# The delegation brief > Outcome, limits, decision rights, resources, check-ins and what "done" means, for a person and for an AI draft assistant; the result stays yours. - Course: [From Specialist to Manager: Your First Year Leading a Team](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager.md) - Module: Delegation and the design of work - Lesson 9/32, ~23 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/the-delegation-brief ## March: more work than hands **Alex Tutor:** Where we are: February gave you weekly one-to-ones and a first hard feedback conversation with Taras. On 1 March the exam peak began, and two seasonal coordinators, Dmytro and Sofiia, joined the team. **Sofia:** And my list keeps growing: a quick-answer guide for the new two, the refund playbook, a pilot of the AI draft assistant. I can't do it all myself. **Alex Tutor:** You shouldn't. This month is about **delegation**: handing over a piece of work together with the authority it needs, while the result stays yours. **Alex Tutor:** Pin down what that word means. > **Exercise:** Which of these is **delegation** in the full sense? **Sofia:** I tried last week. I asked Maryna: "Could you handle the guide for Dmytro and Sofiia?" She said yes, then asked me four questions in the chat. **Alex Tutor:** Her questions were the brief you didn't write. How long? By when? Which topics? Can she change the policy wording? That wasn't delegation yet, only a hopeful sentence. > **Exercise:** You asked Maryna in the chat: "Could you handle the guide for Dmytro and Sofiia?" (the two new seasonal coordinators). She said yes, then asked four follow-up questions. Why? ## Six lines **Alex Tutor:** A **delegation brief** fits on half a page: the outcome and why it matters; the limits; what the person decides alone; the resources; when you'll check in; and what "done" means. **Alex Tutor:** For Maryna. Outcome: by week 3, Dmytro and Sofiia answer the five most common exam-season questions without handing them up. Limits: two pages, ready by Friday 5 March, current policies only. **Alex Tutor:** Decisions: she chooses the topics, structure and wording. Any change to a policy goes to Olha within the refund policy, to Iryna outside it. Resources: three hours off the queue this week and last month's tickets. **Alex Tutor:** Check-in: a 15-minute look at her draft on Wednesday. Done: Olha has checked the refund part, and both new coordinators have used it on real tickets. **Olha:** I can do that check. Just tell me Wednesday, not Friday at six. > **Exercise:** Match each line of Maryna's brief with the part of a delegation brief it covers. ## The result stays yours **Sofia:** If Maryna's guide has a mistake and a family gets a wrong answer, whose fault is it? **Alex Tutor:** To Iryna, yours. You chose the person, the brief and the check-in. Inside the team, you and Maryna fix it together and adjust the brief. Delegating the work doesn't delegate the accountability. **Iryna:** And I don't want to hear "Maryna made a mistake". I want "we found it on Wednesday and fixed it". **Alex Tutor:** That's why check-ins come early and short. A draft on Wednesday costs 15 minutes. A wrong answer found in April costs families. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** once a task is delegated with a clear brief, a mistake in the result is the person's responsibility, not the lead's. **Alex Tutor:** So when should the first check-in be? > **Exercise:** Maryna's guide is due on Friday 5 March. Which check-in plan fits best? ## A brief for the AI draft assistant **Sofia:** Iryna also wants the AI draft assistant piloted in the peak. Does that need a brief too? **Alex Tutor:** The same six lines, sharper limits. The assistant only drafts; a coordinator reads, edits and sends every reply. It never promises a refund or quotes a price it can't see in the account. It decides nothing. **Alex Tutor:** Outcome: faster replies on routine tickets, schedule changes and payment questions, with no rise in reopens. Check-in: read twenty sent replies each Friday. Done for the pilot: four weeks of data and the team's view. **Olha:** Bohdan will hate it. He's been answering families for ten years. **Alex Tutor:** Then ask him to help write the limits. Who knows better what a draft must never say? > **Exercise:** Which lines belong in the brief for the AI draft assistant pilot? Select all that apply. ## When the draft is off **Alex Tutor:** Wednesday. Maryna's draft covers schedule changes and package balances well. The refund section quotes last year's deadline. **Sofia:** Faster if I just rewrite that part tonight. **Alex Tutor:** Faster tonight, slower all spring. Take it back once and she learns that your briefs aren't real. Point to the current policy, let her fix it, and ask Olha to check that section first. **Alex Tutor:** It's the same lesson as the rotation in February: decision rights taken back on a busy day were never really handed over. > **Exercise:** At Wednesday's check-in, the refund section of Maryna's draft quotes last year's deadline. What do you do? ## Your turn: a brief for Bohdan **Alex Tutor:** One more hand-off. From 8 March you want Bohdan to own the video-failure tickets: a lesson lost to a video problem, and what the family gets for it. **Sofia:** He knows those better than anyone. Does he even need a brief? **Alex Tutor:** Experts need fewer instructions, not fewer agreements. He still needs to know the outcome, what he decides alone, where his limits are and when you'll look together. **Alex Tutor:** Check that idea before you write his brief. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** Bohdan knows video-failure tickets better than anyone, so a delegation brief for him would be unnecessary. **Olha:** Write the refund limit clearly. Video credits are where money leaves. > **Exercise:** Write a **delegation brief** for Bohdan: from 8 March he owns the video-failure tickets (a lesson lost to a video problem, and what the family gets for it). Cover the outcome, limits, what he decides alone, resources, check-ins and what "done" means, in 6–8 short lines. Klasna's refund policy: Olha decides exceptions within it, Iryna anything outside it. > **Key ideas** > > - **Delegation** hands over work together with the authority it needs; the accountability for the result stays with the lead. > - "Could you handle it?" is not delegation. A **delegation brief** covers six lines: outcome and why, limits, what the person decides alone, resources, check-ins, and what "done" means. > - Check in early and briefly: a 15-minute look at a Wednesday draft is cheaper than a wrong answer found weeks later. > - When a draft is off, don't take it back. Point to the gap, let the person fix it, adjust the brief. > - The same brief works for an AI draft assistant, with sharper limits: it drafts, a person checks and sends, and it decides nothing. **Alex Tutor:** Next: how much freedom to give each person, on each kind of task. - Previous lesson: [Case: Taras is fast and cuts corners](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/fast-and-cutting-corners-case.md) - Next lesson: [Levels of freedom: matching person and task](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/levels-of-freedom.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.