The delegation test is whether you can write the check first

Описание и применение

Внедрение практики «сначала напишите критерий проверки» позволяет более точно определять, какие задачи передать AI‑агенту, сокращая количество итераций и расширяя участие команды.

Задача

Determining when to hand tasks to a coding agent is often based on task difficulty, leading to misaligned handoffs and repeated iterations.

Результат

Implementing a pre-written acceptance check before delegating tasks to AI agents reduced redundant iterations, clarified expectations, and broadened team participation in handoffs.

Рабочий процесс

• 1. Identify the task to be delegated.
• 2. Write a clear, checkable acceptance criterion before drafting any prompt.
• 3. Ensure the criterion is specific, measurable, and testable (e.g., pagination behavior, dependency upgrade, allocation metrics).
• 4. Draft the prompt based on the acceptance criterion.
• 5. Delegate the task to the coding agent.
• 6. Review the agent’s output against the written check.
• 7. Iterate only if the check is not met; otherwise accept the result.

Доказательства

If you can write the check, hand it off. If you cannot, the task is not ready to hand to anybody.

Источник

The trick with the second list is that it is usually not one task. It is a decision wearing a task costume.

Источник