Where to start
Delegating a task means handing over both an action and a clear result, with permission to make agreed decisions. Someone given “Do it well” without input data must guess expectations or return for every clarification. Start with a small assignment whose completion criteria and checkpoint can be agreed.
What should accompany the task?
Hand over the result, completion criteria, deadline, input data and limits of independent decisions along with the task. Choose work the other person can perform with available support. For a first handover, a clear recurring result is more useful than a tangled project with unknown participants. Do not call it delegation when the person merely presses buttons while every decision, piece of data and check remains yours.
Describe the result in terms of the recipient’s use: what should they be able to do with the finished material? For example, choose a contractor using comparable terms. The table then serves a decision, rather than filled cells. Clarify required fields and acceptable detail; do not demand details that have no bearing on the choice.
How do you choose the person?
Consider competence, available workload and necessary permissions, rather than free time alone. Check the person’s capacity and skills. A task may be suitable but not fit into the current week. Agreeing on a deadline therefore requires a conversation rather than merely assigning a date. If file or contact access is needed, provide it through an authorized method before work begins, preserving confidentiality boundaries.
Atlassian’s Team Playbook treats roles and responsibilities as matters for explicit discussion. This practical approach helps reveal gaps and overlaps, but is not an experiment guaranteeing successful delegation. For your assignment, record who does the work, who accepts the result and whom to ask about deviations.
Working through an example
The following situation is invented for illustration; it is neither a user story nor a measurement of product effectiveness. Sergey asks an assistant to gather contractor options. He replaces “Find a good one” with “Three options with a price, timeline and portfolio link by Thursday”. The assistant may request terms, but may not enter into a contract. On Tuesday, they check whether enough input data is available.
In this illustrative assignment, Sergey does not require a final contractor choice: that decision remains his. The assistant must obtain comparable proposals. If one option lacks a timeline on Tuesday, they decide whether to request clarification or replace the candidate. This early check helps improve the material before handover without quietly expanding the assistant’s authority.
| Field | Agreement |
|---|---|
| Result | Three comparable proposals |
| Criterion | Price, timeline, portfolio |
| Authority | Request terms, but do not sign |
| Check | A draft table on Tuesday |
| Readiness | Enough data to choose |
When should you check?
Set a checkpoint before the deadline and a channel for questions instead of constantly intervening in every step. List the decisions the person may make independently. “May request a price” and “May sign a contract” are different permissions. If no answer is specified, the person will either stop or take the risk themselves. Also clarify the budget, permitted data sources and actions that require approval.
A checkpoint belongs where the direction can still be corrected without extensive rework. For a contractor table, that means the first completed options and a field check, rather than ten finished pages the day before the deadline. Check frequency depends on how unfamiliar the work is; do not turn it into a requirement to report every small action.
How should you review an error?
When an error occurs, compare the result with the agreed criterion and establish whether data, authority or skill was missing. At acceptance, compare the result with the original agreement. If a mandatory field is absent, first ask why: was the data unavailable, the criterion unclear or the action not performed? Different causes require different decisions. The general judgment “Bad work” does not help prepare the next handover.
After completion, keep a usable example and revise the assignment description where questions arose. For recurring work, this reduces repeated explanations of expectations, but does not eliminate discussion of new conditions. Delegation does not remove responsibility for the decision you make using the material received.
Checking the decision in your own situation
| Check | Agreement | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Deadline | Three proposals by Thursday | Not ten arbitrary links |
| Communication | Request prices and timelines | Do not promise a contract |
| Money | Gather terms only | Do not pay without approval |
| Check | The first two options on Tuesday | Do not wait for the whole table just before the deadline |
Before your next assignment, record the result, completion criteria, available authority and first check time. Ask the person to explain the expected result back to you and identify missing data. If the answers diverge, correct the assignment before work begins. A few clear lines are enough for a small task.
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