The “Butt On Line” Management Technique

Some things you pick up in the course of your career just stick in your head. “Butt On Line” is one of those – it maybe isn’t eloquent, or necessarily in good taste, but it is memorable.

Sometimes in management you just need to hammer home the ownership and accountability of projects, issues, or problems. Listing “owner” on a slide, or including someone’s name on a RACI chart is all well and good, but they both lack punch. Which is where Butt On Line (BOL) comes in.

I first heard this years ago, when it was the favorite of some VP back in my old company. Anytime you did a project, product, or campaign plan presentation to him, you had to list whose butt was on the line for the implementation and success of each deliverable. To keep it clear, at the top right of each deliverable slide was a little “BOL = Kevin” text box.

When you get down to it, it certainly cuts to the chase. In RACI, you may be “accountable” or “responsible” for something, but that somehow doesn’t have the “oh shit, I’d better get this done” impact of having executive management clearly tell you your “butt is on the line” it happen. It’s got that fear-for-your-job (or at least, review bonus in better times) aspect that is hard to capture otherwise.

A bit too over the top? Maybe, and certainly not something I’d advocate using everywhere. But BOL does have a certain common sense ring to it…