

Hardest delegating lesson to learn: Trust but verify. - sivers
http://sivers.org/trust-but-verify

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j_baker
You have to be a bit careful with this approach. If there's one thing that
annoys me, it's managers constantly asking me for "status emails", making me
go to "status meetings", and asking me to do other things with "status" in
them.

I find that the best managers are the ones who can get the information they
need and create a minimal level of disruption in the developer's workflow (not
that it's always possible, I understand that disruptions have to happen at
times).

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Periodic
I think the author is trying to encourage the practice in general. There are
certainly ways to do it right and ways to do it wrong.

Just blindly asking for status emails so you have some numbers and
justifications for your charts would probably not go over well. Asking for
status emails regarding real milestones and to verify functionality, check
metrics, or suggest current progress be analyzed can be very helpful.

Good management seems to include knowing when someone needs some guidance or
help and when they just need you to stay out of their hair.

~~~
j_baker
I agree. Bear in mind that I said to be careful, not to cut the approach out
in general.

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RiderOfGiraffes
It's a really bad way to say something that's obviously true. It's a bad way
to say it because it sounds and feels paradoxical, so it often gets dismissed
by people who know how to think, and think they know what it means.

It really comes down to one of the fundamental components of management -
communication - which isn't one way.

Communication requires saying things, then confirming that the message arrived
without distortion. Further, when this communication is delegation, part of
the message should be that you get a message back when it's done. Not least,
the delegation should contain a clear statement (verified by having repeated
back to you) of what it means for the task to be completed successfully.

Let them do the work, then get confirmation that it's been done. Trust that
their statement that it's done is truthful.

~~~
Periodic
I think his message is not so much to trust that their statement about
progress is truthful, but rather to trust that others can do a good job and
get it done well.

I'm sure many of us have had that feeling of, "I know I can do this better, I
should just do it." The point of this is to trust them and instead say, "I
know I can do this better, but I need to delegate, so I trust that this other
person can do a good job." That's the first part of delegation. The second
part is to verify that the work did get done to a high standard, and make it
clear what else needs to get done.

You need to be able to trust employees to get the job done, and you need to
verify that it did get done in case it did not.

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ZeroGravitas
At last an opportunity to get this question answered:

Surely "Trust but Verify" is a joke? Or at least a paradox.

If you trust someone then you don't need to verify, and if you verify then you
aren't trusting someone.

And yet many people, such as this post and Ronald Reagan use it as if it just
a simple slogan without a dark double-meaning.

Is it just me? I don't see how someone who "trusts but verifies" would act any
different from someone who "distrusts and therefore verifies" apart from
(falsely) telling the person being checked up on that they are "trusted".

Any Russians want to comment?

~~~
sivers
You could say it's like "Trust Allah, but tie your camel".
[http://www.google.com/search?q=trust+allah+but+tie+your+came...](http://www.google.com/search?q=trust+allah+but+tie+your+camel)

But really it means when you delegate, do it thoroughly. Don't just say it
once and assume it's done. Confirm that it's done. Set up a system to make
sure that it's done.

~~~
cema
There is a similar Russian expression too, less poetic however.

I think "trust but verify" places more emphasis on the "trust" part whereas
the other one emphasizes the personal responsibility. Both remind us to seek
the balance between personal involvement and personal detachment in a
particular project.

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quickpost
The same could be said for business partners. That's another very painful
lesson to learn the hard way.

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JimmyL
Incidentally, "trust but verify" was the cornerstone of Ronald Reagan's
nuclear policy vis-a-vis the Soviet Union, and could effective act as a
summary of the INF treaty.

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cturner
This is the exact phrase I encourage people to think about when I'm training!

Reagan made it famous, <https://digitalcertificates.commerzbank.com/request>

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danut
How is the link related to your comment?

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cturner
Copy and paste error, and my editing period has long since expired. Link:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify> Sorry about that.

