Don’t Delegate Tasks That Won’t Save You Time

Yesterday,
I talked about
how we shouldn’t delegate tasks
that we love.

We also shouldn’t delegate tasks
that will never
save us time.

Yes, initially,
it will take longer
for us to delegate
a task
than do it ourselves.

We have to train
the person
and likely quality control
the output.

But once training is complete,
delegation of that task
should save us time.
If it doesn’t save us time,
we either have the wrong person
doing the task
or the task shouldn’t be delegated
at all.

For example,
a family member sends me emails
asking me to order items
for him
from a large online store.

He gives me
detailed instructions.
He picks up the item
from me.
And he gives me cash
for the item.

It would be MUCH faster
for him
to simply order it himself.
(He refuses to do this
for some unknown reason.)

His delegation
is not only costing me time
but it is costing him
MORE time.

Don’t delegate tasks
that will never
save you time.

Don’t Delegate The Tasks You Love

One of my writing buddies
LOVES crafting covers.

Her self-publishing business
is growing.
She has a lot to do
and is delegating tasks.

Other writers are telling her
to delegate cover creation.
(I’ve delegated this task also.)

I told her to keep it
on her task list.
She loves it.
There are other
less wonderful-for-her tasks
to delegate.

We need tasks
that give us happiness.

That feeds our souls
and it will help us
find the willpower
to continue building our businesses
when times are tough.

Keep the tasks you love.

When Should Tasks Be Completed?

Cover creation can be done
at any time
in the book production process.

I assign that task
to my cover designer
as soon as I have a title
and a basic concept
of the story.

She works on the cover
as I write the story.

Cover design
adds no time
to the product timeline.

Editing can only be done
when the story is written.

I have to wait
until I’ve written the story
to assign that task
to my editor.

Editing adds time
to the product timeline.
I have to factor that task in
when I’m deciding on
a launch date.

A key part of product management
is deciding
which tasks can be done
at the same time
and
which tasks have to be done
in a specific order.

Survey your tasks.

Divide them into
those two large buckets.

Assign the tasks
that can be done
at the same time
as soon as possible.