# The Delegation Map — Debrief

> Twelve questions, three failure modes of the debrief itself, one rule: a hand-off without named support is a dump — and the debrief says so out loud.
> Use with `the-delegation-map-guide.md`. The debrief runs the last five minutes of the twenty-five.

## How to run this debrief

- The map stays on the wall during the debrief; questions point at columns, not at people.
- The owner of the circled hand-off answers before anyone else speaks about their work.
- Close on the three commitments said at 22–25 and check them against the map — what the room *said* should match what the wall *shows*.

## Read the wall

- Stand in front of the three columns without talking. Which one is fullest, and how did it get that way?
- Count the notes in *Only me* against the notes in *Anyone can run*. The ratio is this leader's real load story.

## The twelve debrief questions

**1. The fullest column.**
"Which zone filled up fastest, and what does that say about how this plate got full?"
→ The biography of the overload — nobody plans a pile-up; habit builds it one note at a time.

**2. Accountability or ritual.**
"How many notes in *Only me* are actually accountability — and how many are just 'I've always done it'?"
→ The distinction the whole map exists to force.

**3. The eternal coaching.**
"What is sitting in *Coach someone* that you have been 'coaching' for months without it ever leaving your hands?"
→ The polite hiding place for what was never really delegated.

**4. The uncomfortable note.**
"In *Anyone can run*, which note made you uncomfortable to place there?"
→ That discomfort is the real conversation the session opened.

**5. Why this one.**
"Why this hand-off, and not the easier one next to it?"
→ Leverage versus relief — the easier one is tempting; the higher-leverage one is the point.

**6. Agreed or assigned.**
"Who is the owner, and did they agree — or were they assigned?"
→ A hand-off the owner didn't accept is a dump wearing a name.

**7. The support, in nouns.**
"What support does the owner actually get: an hour of coaching, a document, a decision right, or nothing?"
→ The line between hand-off and dump; nothing is a legal answer, but it names the failure now, not in a month.

**8. What 'working' looks like.**
"What is the review date, and what will 'working' look like on that date?"
→ Turns the date from a calendar event into a test the owner can pass.

**9. The failure preview.**
"If the hand-off fails, what was most likely missing — the owner, the support, or the leader's ability to let go?"
→ Pre-mortem on one line; teams almost always pick a different answer than their leader does.

**10. What the leader stops.**
"What will the leader stop doing on Monday to make room for letting this go?"
→ Delegation fails at the top; the vacated hour is the real gift.

**11. What the owner starts.**
"What will the owner start owning that they do not own today?"
→ Makes the addition concrete — ownership is a verb before it is a title.

**12. The sentence you leave with.**
"What is the one sentence each person will say aloud before leaving?"
→ The public commitment; it should survive being repeated at the review date.

## Failure modes of the debrief

1. **The debrief becomes a thank-you session.** The team praises the leader for finally letting go; nothing gets tested. Rescue: spend the first three questions on the columns, not on the moment — the map is the evidence.
2. **The owner stays silent about their own hand-off.** Everyone discusses the leader's relief while the owner never says whether they can carry it. Rescue: the owner answers questions 6–8 first, in their own words.
3. **The support promise blurs into availability.** "I'll be around" passes as support. Rescue: force a noun and a duration — one hour Thursday, the runbook, the right to sign off expenses under the cap.