Principle 12: Substitutable,
Non-Substitutable, Conditionally Substitutable

Summary

Not all Units of Effort are interchangeable. Some can be easily handed off (substitutable), some cannot be due to expertise, access, or context (non-substitutable), and others may depend on specific conditions being met (conditionally substitutable). This distinction helps in assigning, transferring, or designing systems involving people, tasks, or data.

 

Examples

Unit of Effort: Approve low-value PRs for office supplies

FLOW Level: FLOW A

Substitutable: Yes, any trained buyer can step in with no context loss

​

Unit of Effort: Expedite a procurement with nuanced backstory

FLOW Level: FLOW C

Substitutable: Conditionally substitutable, provided a trained buyer was briefed sufficiently

​

Unit of Effort: Awarding contract for a classified defense component

FLOW Level: FLOW S

Substitutable: No, requires clearance and specific stakeholder approval

​

Unit of Effort: Update patient contact information

FLOW Level: FLOW A

Substitutable: Yes, any front desk staff can do without issue

 

Unit of Effort: Perform complex diagnostic evaluation

FLOW Level: FLOW C

Substitutable: Conditionally substitutable, provided the records are complete and another specialist is available

 

Unit of Effort: Operate on a patient with a complex surgical history

FLOW Level: FLOW D

Substitutable: No, Surgeon familiar with case in essential

​

Quick Case Study

1. Substitutable: A buyer processes standard office supply orders. Any trained team member can handle it.

2. Non-Substitutable: A legal member handling a classified contract tied to their security clearance.

3. Conditionally Substitutable: A procurement analyst managing a special vendor relationship. Another analyst could take over if they’re given enough background and onboarding time.

 

Common Mistakes

• Assuming everything is substitutable – people treat all work as plug and play

• Treating all tasks as non-substitutable – creates artificial bottlenecks and hoards responsibility

• Not preparing for conditional substitution – fail to create documentation, transition guidance, or access pathways

• Ignoring substitutability when designing roles – roles blend too many non-substitutable tasks with substitutable ones

• Overlooking emotional or relational substitution barriers – technically someone can take over but trust issues prevent this

• No substitution map or matrix exists – Teams don’t proactively define what is substitutable and what is not, until under pressure

​

Red Flags

• A team distributes work assuming universal substitutability

• Critical tasks are assigned without validating conditional barriers (e.g., clearance, technical access)

• Systems fail when someone is out, revealing hidden non-substitutability

 

Key Diagnostic Questions

• Can someone immediately do this task with no knowledge loss?

• What would be needed for someone else to take over this task?

• Are any legal, technical, or contextual dependencies present?

• What portion of this role’s work is truly portable?

 

Local Application Prompts

• Identify 3 tasks on your plate. Label each as substitutable, non-substitutable, or conditionally substitutable.

• For any conditionally substitutable tasks, list what’s needed to make them substitutable.

• Create a substitution plan for a team member going on leave.

​

Alignment Risks

• Misclassifying non-substitutable work leads to dropped responsibilities

• Over-relying on a single person for non-substitutable work without cross training

• Burnout risk increases when conditionally substitutable tasks aren’t prepared for transfer

​

Systems Design Anchors

• Build handoff protocols for conditionally substitutable work

• Flag non-substitutable tasks for escalation or resilience planning

• Use role decomposition: break roles into substitutable/ non-substitutable/ or conditionally substitutable task sets

​

Role Implications

Leaders: Must identify hidden bottlenecks and substitution gaps

Designers: Must account for substitution friction

Operators: Should document conditionally substitutable tasks to ease eventual transfer

​