Why do quotation questions reach the president on vacation?

A president takes one day off and still receives questions: Is this discount acceptable? What was promised last month? Who can approve payment? This hypothetical small-business scene may feel familiar. Employees are working, but the information and authority needed to proceed remain with the president.

Would a manual solve it? Publicly described practices at GitLab and Ryohin Keikaku offer a more specific answer.Share who decides and how work proceeds, and update both to reflect actual work.Separating these two elements helps identify work the president can delegate.

GitLab documents who makes the final decision

GitLab, which supports software development, publicly documents its operating practices in a handbook. Its 「Directly Responsible Individuals」 explains assigning a directly responsible individual, or DRI, to each project or task, with final decision authority in that area. It clarifies decision ownership, not merely task allocation.

A published example assigns feature prioritization to a product manager and delivery to an engineering manager. It separates what to build first from how to complete it. Consultation is expected, and major financial impacts or business risks may require other approvers or decision-makers.

Small companies can learn to define decision boundaries rather than add titles. If a salesperson prepares quotes but must ask the president about price, delivery, and every extra request, they are merely drafting documents. Real delegation includes what they may decide and which exceptions require consultation.

Another useful example is its handbook-first documentation approach. GitLab describes documenting the solution first, then announcing it through Slack or email. It updates the shared reference before communication, rather than hoping someone records the conversation afterward.

A small company can start by linking the current price list or procedure when announcing changes in chat. Instead of searching for something the president said yesterday, staff consult a known location. Confidential or customer information need not be public; necessary internal access is the starting point.

Ryohin Keikaku feeds frontline improvements back into MUJIGRAM

Ryohin Keikaku, operator of MUJI, in its MUJI Report 2025 discussion of store-level management introduces the store operations manual MUJIGRAM. Public materials describe using store suggestions to improve shifts, daily work scheduling, and food expiry checks, then updating MUJIGRAM to spread the methods across stores.

It also provides daily inspection standards and staffing templates, while encouraging staff to think and act independently and store managers to share issues and successful practices. These public descriptions do not mean the entire MUJIGRAM is publicly readable.

The design seeks to combine standardization and local improvement. A useful method known only to one employee can disappear when they transfer or leave. Incorporating it into shared procedures lets successors use it. A manual preserves frontline learning as well as management instructions.

These practices alone do not explain Ryohin Keikaku's results, nor GitLab's. The reference is not a promise to reproduce famous-company success, but concrete published methods for moving work and decisions from individual memory into the organization.

Start with a one-page work table, not a thick manual

Choose one recurring task that generates many questions for the president, such as quotations, billing, or customer service. The following is a small-business hypothetical; staffing and monetary thresholds should match company size and risk.

Use the table in actual cases. If the president repeatedly reverses decisions within delegated rules, staff will return to waiting for approval. When unexpected problems occur, improve missing information or standards together. Delegators must create conditions in which others can decide.

For payments and other work where error or fraud matters, separate preparation and review where appropriate. This is not a case for assigning everything to one person. Connecting orders, delivery, invoices, receipts, and bookkeeping is explained in Building an Accounting Department as well.

For IPOs and M&A, retain evidence that systems were used

Tokyo Stock Exchange's The Growth Market listing examination criteria require internal controls appropriate to scale and maturity and functioning properly. Work records demonstrate everyday use. Creating impressive rules and enabling staff to proceed confidently are separate matters to verify.

In M&A, promises held only in the president's personal email make post-transfer operations difficult to explain. Manage documents corporately, handle customers jointly with staff, and gradually transfer routine contacts. Show buyers specifically who can continue which work.

However, METI's Startup M&A Guidance also recognizes cases where continued management or key-person involvement underpins acquisition value. Even if daily work transfers, founder technology or customer relationships may remain necessary. Post-sale roles and duration require separate agreement; systems alone do not guarantee retirement on closing day.

Record questions reaching the president for one week

As a starting point, log questions for a week and classify them as missing information, missing authority, or insufficient skills. This clarifies whether to provide documents, delegate decisions, or practice together.

Then delegate the defined scope while retaining an emergency contact. Check not only fewer questions but whether response delays or missed invoices increase.Before seeking one all-purpose substitute for the president, expand the tasks others can decide one by one.This creates time for the founder's new work and a business foundation transferable to the next leader.