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##GTD series: learning to delegate at work##

###Abstract### Delegating was (and is still) the most complicated action in my daily GTD office workflow. Among all the notes I wrote down (but do not find time to finish) for the Jason Frasca blog, I had this one which deals with the difficulties I face with setting up and managing delegation in my daily office work.

So here are my thoughts.

###My fears to delegate###

The major fears I faced when delegating tasks were:

1. Not sure that the work will be done in time. When you work on coding projects, they are many deadlines or milestones to respect. If I delegate, will my colleague be able (time, resources, ...) to finish the work in time ?
2. In my office, as far as knowledge is concerned, I know the right person to delegate a specific job to but won't the job be so boring that my colleague will have troubles to finish it ?
3. Will the job be done as well as I know I can do it myself ?

###Will the job be done as well as I'll do ?###

If I solved the first two fears above, the latest one is still undermining my GTD workflow.
It is not a problem of intelligence or coding knowledge. It is just that I code since more than 20 years and has developed so many automatisms that... yes... sometimes, it is faster/safer to code myself that delegating to others.

###But delegating is also part of my sharing process I initiated at work###

When one speaks about sharing, it is most of the time the share of objects (notes, folders, space, ...). But even at the office, you can also share time slots or resources. And sharing resources is one of the component of the delegation.

That's why I setup several rules to be more confident with delegation and I think that these rules can be a good start for everyone who initiates delegation:

#####1. Be clear#####
If you delegate, you are responsible for the completion of the task you gave to your colleague. So:

• Be clear in what you need (inputs & outputs).
• Be clear on the deadlines and the milestones your colleague will have to manage.
• Be clear on how the job has to be done, especially if your colleague's work has to be integrated in a whole project or even in your own work.

In short: make great specifications !

#####2. Set a deadline and some milestones.. but in accordance with the delegated person !#####
You cannot correctly delegate a task without specifying a deadline and some milestones: a job (even yours) without milestone is a perfect candidate to the "endless job contest" !
But except if you really know how your colleague works, know what is his actual work load and know how he will be able to handle the task, you had to specify these dates in accordance with him, not against him. So, for instance, initiate a starting meeting to clarify all the difficulties and to set all the important dates of the work.

#####3. Take the delegation difficulty into account when making your project's plan#####
Integrate the delegation in your work load:

1. It is up to you to manage the delegation to the end. This requires resources, time and energy. From my experiences, a 25% of the total time you setup for the delegated task had to be assigned to the "job coordination". This includes the specifications you have to write, the various coordination meetings and the time slots you need to answer questions.
2. Add enough specific ad-hoc time slots in your calendar to be able to handle with all the difficulties that can raise during the delegated task duration.

###References### You may also want to read this great Asian Efficiency Beginner's guide to delegation article.