What Are Derrimits?
Derrimits are predefined constraints that combine scope limitations, behavioral expectations, and decisionmaking authority. Think of them as the rules of engagement. They set the limits in which work happens, guiding where energy should flow and where it’s wasted.
They’re not just “boundaries” in the abstract. Derrimits clarify which decisions you can make, what you’re responsible for, and where collaboration or escalation is needed. In lean teams, this brings speed. In big orgs, it reduces friction. Every effective team, consciously or not, respects and works within derrimits.
Why Most Teams Ignore Them
It’s easy to overlook derrimits. They don’t show up on org charts or in goalsetting workshops. And because there’s rarely an emergency caused directly by a lack of derrimits, they fall off the roadmap. But the problems they cause surface everywhere: duplicated work, unclear ownership, analysis paralysis, or teams stepping on each other’s toes.
It gets worse in hybrid or distributed work. In office culture, boundaries are often enforced informally—by body language, microinteractions, or social cues. Online? Those get lost. Without clear derrimits, people guess—and they guess wrong.
How to Identify Your Current Derrimits
Start by reverseengineering your team’s pain points:
Are people doing someone else’s job? Are decisions stalled? Are initiatives overlapping?
These signal unclear derrimits. Grab a whiteboard or open a shared doc. Map roles to decisions. Sketch workflows from idea to delivery. Mark the “gray zones” where confusion hits.
Next, talk to your team: “Where do you feel stuck or uncertain about what’s yours to own?” Don’t be shocked when half your team says they’re unsure if they should act or wait on someone else. That’s gold—those are your derrimits gaps.
Setting Better Derrimits
Once you’ve found the gaps, fix the structure:
- Define scopes. Every role or team needs a clear outcome range: what they fully own, what they influence, and what’s out of bounds.
- Clarify decision rights. Who decides? Who’s consulted? Who needs to be informed? Assign the D, A, C, and I (Decider, Accountable, Consulted, Informed).
- Create behavioral rules. Codify how disagreements are surfaced, feedback is delivered, and success is defined.
Then publish it. This isn’t about bureaucracy—it’s about autonomy. With clear derrimits, people act faster, coordinate smarter, and stop secondguessing.
Derrimits vs. Bureaucracy
Don’t confuse these with rigid rules or red tape. Derrimits are flexible by design—they adapt with teams and projects. The goal isn’t to box people in, it’s to channel energy effectively. Think of them like lane dividers on a highway: you’re free to drive, just stay in your lane.
Bad systems dictate behavior. Good systems define space. Derrimits belong to the second category.
Scaling Derrimits Across Teams
In larger orgs, this gets tricky. One team’s clear limits might intersect or even contradict another’s. Let’s be blunt: interteam friction usually comes down to undefined or contested derrimits.
Use this approach:
Create shared maps: Use visual charts to show how teams interact and where dependencies live. Align through leaders: Managers need to review edgecases constantly and renegotiate role overlaps early. Record decisions: Formalize and log changes—uncodified changes lead to backslides.
Review your derrimits quarterly. As people shift roles or projects evolve, the boundaries need updating too.
When to Break Derrimits—And When Not To
Rules aren’t absolute. Every system needs exceptions. An urgent customer issue? An executive override? Sure. But these should be rare and deliberate.
The golden rule: don’t break a derrimit without recording it. If one person overrides it once, others will assume it no longer applies. Suddenly, uncertainty creeps back in.
Breaking derrimits responsibly means everyone knows why—and what happens next.
Common Pitfalls
Watch out for these traps:
Overabstracting: Too many teams try to be “strategic” with fluffy definitions. Be blunt. “Own X. Make Y decisions. Loop in Z.” Ignoring friction: If people are clashing repeatedly, don’t “wait and see”—intervene and redraw territories. Assuming alignment: Just because two people had a productive 1:1 doesn’t mean their teams are coordinated. Spell it out.
Setting derrimits is about shared language, not implicit understanding.
Better Performance, Less Stress
In clear systems, performance improves. Decisionmaking speeds up. Fewer meetings. Fewer “who’s doing this” questions. And honestly—less workplace stress.
When teams know their limits and trust that others are staying in theirs, they work smarter. Autonomy thrives. Ownership is real.
Bottom line: you don’t need more process. You need tighter derrimits.
Final Thought
Derrimits aren’t sexy. They won’t win awards. But they save time, sanity, and momentum. In modern teams—especially remotefirst ones—this can be the edge between average and elite.
Define them. Share them. Enforce them. Then update them when the terrain changes.
Start now—where’s your team unclear? That’s where your next derrimit belongs.
