Head of Delivery
Purpose: This is the governance chapter for the delivery system. Head of Delivery sets the bar, approves major plans, governs escalation, and owns the portfolio-level view of delivery quality.
1. What this section covers
This section defines:
- how standards are set and changed
- what Head of Delivery reviews and when
- how escalations move upward
- how rollout should be phased
- where KPI thinking belongs
2. Role in the system
Head of Delivery is accountable for:
- holding the shared standard
- approving or sending back major plans
- seeing portfolio-level risk before it becomes sponsor pain
- deciding when a miss is coaching, correction, or escalation
This role should protect the system from local drift.
2a. Linear — portfolio and hygiene
Head of Delivery uses workspace-level saved views and optional dashboards to see cross-account risk (stale work, orphans, overdue) and to enforce the hygiene bar.
- linear-day-1-guide.md — components, HoD view kit, tighter-workspace checklist
- linear-prereq-hygiene.md — when structure/label hygiene must run before trusting filters
Daily morning pulse (Cursor)
Use the hod-morning-pulse skill (.cursor/skills/hod-morning-pulse/SKILL.md): runs escalation triage first, then a Slack red-flag sweep for team communication gaps, PRM delays, document review stalls, and Linear tracking drift, then client health scorecards across active clients — a lean default for portfolio risk before sponsor pain. Say “HoD morning” or “portfolio morning brief” in Cursor, or invoke delivery-orchestrator (it routes to the same skill for those phrases). This is not the full multi-skill “comprehensive overview” stack unless you ask for it.
- Daily pulse requirements note: daily-pulse-needs-2026-04-08.md
3. Core responsibilities
Standards-setting
Head of Delivery owns the process for introducing, tightening, or retiring delivery standards.
Detailed guide:
Escalation
Head of Delivery governs the escalation path when issues can no longer be resolved cleanly at the account level.
Detailed guide:
Cadence and review
Head of Delivery reviews the system weekly, monthly, and quarterly rather than only reacting to live issues.
Detailed guide:
Rollout and implementation
Head of Delivery should phase the operating model rollout instead of changing every part of the system at once.
Detailed guide:
KPI layer
KPI design should follow doctrinal clarity, not lead it.
Placeholder:
Last updated: 2026-04-08