CSO — project ownership guide
Purpose: Clarify that the CSO is the single owner of client success and of the project plan narrative through Head of Delivery approval. Service Leads inform and sign off technically but are not the primary presenter in the Project Review Meeting.
What “single owner” means
- The CSO can answer “what are we delivering, by when, and why it matters to the business” without deferring entirely to engineering in the room.
- The CSO drives the client-facing story; the SL validates feasibility, stack, and effort before the plan is presented for approval.
- If the client is unhappy, CSO is first accountable to internal leadership—not the SL alone.
Collaboration with Service Lead (order flexible)
- CSO drafts initiatives / milestones from SOW → SL validates dates and technical approach → CSO presents at Project Review Meeting.
- SL drafts technical approach → CSO sequences client outcomes and milestones → joint sign-off on sow-project-plan-template.md → CSO presents.
Rule: Head of Delivery expects a coherent, defensible document, not a draft that still needs SL to explain basics.
After approval
- CSO ensures Linear reflects approved initiatives, projects, milestones, and issues.
- CSO owns client communication of timeline changes; SL owns technical execution to hit dates.
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Last updated: 2026-03-23