Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, ChatGPT, Gemini — I call them my assistants.
Lately, I’m not so sure who’s assisting whom.
Agentic tools keep handing me decisions in the same shape:
– Option 1 (Recommended)
– Option 2
– Other
When I know the domain, I actually choose. When I half-know it, I read the alternatives and make a decision. And when I don’t know enough to judge? I click Recommended and call it trust.
It reminded me of Delegation Poker from Jürgen Appelo’s Management 3.0, which describes seven levels of delegation between a manager and a team:
Tell → Sell → Consult → Agree → Advise → Inquire → Delegate
Tell – I make the decision and announce it. No discussion expected.
Sell – I make the decision, but I explain my reasoning and try to get you on board.
Consult – I ask for your input first, then I make the decision.
Agree – We discuss it and decide together, by consensus.
Advise – You make the decision, but I give you my recommendation first.
Inquire – You make the decision, then explain it to me afterward.
Delegate – You decide, full stop. I don’t need the details.
Map that onto an agent session, and the level can shift by the minute. And some afternoons, I’m just the Clicker:
– Read the summary.
– Hit Approve.
– Move on.
Here’s the uncomfortable part: Clicking Approve on a plan you can’t evaluate is Delegate wearing an Consult costume. An approval step only counts if you have enough context to reject it.
So now I try to choose the delegation level per decision, before the session starts, based on two things: Blast radius and reversibility.
Formatting? Fully delegated. Anything touching data, architecture, or high-level design? I stay involved.
Maybe, after all… I’m not sure who’s assisting whom. I started calling AI my assistant. Now I’m wondering if I should start calling myself the assistant to my assistants. 😂
Okay, let me ask my boss.
