I agree that criticizing in private creates a situation where group accountability is lost. It's not that Ted is accountable to the Boss (or by proxy, the organ

I agree that criticizing in private creates a situation where group accountability is lost. It's not that Ted is accountable to the Boss (or by proxy, the organization) but primarily to the team. This is why we tend to not have individual deadlines but self organizing teams that commit to deadlines, and then the team is collectively on the hook for something. That said, sometimes it's obvious when someone messes up, and it should be the team that provides accountability and support to help. It's not that everyone in the team should nag Ted but that anyone should be able to go "Hey Ted, we said that we were gonna have those copy changes pushed to the website by 5p, and it's 3p and I haven't seen the commits yet. Do you need some help?" If Ted says "No, I got this" and then misses the 5p, it's up to the team to figure out what happened. Was it Ted slacking off, in over his head? Or did Bob break the build so it was all-hands trying to fix it? And, it shouldn't be "found out" in a meeting a couple of days later. Close the feedback loop as soon as possible and that'll ensure it won't get out of control.