Owner dependency and time audit
Record what reaches you, why you are involved and what happens when you are unavailable. The time tab totals weekly and annual hours by activity.
The Business Fix · 008
Stop Being the Bottleneck in Your Own Business.
If every routine decision comes back to you, delegation has not finished.
Find the tasks and questions that still need you, then separate genuine owner judgement from missing information or authority. Give one piece of recurring work a clearer handover and test it.
£29one-off · digital toolkit · no subscription
Secure Stripe checkout. No account required.
What should change
Know what must stay with you—and what can move on.
The interruption is only part of the cost. Other people wait, you lose time for your own work and the same question returns because its cause has not changed.
By the time you finish, you should have:
- An owner-dependency map and record of where your time goes
- A delegation brief with authority, standards and escalation boundaries
- A captured process or decision rule to test on a real piece of work
The tools to start with
Decision authority map
Define who may decide, the information they need and when to escalate, so routine decisions need not automatically return to you.
Delegation brief
Define the outcome, owner, authority and expected standard, then test the handover on a real case rather than assuming it worked.
Look inside the system
See the working tools before you buy.
These graphics use the matching product cover and selected previews from the real files in Business Fix 008. They show the structure and route without exposing the complete buyer pack.
Select any image for a larger view. Preview content is intentionally limited.
Is this the right fix?
Start with the problem you recognise.
You manage people but still answer routine questions, approve small decisions or act as the only reliable source of operating knowledge.
Choose something else if...
You want to remove all owner involvement, delegate unsafe work or replace training with a document. Some decisions should remain with you.
The working method
Map dependency before you delegate.
Record the repeated questions, decisions and interruptions that reach the owner. Keep legitimate judgement with you; give routine work a named owner, authority and escalation trigger.
Worked example
A recurring approval is not delegated merely because someone else receives the task. It becomes delegable when the threshold, evidence, expected standard and escalation route are visible.
Examples show the method; they are not a promise about your business.
Included
What the working files help you do.
- Owner-dependency starting guide — Separate work that genuinely needs your judgement from work held up by missing information, authority or process.
- Owner dependency and time audit — Record what reaches you, why you are involved and what happens when you are unavailable. The time tab totals weekly and annual hours by activity.
- Second copy of the dependency and time workbook — The download also contains this identical workbook under a time-audit filename. Both copies contain both tabs; it is not a second, different tool.
- Owner-dependency decisions worksheet — Record your conclusions about delegation, decision authority and documentation, with evidence and a next action for each area.
- Decision authority map — Define who may decide, the information they need and when to escalate, so routine decisions need not automatically return to you.
- Delegation brief — Define the outcome, owner, authority and expected standard, then test the handover on a real case rather than assuming it worked.
- Process capture worksheet — Capture a task’s trigger, inputs, steps, exceptions and checks so another person has more than a verbal instruction to follow.
- Interruption cause review — Log recurring questions and separate missing information, process and authority from legitimate owner decisions. Address the cause of the interruption.
- Delegation change review — Review a handover using evidence of the work completed, not simply whether someone attempted the task.
- Owner-dependency action notes — Use the blank evidence and next-action fields to record a handover change. This file is not a pre-filled 30-day schedule.
- Owner-independence review notes — Keep a record of what changed in your involvement and the evidence behind the next keep, improve or stop decision.
Also in the download: supporting files and notes
- Bottleneck action guidance
Use frequency, time, consequence, authority and backup to choose whether work should stay with you, be delegated, documented, automated or stopped.
03-bottleneck-scorecard.txt - AI delegation-assessment prompt
Prepare a draft assessment from approved operating notes, keeping facts and unknowns separate and the final delegation decision with a person.
12-ai-automation-delegation-assessment.txt - Product cover artwork
The numbered product cover is included for identification. It is not an additional business tool.
cover-008.svg - File guide and opening instructions
Identifies the starting files and explains the order of work if the download is unpacked or separated.
README.txt
Additional blank working notes
These files share the same blank fields for facts, assumptions, owner, date, next action and evidence at review. Use them to record your own thinking on the named topic. They are not additional calculators, populated plans, scripts or software tools, even where a historic filename suggests otherwise.
- Only i should do this matrix — blank notes05-only-i-should-do-this-matrix.txt
- Decision rights matrix — blank notes07-decision-rights-matrix.txt
- Business knowledge capture — blank notes09-business-knowledge-capture.txt
- Approval threshold builder — blank notes10-approval-threshold-builder.txt
- Weekly bottleneck tracker — blank notes13-weekly-bottleneck-tracker.txt
Related Business Fixes
Keep delegated work visible through a management review, so the next action does not quietly return to your memory.
Questions before buying
Why buy this rather than use a free template or ChatGPT?
A to-do list tells someone what to do. The audit, authority map and delegation brief help explain why work returns to you and what must change before it can stay delegated. The time view gives you a basis for prioritising the next handover, not a promise of cash savings.
What does this Business Fix help me do?
Find the tasks and questions that still need you, then separate genuine owner judgement from missing information or authority. Give one piece of recurring work a clearer handover and test it.
What is included?
The main tools include Owner-dependency starting guide, Owner dependency and time audit, Second copy of the dependency and time workbook.
Is it a course?
No. These are downloadable files, not lessons or a subscription. You do the work in your own business.
When can I buy it?
It is available now through secure Stripe checkout. The listed price is the final customer price.
The Business Fix 008
Choose one dependency to remove
£29 one-off payment. Digital download. No subscription.
Unsure this is the right problem? Take the free Bottleneck Scorecard