Delegating projects, not tasks
Key ideas
Answering a listener, Fried explains how 37signals hands a two-person team a whole project with only its direction defined, and why managers must stop writing their tasks.
- 1
Assign the project once, then stop
Fried writes that once a project goes to a team of one programmer and one designer, no further assigning happens. The pair decides the approach, the steps and the tasks, and sometimes writes to-dos for each other. Nobody outside the project tells them what to do.
- 2
Define the direction, not the work
Fried argues that trying to list all the work up front sets you up to find out you were wrong later. He says a project starts with a name, its people and usually a short kickoff message covering purpose and a few requirements. Tasks are added as the team discovers them, so the list may grow for weeks before it shrinks.
- 3
Be clear what the team owns
Fried draws a line: the team does not answer for whether the feature was worth building, but it does answer for whether it works as built. He warns this can shock new employees who come from organizations where a manager hands out a daily list.
- 4
Let teams pull in outside help
Fried says advice and review mostly happen when the team asks for them. He gives two limits: leaders may step in if they sense something is stuck, and QA may assign issues directly or leave them for the team to divide.
- 5
Practice on something small but real
Fried's main tip is to try this on a real but relatively inconsequential piece of work, since fake projects do not teach it. He expects it may take a few attempts. The manager's part, he writes, is to resist laying out the path, because people only improve at it by doing it.
In Jason’s words
“No one defines all the work up front. That's a fools errand. Assuming you know too much up front is the best way to find out you're wrong in the end.”
“They aren't responsible for determining if the feature was a good idea to build in the first place, but they do own if it works as-built.”
“Your job, as the manager or team lead, is to let go. Resist the urge to define, the urge to lay out the path ahead of them.”
About this entry
- Published
- Mar 20, 2023
- Publisher
- world.hey.com
- Type
- Essay
- Language
- English
- Added
- Nov 2, 2026
- Source last checked
- Nov 2, 2026
What’s available here
Original source
Linked. Opens on the publisher’s site.
Player on this page
Not applicable. Written piece; nothing to play.
Full text or transcript
Not reviewed. No license to show a text version here.
Our summary
Draft. Written by us with AI from the full public text and checked against it; quotes are word for word. Not yet rights-reviewed.
Ask questions with AI
Not reviewed. Off until there is licensed text to work from.