Capacity and delegation  ·  2 min read

Pick the task. Choose the person. Write the brief. Agree the level of authority. Set the check-in. Review the result against the brief. Give the credit. Seven steps, and delegation succeeds or fails at two of them: the brief, and the review. Skip the brief and you do the task twice. Skip the review and you never delegate it again.

Seven steps of delegation: pick the task, choose the person, write the brief, agree the level, set the check-in, review the result, give the creditSeven steps of delegation1Pick thetask2Choose theperson3Write thebrief4Agree thelevel5Set thecheck-in6Review theresult7Give thecreditSteps three and six are where delegation succeeds or fails.Skip the brief and you will do the task twice. Skip the review and you will never delegate it again.
Steps three and six are where delegation succeeds or fails.
1Capacity and delegation

The seven steps

1. Pick the task. Something that would still be fine done at 70 percent of your standard. Not a crisis, not a hard conversation.

2. Choose the person. Skill and hours. Both.

3. Write the brief. Result, audience, must-haves, due date, done checks. Five lines. This is the step that gets skipped because it feels slow.

4. Agree the level. Do they decide and tell you, or recommend and you decide? Say it.

5. Set the check-in. One point, when the finished work is ready. Not a stream of questions.

6. Review the result. Compare the work with the brief. Say what matched and what did not. Within a day.

7. Give the credit. By name, where people can see it. This is what makes the person want the next task.

2Capacity and delegation

Why three and six matter most

Everything before the brief is choosing. Everything after the review is maintenance. The brief is where your standard gets transferred; the review is where it gets confirmed. Teams that do both find that delegation gets easier each round. Teams that skip them find that it never does.

How M-Tracker helps

Where M-Tracker fits

Steps three and six are what M-Tracker does for every task. The brief is written once and visible to both of you. When the person sends the work, M-Tracker compares it with the brief and writes a plain review they see first, so step six is half done before you open it. The record of briefs and reviews makes step seven easy: you can see exactly what to credit.

Try M-Tracker free14-day trial. No credit card. No employee surveillance.

How a task moves through M-Tracker: brief, work, review, improve, then the manager1BriefResult, audience,must include, due.Files and linksattached.2WorkThe person does itand attaches whatthey made.3ReviewM-Tracker comparesthe work with thebrief. One plainparagraph.4ImproveThey fix what ismissing while it isfresh.5ManagerSees work thatalready passed itsown test.No screenshots. No scores. The person sees the review first.
FAQ

Questions people ask

Can I skip step four for small tasks?

Say it anyway. It takes five seconds and prevents the most common argument.

What if the person fails step six badly?

Look at step three first. Most failed reviews trace back to a thin brief.

How many steps for a repeat task?

Two: hand it over, review it. The brief already exists.

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