Concepts
The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types
Delegate any decision reversible within one week at low…
Apply the irreversibility test to every delegation candidate: if the decision can be reversed at low cost within one week, delegate it regardless of its perceived importance; if reversal is expensive or impossible, retain it for your direct judgment.
Every delegation needs three written components
For every delegated decision, specify three mandatory components in writing: the single accountable owner (one person not a committee), the constraints within which they have full authority, and the explicit conditions that trigger escalation back to you.
Classify every task as ONLY ME, COULD DELEGATE, or SHOULD…
Calculate your attention allocation by categorizing each task as ONLY ME (requires unique judgment), COULD DELEGATE (someone/something else can do it at 80%+ quality), or SHOULD NOT EXIST (adds no value), then delegate or eliminate everything outside ONLY ME to reclaim attention for highest-value work.
ONLY ME time below 50% of working hours signals…
When your ONLY ME time falls below 50% of working hours, you have a delegation deficit requiring immediate correction, because spending the majority of your highest-value resource on work that doesn't require it violates the constraint optimization principle.
Distinguish ONLY ME by necessity from ONLY ME by default…
Before delegating a task, verify it is not ONLY ME by default rather than by necessity—if the task requires your unique judgment only because you've never built documentation, systems, or relationships to make it delegable, it's a disguised delegation candidate.
Ask 'can a system handle this?' before 'can a person?'…
Default to the delegation hierarchy sequence: first ask 'can a system handle this?', then 'can a system handle 80% with a person handling exceptions?', and only then 'does this require full human judgment?'—to prevent systematic under-investment in systems.
When reclaiming a non-delegable decision, retain only…
When reclaiming a delegated decision that scored 2+ on the non-delegable filter, restructure by retaining the non-delegable core (judgment, value trade-off, contextual interpretation) while re-delegating execution (research, analysis, implementation) to preserve leverage without losing identity.
The competent stranger test
Test specification completeness by asking whether a competent stranger with relevant skills but zero context could produce an acceptable result from your specification alone—if not, the missing information must be externalized before delegation.
Transparent verification builds trust, hidden monitoring…
Make verification checkpoints transparent to delegates by communicating what you will check, when you will check it, and what standards apply, because hidden monitoring functions as surveillance while transparent verification functions as professional collaboration.
Trust is a dynamic variable — extend verification…
Extend verification intervals when a delegate produces consistent quality outputs over time, and tighten intervals when errors surface, treating trust as a dynamic variable calibrated by accumulated evidence rather than a fixed initial condition.
Classify tool delegations as appropriate, convenient…
Before delegating a cognitive task to a tool, classify whether the delegation is appropriate (tool does it better and verification is easy), convenient (saves time but you could do it), or critical (you cannot perform it without the tool), because critical delegations create capability gaps when tools fail.
Write what your role includes AND excludes — default…
Define professional scope boundaries by writing what your role explicitly includes and excludes, then default to 'no' for requests falling outside that scope unless you consciously choose to make an exception.