If CBC is going to take root, it won’t start in an all-hands or a company-wide rollout. It starts in the most basic unit of leadership: the 1-1 with a direct report. This is where you sell the idea, set expectations, and model the discipline. If you can’t get one person to commit to a clear agreement, don’t bother fantasizing about an organization-wide transformation.

Why Start in 1-1s

• Low noise, high signal: No committees, no politics, just you and one report.
• Safe trial ground: One project, one contract, one outcome. Low stakes, high learning.
• Relationship-level buy-in: People don’t adopt new systems because of a slide deck. They adopt because their manager makes it real.

How to Frame CBC in the Conversation

• Position it as protection, not policing: “This keeps us both from getting blindsided.”
• Highlight symmetry: CBC isn’t top-down. You commit to clarity, they commit to results.
• Contrast it with the usual nonsense:
  • OKRs: “Lofty goals that float around until they’re re-scoped mid-quarter.”
  • KPIs: “Metrics slapped on after the fact to justify what already happened.”
  • CBC: “We agree in advance on what matters, how it’ll be measured, and who’s on the hook.”

What to Emphasize

• Agreement before action: No work starts until both parties are clear and aligned.
• Named ownership: No “the team.” If it’s your report, their name is on the line.
• Success criteria upfront: Define “done” before starting, not during the retro.
• Dependencies visible: If they need design, infra, or approvals, it gets named in the contract.

Example: 1-1 in a Midsize Tech Company

You’ve got a product manager who’s been drifting for months under vague OKRs like “Improve onboarding funnel.” Half the quarter is gone, and all you’ve got are half-baked Figma mocks.

Instead of another pep talk, you sit down and draft a CBC Agreement together:

• Objective: Reduce drop-off at onboarding by 15% in 60 days.
• Deliverables: Two tested flows shipped to production.
• Accountability: Jane, the PM, owns delivery; you commit to unblocking her dependencies on design and engineering.
• Dependencies: Design mocks due by week 2, engineering capacity locked by week 3.
• Success Criteria: Measured drop-off reduction in Mixpanel, confirmed by analytics team.

Now there’s no place for drift. Either the flows ship and numbers move, or they don’t. No vague OKR scoreboard, no KPI hand-waving — just execution against a contract.

Takeaway

CBC in a 1-1 is the sharpest antidote to the fuzzy accountability that plagues modern tech. Skip the aspirational goal-setting theater: make a clear agreement, get it signed, and watch how much faster execution discipline shows up.