Well, the Japanese (at least at the “old-fashioned” company I worked for) are big on making sure that every action item has a person responsible, along with dates of milestones.
Their basic philosophy is “QCD,” which stands for “Quality, Cost, Delivery.”
I think it actually was popularized by W. Edwards Deming, but it is likely older. Much of the stuff he introduced was regurgitated older techniques.
“Quality” isn’t just about “is it good?”.
It’s about how is the result measured? What are the measurement points? What are the units? What is the required bar? Etc.
“Cost” is not just dollars (or Yen). It’s also man-hours, resources required, impact on/coordination with other projects, legal liability, risk assessment, etc.
“Delivery” is what is to be delivered, and when? Accepting the delivery requires that it conform to the goals in “Quality.”
Every action item has a person assigned, and they always need to be able to do a QCD report of their charge, at any time.
They leave you alone, but the flip side of that, is that you are expected to be self-sufficient, and personally invested in/accountable for the task. If you drop the ball, you will be replaced.
Frankly, it’s a pain in the ass, but stuff doesn’t fall through the cracks.
Can you tell us more about it? Perhaps give some examples?
I'm wondering how this situation would've played out under Japanese Corporate Personal Accountability culture.