What does it mean that the delegation ladder?

Delegation ranges from "do exactly this" to "handle it entirely" — know which level you are using.

Example: You ask a junior developer to deploy the hotfix. They deploy it to production without running the test suite, taking down the checkout flow for 14 minutes. You're frustrated — but you never specified the level. Did you mean 'follow this exact runbook' (Level 1) or 'own the deployment end to end' (Level 7)? They heard full autonomy. You meant supervised execution. The mismatch wasn't about competence — it was about an unlabeled rung on the ladder.

Try this: Pick three tasks you delegated in the past week. For each one, write down: (1) what level of autonomy you intended, (2) what level the delegate actually operated at, and (3) whether the gap caused any friction. Use Appelo's seven levels as your scale: Tell, Sell, Consult, Agree, Advise, Inquire, Delegate. If you find mismatches, you have found the source of most delegation failures in your system.