Research in e-government success factors and barriers identifies phenomena that make an e-government initiative succeed or fail, but it does not quite answer the question: “And what shall we do about it?” Therefore, this research explores e-government success influencers in several dimensions – e-government success factors and barriers, public-private partnership, stakeholders in e-government implementation, adoption of e-services by citizens – and re-arranges the e-government success influencers into the role of active ownership of a public e-service. An active owner designates an entity being in charge of the success of the e-service throughout the lifecycle of the e-service, and being committed to the duty of being in charge. Alternatively, an active owner can be a motivated stakeholder committed to the success of the e-service. The research is based on a literature review. The paper explicates and explains the role of active ownership of a public e-service, and the main actors who claim the role, as well as motivates the qualities and tasks of the active ownership.