibilities before planning another busy week
Map what must keep moving, agree a simpler standard and plan a week that leaves room for interruptions and help.