The dictionary definition is "required to render account". If I said something would take four weeks, after fours weeks are up the person paying the bills has the right to ask me how I spent his money. By being clear and honest, our relationship can be based on trust.
Being held accountable is a good thing in a relationship. It lets you know the other person is attending to the relationship and helps keep the relationship clear. When I ask my son to show me what he did in school today, it lets him know that I care about him and what he is learning and that I will notice if he is flaking. This gives him confidence, reassurance that he matters, and purpose in his work. He also is developing an appropriate sense of pride in himself based on this relationship. The concept I hear you fearing I would label blame. The dictionary describes blame as "to hold someone at fault, to place responsibility on a person, condemnation". This is different than accountability and by definition, unpleasant. If the boss doesn't like your account, there may be consequences. If you aren't accountable, there are certain to be unpleasant consequences as soon as you are found out. Waiting around to be found out is a very unpleasant position to be working from. Kent Beck Three Rivers Institute > -----Original Message----- > From: Jeff Grigg [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 7:04 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [XP] Re: Community Agreements and Accountability > > > > > --- Ron Jeffries <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm hatching a reply to Kent regarding accountability. > > I'll try out some notions here. > > > > Basically, I'm concerned about the notion of "accounta- > bility". Maybe > > I don't know what it means. I take it to mean that one can be [...] > > /held/ accountable for doing whatever it is, [...] > > "Accountability" means that something bad happens to you if the > thing you're "accountable for" goes the wrong way. > > > > > > To Post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ad-free courtesy of objectmentor.com > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > To Post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ad-free courtesy of objectmentor.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/extremeprogramming/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
