Course 3 - Module 1 - Lesson 2
Assistance, automation, and delegation: three levels of handing off work
Find the Boring Repeats
Assistance keeps you close to each decision
Assistance means a helper supports part of your work while you guide the next step. For example, you supply rough notes and ask AI to propose a clearer paragraph. You review the wording, decide whether to keep it, and place it in your own document.
This is a useful starting level when your preferences are still unclear or the task changes often. You learn which instructions help and where the output tends to go wrong. No automatic trigger or connection to another system is needed.
Automation follows a defined process
Automation runs a process when a trigger occurs, such as a form submission or scheduled time. It might validate fields and place a draft in a review queue. Automation can use AI for a step, but many reliable automations use only fixed rules.
Consider meeting preparation. Assistance helps you write an agenda. Automation copies confirmed meeting details into an agenda template each Monday. Both save effort, but automation needs a clear policy for missing details, duplicate events, and what happens when the scheduled run fails.
Delegation adds responsibility for reaching an outcome
Delegation gives a helper a defined result to pursue within boundaries, possibly choosing steps along the way. A meeting-preparation agent could inspect approved notes and identify unresolved agenda items. It still needs limits on whose files it reads and whether it may contact participants.
Move between these levels deliberately. A reliable drafting habit may become a scheduled draft after enough trials. The human owner remains accountable for permissions, review, and exceptions. Handing off more steps should follow evidence of reliability rather than impatience with manual work.
Tiny experiment
Describe meeting preparation at three levels: assistance, automation, and delegation. For each level, name the next decision that still belongs to you.
Confidence check
Which level fits a task whose rules you cannot yet explain clearly to another person?