Stack Planning
Part of Planning a marketing technology stack
Choosing a stack owner when several teams share software
Choose a stack owner for shared marketing software by defining cross-team decisions, system owners, specialist roles and escalation paths.
Choose a stack owner by the decisions that need cross-team coordination. Give that person time, authority and an escalation route. Also name owners for individual systems: coordinating the stack does not transfer administration, data, security, privacy or contract decisions to one person.
Define the decisions first
List decisions that currently stall or fall between teams. Who weighs a new use of a shared system against other priorities? Who resolves conflicting field definitions? Who decides whether an integration is worth maintaining?
Who coordinates the business response when a connection fails during a campaign? The list shows what authority the coordinating role needs.
The stack owner may be a marketing operations lead when marketing is the main user. If a system is equally central to sales and marketing, its accountable business owner may need to sit in a shared function or have an agreed joint escalation route. Choose the role by the decisions it can make and the teams it can reach, rather than job title alone.
Assign system decisions and specialist work
Use a short responsibility record. For each important shared system, a starting point is:
| Decision or task | Suggested lead | Required input |
|---|---|---|
| Business purpose and change priorities | Accountable system owner | Teams using the system and the stack owner |
| Configuration and user administration | Named administrator | System owner and IT |
| Shared field definitions and data quality | Named data steward | Teams creating and using the data |
| Security and privacy assessment | Relevant specialist contacts | System and data owners |
| Contract and renewal coordination | Commercial contact | System owner and finance |
Adapt these roles to the organisation. Record who can approve, who must be consulted and who acts when a decision maker is away.
The stack owner coordinates across systems; a system owner remains accountable for decisions within their agreed remit. Specialist assessment and applicable approval processes still apply.
Test the arrangement with a disagreement
Suppose marketing proposes a new customer attribute for audience selection, sales uses the same record and IT maintains the connection. Ask who states the business need, who defines the field, who assesses information handling and who can approve the change. If the answer is only “the teams will discuss it”, specify who makes or escalates the decision and what evidence they need.
Try an operational exception too. If a connection fails shortly before a campaign launch, the administrator may diagnose it while the accountable business owner decides whether to delay, use an approved fallback or stop the affected activity.
The escalation route should say who contacts the supplier and who updates dependent teams. These are planning exercises, not reported incidents.
Keep ownership current
Give the stack owner a current inventory, critical workflows, system owners, specialist contacts and open decisions. Review the arrangement when a team changes, a system takes on a new purpose or an owner leaves. Name a deputy and document the handover.
A workable arrangement lets a colleague identify who coordinates, who decides, who operates and who advises on a proposed change. If those answers remain unclear, revise the decision rights before adding another shared tool.
