Self-Contained Delegation

Philosophy: Every delegation should contain everything needed to close itself - including what the recipient should do AND communicate upon completion.

The Problem

Standard delegation:

1. •You delegate task X to someone
2. •They complete it
3. •They say "done"
4. •You forgot what you needed it for
5. •Ball dropped. Context lost. Follow-up forgotten.

The Solution: Self-Contained Delegation

Every delegation includes:

1. •The task itself - what needs to be done
2. •Success criteria - how to know it's done correctly
3. •Callback template - the EXACT message/email to send upon completion
4. •Next action context - what the requester will do with the result

Template

TASK: [What needs to be done]

SUCCESS CRITERIA:
- [Criterion 1]
- [Criterion 2]

UPON COMPLETION, SEND THIS TO [recipient]:
---
Subject: [Pre-written subject]

[Pre-written message body with placeholders for results]

Next step for you: [What requester will do when they receive this]
---

Example: Developer Task

Bad delegation:

"Implement a pricing API endpoint"

Self-contained delegation:

TASK: Implement GET /api/v1/pricing endpoint that returns current plan prices

SUCCESS CRITERIA:

• •Returns JSON with all plan tiers and prices
• •Includes regional pricing (Israel vs international)
• •Has proper error handling
• •Deployed to production

UPON COMPLETION, EMAIL <PROJECT_OWNER_EMAIL>:

code

Subject: Pricing API endpoint implemented

The pricing API endpoint is now live:
- Endpoint: <API_ENDPOINT>
- Returns: [paste sample response]

You can now use this in the Weekly Digest audit SOP to verify
balance adjustments match official pricing.

Why This Works

1. •Nothing falls through cracks - the callback template ensures follow-up happens
2. •Context preserved - recipient knows WHY this matters, not just WHAT to do
3. •Zero back-and-forth - no "what was this for again?" messages
4. •Requester can forget safely - the delegation carries its own memory
5. •Scales to async - works across timezones, AI agents, long-running tasks

Related Concepts

When to Use

• •Delegating to team members (especially across timezones)
• •Creating GitHub issues for developers
• •Assigning tasks to AI agents
• •Any handoff where you might forget context by completion time
• •Tasks with long lead times (days/weeks)

Anti-Patterns

• •❌ "Do X and let me know when done" (no callback template)
• •❌ "Implement feature Y" (no success criteria, no next-action context)
• •❌ Assuming you'll remember what to do when notified of completion
• •❌ Relying on recipient to know what you need from the result