A Framework for Delegation

As entrepreneurs, product managers, and leaders, we are always challenged with the near-impossible task of getting ourselves to scale. There’s never enough time in the day to do everything we want or need to achieve. We get more leverage ourselves when we can delegate.

As you become more senior and as your scope and organization grows, the need to delegate to your team becomes even more important. In addition to scaling your time, delegation also serves the important role of developing and motivating your team.

You don’t need a big team of direct reports in order to delegate though. Sometimes it’s about delegating to cross-functional teammates. As a product manager, you are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of your product. So you are responsible for making sure that everything gets done. Although you don’t directly manage the engineers and designers (and product marketers, legal or security analysts, etc.) on your product team, you are often faced with a choice of whether to do a task yourself or delegate to your teammates.

So I was recently asked the question, “When should you delegate to someone else?” As I reflected upon this question, I came up with a framework for When to Delegate that is based on two things:

1. Task Importance/Urgency
2. Individual Readiness (Skill/Will)

The decision about when to delegate is situation-dependent, and is a function of Task Importance/Urgency and Individual Readiness. Let me first discuss these factors, then I’ll share the framework.

Task Importance/Urgency

Every time you’re thinking of delegating a task, you need to consider how important and urgent the task is. This will tell you how much you can afford missteps along the way, how much time you have for coaching and mentoring others, and how much you can tolerate a failure.

If something is critically important, in general you will want to avoid delegating it to someone else. These are the kind of things that can change the shape of the growth curve (either positively or negatively) for a growing startup, for example. Fundraising, executive hiring, PR crises, strategic partnerships, etc. tend to be the kind of things that are critically important to get right. They are also the kind of things where you don’t have much time to decide and act.

If something is really important and you don’t have much time, you will generally want to avoid delegating it to someone else.

The Task Importance / Urgency will differ for individuals in an org. What the CEO considers less important / urgent for herself may turn out to be very important / urgent for someone lower down in the org.

Individual Readiness (Skill/Will)

In addition to the Task Importance / Urgency, the other thing you want to consider is the Individual Readiness of the person to whom you are thinking of delegating the task. How ready is the individual to execute on the delegated task, both from the standpoint of qualifications (“Skill”) and motivation (“Will”)?

You are more likely to be able to delegate the task with a higher certainty of success (and less coaching and mentoring) when the individual is already qualified to do the task (high Skill) and highly motivated (high Will).

There may be cases where someone is not yet qualified (low/med Skill), but they are highly motivated to learn (high Will). These are great development opportunities for the individual to whom you will delegate, but may require additional coaching and mentoring from you in order to achieve success. Whether it makes sense to delegate to the individual will also depend on the Task Importance / Urgency (see framework below).

Framework on When to Delegate

Let’s discuss each of the four quadrants of the framework.

Low Task Importance/Urgency, High Individual Readiness (Skill/Will)

This is the best situation for you to delegate. You have a task where it’s not critically important or super time-sensitive, so you can afford missteps and have the time to course-correct and offer coaching. And the individual to whom you will be delegating to is highly qualified and motivated, so you have higher confidence that the task will get done successfully. By delegating these tasks, you can focus more of your attention on the more important and urgent activities on your plate that only you can tackle.

High Task Importance/Urgency, High Individual Readiness (Skill/Will)

In these situations, you want to delegate and monitor. Although the individual is highly skilled and motivated, because of the importance and urgency of the task, you want to stay close to it and monitor. You can jump in and provide direct assistance if the individual to whom you’re delegating gets stuck, goes off-course, or gets frustrated. Delegating these tasks can be motivating to individuals on your team, especially if they recognize the trust you’re placing in them by giving them an important or urgent task. You should clarify the importance of the task, and advise them to reach out for help if they need it. And because of the importance, you need to monitor closely and jump in directly if necessary.

Low Task Importance/Urgency, Low Individual Readiness (Skill/Will)

In these situations, you want to delegate and monitor. These are the types of tasks that you should be delegating. They are the tasks that others on your team could do, and delegating them could free you up to focus on the things that only you can do. However, the individual to whom you will be delegating may lack the skill or will to take on the task. If they lack the necessary skills, then this could be a good development opportunity for them, and as you delegate you should monitor progress and provide mentoring along the way. If they lack the will (motivation), then it’s important to spend time on the why — why is this an important task for the group or company, and why will they benefit from working on this. Or maybe they lack the confidence that they can accomplish the task—and you can reinforce them with your own encouragement. Then you should monitor progress and if you detect ongoing lack of will, provide motivation along the way.

High Task Importance/Urgency, Low Individual Readiness (Skill/Will)

You should not delegate in this situation. The task is critically important to get right, and you don’t have the time for coaching or mistakes. And the person to whom you are considering delegating is neither highly qualified or motivated. You need to directly own this task yourself, because delegating it would be a high risk of failure at a time when you can’t tolerate failure or delay.

Final Thoughts

Growing, developing, and motivating your team

If you find yourself spending a lot of time in the lower half of the four-quadrant table (Low Individual Readiness), then you probably need to invest in growing, developing, and motivating your team. If you’re an IC product manager, it means that you may need to increase the “Will” (motivation) of your teammates to take on some of the tasks you would like to delegate so that you can scale.

Do what only you can do

If you find yourself spending a lot of time in the lower right of the quadrant (High Task Importance/Urgency + Low Individual Readiness), then you should take a hard look at the tasks and ask whether (1) everything is truly important and urgent, and (2) if you are truly the only person that can work on these tasks. For #1, it can’t be the case that everything is a high priority, so be ruthless about prioritizing (a hallmark skill of a great product manager). For #2, a wise manager once told me, “Focus on doing the things that only you can do.” Take a look at whether you’re truly focusing on things that only you can do.

The 70 Percent Rule

A recent article by Jim Schlekser discusses a good rule of thumb for knowing when to delegate to someone else: the 70 Percent Rule. In short:

“If the person the CEO would like to perform the task is able to do it at least 70 percent as well as he can, he should delegate it… This 70 percent performance standard allows the CEO to aggressively move tasks to team members and have them perform the tasks at an acceptable level. Clearly there are some tasks that require a 100 percent performance level. The CEO will choose not to delegate these tasks. They could be transferred but with extensive support and training. In addition, one-on-one oversight may be required.”

This is a great way to decide whether the individual has enough skill/will to take on the task. If you think they can do it at least 70 percent as well as you can, then you are in the upper row of the four-quadrant table.

When you’re in the upper row, you decide on whether to “Delegate” or “Delegate & Monitor” based on the Task Importance/Urgency—namely, whether the task requires “a 100 percent performance level.” Schlekser advises that you can still decide to transfer these tasks, but with “extensive support and training” and “one-on-one oversight.” In other words, “Delegate & Monitor.”

Finally, keep in mind that your teammates and direct reports are hungry to learn. Delegating tasks where they will learn and develop will provide them with longer-term motivation. And it also frees you up to focus on the things that only you can do. By following the above framework and looking at each situation through the lens of Task Importance/Urgency v. Individual Readiness (Skill/Will), you will be able to decide which tasks you should delegate, which ones you should delegate and monitor, and which ones you should hold onto yourself. And ultimately, you’ll get a lot more done and have an even greater impact.