Its owner holds full responsibility — they're the one expected to make it happen, covering everything the area needs, named or not. They hold qualified autonomy: they decide how, but their manager can step in, because the manager retains responsibility for ensuring it happens. That's why every delegated circle shows both an R and an M — both hold a kind of responsibility. The structure cascades: every manager is in the founder position relative to their directs, in an unbroken chain from the board down.
"…and anything else not delegated" isn't a formality — it's load-bearing. When something falls between the cracks, it flows back to whoever holds the residual. It's why managers feel like they're doing everything, and why delegating whole slices well is so freeing: it shrinks the residual.
For any responsibility, the direct sits somewhere on a six-rung ladder, from "asks what to do" up to "handles it without telling you". There are always two views of where they sit — the manager's and the direct's. Synced when they match; the classic pathologies (feeling micromanaged, a blindsided manager, over-checking-in) are all sync failures. The goal isn't maximum rungs everywhere: as you top out a ladder, you take on harder tasks and start lower again. That's the system working.
Job 1: make the responsibility go well — and be thoughtful and generative about it, because you're now the person thinking about this the most. Job 2: keep your manager accurately bought-in. If the captain doesn't know the ship is seaworthy, they have to come down and check the hull.
The ⌖ marks are explicit autonomy settings — approval thresholds, boundary conditions, escalation rules ("capex over £20k needs a recommendation first"). They're the operating-point tools from the Job 2 toolkit: negotiated seams in an otherwise-owned area, and the surgical alternative to blanket restriction.
long-term owner attached to a domain — the primary way you scale. long-term helper attached to a person (Chief of Staff, ExA). long-term flex attached to neither — a skill that moves. non-staff specialist contractors and agencies you aren't bringing in culturally: the shipwrights on the dock, who help you prepare but aren't coming on the voyage.