Roles and Time

The COE uses a tiered time model. Not every cohort member commits the same amount. Different tiers do different work.

The three tiers

Core owner — ~50% of their time, during an active cycle

The person or people who drive the cohort. Usually one to three per cohort.

What they do:

  • Own the workflow being worked on. They are either doing it today or directly responsible for it.
  • Lead the mapping, the decisions about what to test, and what gets kept or killed.
  • Work alongside the COE through the full cycle.
  • Present at the monthly readout.
  • Move into alumni status when the cycle ends.

Why 50%, not 20%. A cohort cycle is four to six weeks. During that window, the work is real and the depth matters. Protected time at this level is what makes the difference between "we ran a workshop" and "we shipped a change to how product data flows."

After the cycle. Core owners move into the alumni ring. They stay available for office hours, coach the next cohort's core owners, and carry the learning back into their day job. Not 50% anymore — back to whatever their regular role demands.

Participant — ~20% of their time, during an active cycle

The people who contribute specific workflow knowledge, test what gets built, and help extend the pattern. Usually two to four per cohort.

What they do:

  • Bring the day-to-day experience of the workflow from a specific angle (producer, consumer, adjacent team).
  • Show up for working sessions and office hours.
  • Test prototypes and give feedback.
  • Help recruit the next cohort from their ring.

Why 20%. A full day a week is enough to stay in the loop, contribute real knowledge, and use what gets built. More than that and it starts competing with their actual job. Less than that and they fall out of rhythm.

Adjacent ring — ~5% of their time

Colleagues in the broader workflow who use what the cohort produces and coach back into their teams.

What they do:

  • Use the skills, playbooks, and prototypes the cohort ships.
  • Book office hours when they hit friction.
  • Bring ideas to intake from their own teams.
  • Move into participant or core owner status in a later cohort if the fit is there.

Why 5%. This is office hours and passive consumption, not active contribution. It's how the ring around each cohort stays warm and how the work reaches more than just the six people in the cycle.

What the cohort looks like in practice

For a typical cohort:

  • 2 core owners at ~50% — drivers
  • 3 participants at ~20% — workflow contributors
  • 5–10 in the adjacent ring at ~5% — office hours, testing, coaching

Total structured time across the cohort: roughly one FTE of capacity, plus the ring. Enough to move the work. Not so much that it breaks people's other jobs.

The numbers are guidelines, not rules. A cohort might have one core owner at 70% and two participants at 30%. Or three core owners at 40% each. The principle is: deeper for fewer, lighter for more.

Sponsor roles

Executive sponsor (Claire)

  • Decides what workflows matter now.
  • Ensures cohort members have protected time.
  • Clears cross-functional blockers when the work surfaces them.
  • Weekly 30-minute sync with Goose Group.

Technology sponsor (France)

  • Aligns COE work with the AI Council and pod reality.
  • Secures access to systems, tools, and technical context for cohorts.
  • Reserves a practical path into engineering capacity for COE-validated work.
  • Weekly 30-minute sync with Goose Group (often combined with Claire's).

Cohort sponsor (per cohort)

  • The business leader closest to the workflow being worked on.
  • Agrees cohort scope and roster with the COE.
  • Attends the monthly readout.
  • Accountable for what the cohort's alumni do after the cycle.

Goose Group roles

Mike Joyce

  • Primary pen on strategy, briefs, and technical decisions.
  • Builds and prototypes hands-on during cycles.
  • Connective tissue across Balsam's broader AI landscape during the founding period (see governance.md for the sunset plan).

Alex Finnemore

  • Primary driver of cohort operation, cycle rhythm, and Operating Council relationship.
  • Lead on intake process and cohort selection.
  • Lead on external build partner relationships when cohort work needs delivery capacity.

Broader Goose Group expertise

Pascal Staud (marketing strategy, brand, creative operations) is available for specific engagements where his background applies. Any involvement with Karima's marketing function runs as a parallel engagement, not inside the COE.

Internal long-term owner

Not named yet. By Month 3–4, a candidate will have emerged from cohort participation. The criteria: someone with credibility across functions, the time to take it on, and the curiosity to keep the program sharp. Goose Group flags candidates as we see them. Claire and France make the call.