
Why geeks need to learn how to delegate - dwynings
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/03/25/a-lesson-from-richard-branson-why-geeks-need-to-learn-how-to-delegate/
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jtheory
When you have a particular task at hand, and you also have someone available
who you trust can do that task better than you can, delegation is easy.

Sure, there's a minor jolt to letting anything go, but it's a no-brainer.

Harder: delegating a task you don't understand well, to someone you aren't
sure you can trust to handle it well (whatever they claim). This one's
stressful, and sometimes you'll screw it up, but your hand is forced; you
can't do it yourself.

Hardest: delegating a task you understand well and could _knock out of the
park_ (if you had the time) to someone you're fairly sure will have to battle
with it.

The insidious aspect of that last one is that you're likely to overestimate
how well you'd do the task, and underestimate how the other person will do (as
well as the benefits to you and your company if _they_ do it).

You're still up at the high level, for one thing (not down in the dirty
details where the complexities turn up...). But secondly, if you're the only
one in the company who has done X-difficult-task before, think about that for
a second.

Wouldn't you like to have _two_ people in your company who've done
X-difficult-thing before? And how did _you_ end up doing it the first time?
(Was it a disaster? Probably not.)

If you're surrounding yourself with talented people, there are huge benefits
in letting them do as much of the "hard stuff" as possible (you're
transforming them into better people through experience).

Still hard as hell to let go, though.

~~~
sneak
> If you're surrounding yourself with talented people

In certain contexts, Yours Truly isn't the one doing the surrounding, so
that's a pretty major assumption to make. Any tips for delegating to merely-
proficient people?

~~~
jerf
For those, the mental model I'd suggest using would be "mentoring" rather than
"delegation". Details vary greatly depending on the people (mentor and, err,
mentee?), of course, but check in frequently and expect to spend some time
talking through some of the hairier details. Hopefully you'll still spend
significantly less time on the task, take only a minor quality penalty, and
create a stronger team member as a result. Of course, flip all three of those
and that's what can go wrong, too. :)

~~~
rickmb
The initial process of mentoring takes considerably more time and effort than
doing it yourself, and it can feel like a waste of time if the "merely
proficient" never reach the level of competence you have.

It may be the best thing to do under the circumstances, but it's _hard_ ,
especially if you are a geek who has spend most of his live doing stuff rather
than delegating the doing part.

~~~
jerf
"The initial process of mentoring takes considerably more time and effort than
doing it yourself,"

Well, I suppose I can't honestly say "you're doing it wrong", but I can say
"you're doing it differently than me". But then, even when I'm mentoring I
tend to expect that I'm mentoring someone who fundamentally wants to know, and
is willing to put time in to learning whatever it is on their own, and I'm
just coming in every so often and saving time on pointing them to the next
place to go. I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can essentially
count on that, and thus "mentoring" != "hand holding".

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codeonfire
This article doesn't answer the question put forth in its title. Why DO geeks
need to learn how to delegate?

This is a very common behavior used by people who want to distance themselves
from technical work. They pick something technical roles don't do and don't
have any control over, and then make broad generalizing statements about how
technical roles are bad at it (implying that the author is in his or her
position because they are good at it). For instance most geeks are in front-
line technical roles as individual contributors and don't have anyone to
delegate to. It's like a battlefield lieutenant, scared of being sent to the
front line and getting shot, proclaiming 'soldiers should learn to simply
delegate combat duty.' Dishonest and smug.

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ilaksh
A 'geek', being someone who solves problems and therefore does actual work, is
a member of the working class.

The middle manager, equivalent to a slave overseer, has a different skillset
related to the manipulation and control of personnel, that takes time and
practice to develop.

In order for a technical worker to 'learn to delegate', i.e., adopt the
ownership mentality and become a member of that class, he must make both a
moral adjustment and learn a whole new set of personal manipulation and
politicking skills.

But before that is even possible he must gain enough capital to purchase the
workers.

Perhaps the secret to gaining capital is simply to appear as if one is already
a member of the ownership class, whether that is really true or not.

~~~
ars
Did you time travel from communist Russia?

~~~
ilaksh
Welcome to the Dawn of a New Day in Americka. In New Americka, Communism Comes
To You.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07REkvATHb8>

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K2h
To bad most entry level managers are really just team leads with supervisor
responsibilities. In the past I have had to spend a considerable amount of
time getting the team far enough ahead of the day to day minitua so we can
focus on more long term strategy. When I fight piddly day to day problems I
feel like a supervisor, when I get to focus the team on long term I feel like
a manager. I wish I could spend more time as a manager/leader but most
businesses have it honed to a science to give you what feels like less
resources than the bare minimum, so to step out of that comfort zone and hand
off a risky technical problem to a junior employee that is most likely going
to fail and make you more behind is very very tough, but I am improving.

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magnusgraviti
Great article. It is really important to learn to delegate.

The other side is making great team where people share common interest to make
great/best product or service.

I read it and remembered the situation when I got division and delegated work
to other people. It was a great experience and lesson.

P.S. Good lecture pointing about similar problem can be found here named
"Managing people, managing teams":
[http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/building-a-
business/id38...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/building-a-
business/id381702699)

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davmar
linkbait. the author talks about himself the whole time with a single sentence
about richard branson, pasted below in its entirety:

He talked about how entrepreneurs need to own the vision of the company and
learn to delegate

