If someone can do a task at least 70 percent as well as you can, hand it over. The 30 percent gap closes with practice, usually within a few rounds. The hour you keep by doing it yourself does not come back, and neither does the hour after that. The rule is a cure for the manager's reflex: "it's faster if I just do it."
The math behind it
You do the task: one hour, your standard, your hour gone. Same next month. They do it: two hours the first time, at about 70 percent of your standard, plus ten minutes of your review. Next month, 85 percent. The month after, 90 percent and faster. You have an hour back every month for the rest of the year.
Where people misread it
The rule does not say accept 70 percent work. It says 70 percent is the point to hand over, with a brief and a review, so the person can climb from there. The review is what moves 70 to 90. Hand over with no brief and no review, and 70 stays 70.
What to do with the 30 percent
Write it into the brief. The things you would have done that they might miss become must-haves and done checks. The gap stops being a feeling and becomes a list, and lists can be met.
Where M-Tracker fits
M-Tracker is built for the handover at 70. The task's brief holds the must-haves that close the gap. When the person sends the work, M-Tracker compares it with the brief and writes a plain review they see first, so the missing 30 percent is often fixed before you see the work. Your ten-minute review becomes a two-minute read, and the climb from 70 to 90 happens inside the task.
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Questions people ask
What if nobody can do it at 70 percent?
Delegate a piece of it, or teach it. A task only you can do is a risk to the team, not a badge.
Does the rule apply to client-facing work?
Yes, with a stronger review step before it reaches the client.
Is there a 50 percent rule?
Some use it for training tasks where the result matters less than the learning. Seventy is for real work.
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