Why is delegation important

Target Audience 

M1s(Line Manager 1s), TLMs(Tech Lead Managers), PM(Product Managers)

Inability to delegate properly can be a big bottleneck for scaling for first line managers / TLMs. Also it may be an under-appreciated skill until it is needed during crunch time. Delegation is an art and in order to be able to delegate properly managers need to build a bench around them.

The above is the picture of a Mount Arat in Armenia. As you scale your career, imagine that you are climbing that mountain. When you are at the bottom, you had the closest view, details and granularity of problems at hand. As you climb up the mountain, you lose some of the details but you gain perspective from the height. You can see some nearby peaks, understand some of the problems they are solving and relay that information to the troops who are below you.

Now often times you will need to get information about your peak from the bottom. If you can delegate appropriately, you can get the information in the most efficient way while growing the people reporting to you. If you cannot delegate appropriately, you will have to run up and down the top of the mountain everytime you need more details. This way you will lose your view of the surrounding mountains(your collaboration commitments will drop). You will also get tired and burnt out if you have to run up and down the mountains too many times.