Job description: what it is and what it means

A job description is a document that, for each role in the company, specifies expected objectives, recurring activities, permitted autonomous decisions, performance indicators and interfaces with other roles. It is not an administrative description: it is an operating agreement that tells the person in the role what is expected of them and tells their manager how to measure their contribution. Defined roles reduce overlap conflicts, speed up operational decisions and make uncovered areas visible. In a growing company, building job descriptions for the key roles is often the first intervention that has an immediate effect on efficiency. The lack of defined roles is one of the main causes of decisions being centralized on the business owner.

Distinctive: permitted autonomous decisions
Distinctive: operating agreement
Essential: expected objectives
Essential: recurring activities
Essential: performance indicators
Essential: interfaces with other roles
Constant: make uncovered areas visible
Constant: reduce overlap conflicts

Glossary

Job description

A document that, for each role in the company, specifies expected objectives, recurring activities, permitted autonomous decisions, performance indicators and interfaces with other roles.