The delegator.
You’re responsible for the decisions and the outcomes of those decisions. Delegation isn’t a hack to free up time; it’s a practice that requires work.
You delegate, contextualize, check-in, discuss, and give feedback, so the person learns to make good decisions.
The delegatee.
People need “room in their weekly time budgets to grow in this way.”
If your boss is delegating decisions to you, do them a favor and remind them that decision-making takes time, especially if you’re in unfamiliar territory.
Ask “How much time would you like me to spend on this decision?” will guide their expectations.
Timeboxing your decision process helps you frame how much research is expected, and where the task fits in your time budget.
Finally, ask about the risks of a poor decision.
Some decisions are crucial and may take months (or years!) to make. These decisions may be irreversible, so it’s important they be right the first time.
Other decisions are low risk and easily reversible, such as “what server should the database live in”?
