Delegation is a superpower - Caitlin Hudon, Lead Dev

This resource first appeared in issue #102 on 27 Nov 2021 and has tags Becoming A Manager: Delegation, Managing A Team: Other

It’s true! But, superpowers sometimes take some practicing to use effectively.

I personally am pretty good at the mechanics of delegating when I think to do it, but too often find myself taking on a responsibility so as not to bother anyone else with it, or because only I can do it (well, yes, if no one else gets a chance to learn how to, I guess I am the only one who can do it).

The ending year is a good time to reflect on things you’ve spent time on to see if they could usefully be given to someone else as a welcome growth opportunity. Hudon encourages us to see a task being delegatable by default:

Is this task something that only I am uniquely able to do [because of the role power of my job]? - Ok, fine, I can’t delegate it
Do I need to perform this task because of a limiting constraint (for example, you’re running out of time or only you understand the context)? - Do it this time, but start laying the groundwork to delegate it next time
Should I be the person responsible for this task, or is there someone better suited? - Delgate it