Run your first real delegation and save the brief template
Everything in this course has been preparation for this session. You are going to delegate a real task — one you would normally spend 30–60 minutes on — and produce a finished output. The brief template you write here is the thing you will still be using in three months.
The delegation brief template
Copy this template. It works for any Cowork task. Keep the finished version in your projects/templates/ folder — you'll reach for it every time.
OBJECTIVE: [one measurable sentence describing the finished output]
INPUT: [folder path or files Cowork should read]
OUTPUT: [exact file name and path in out/]
CONSTRAINTS: [what not to do — don't delete originals, don't modify raw/, etc.]
PHASES: (1) read inputs and summarise what you find, (2) propose a plan before executing, (3) execute, (4) validate output against success criteria
SUCCESS CRITERIA: [how you'll know it worked]
The template does four things. It forces you to state a measurable outcome rather than a vague request. It tells Cowork exactly what to read and where to write. It defines the constraints before execution starts. And the phased structure gives you a review checkpoint before Cowork does anything irreversible — so you catch misunderstandings early, not at the end.
Step 1—Choose a real task
Pick a task from your actual work — something you'd normally spend 30–60 minutes on manually. Don't choose something trivial, and don't choose something so complex it would take you a day.
Suitable examples:
- Organise a project folder that's gotten messy (documents, notes, drafts mixed together)
- Produce a status report from a folder of meeting notes
- Draft a document from scattered source files (briefing docs, research notes, past emails)
- Analyse a set of similar files and summarise the patterns across them
Choose something real. The brief you write in the next step becomes your template — it should reflect the kind of work you actually do.
What would you add to your CLAUDE.md or context files based on what Cowork got wrong or had to ask about during this task?
Key Takeaways
- 1The mental shift is the foundation: Cowork is not a chatbot you talk to — it's a system you brief. Delegation requires a brief, not a message. That shift alone accounts for most of the difference between users who get 10% of the value and users who build a daily working system.
- 2Pre-work determines outcome. Your CLAUDE.md, context files, and skills are what let Cowork do good work without hand-holding. The prompt barely matters when the context files are strong.
- 3The five prompting patterns — outcome-based, structured-task, phased with checkpoints, Socratic, and let-it-read — are the operating vocabulary of effective delegation. All five situations exist in real work; all five patterns solve different problems.
- 4Skills compound. Every workflow you encode as a SKILL.md is a preference you never have to repeat in a prompt again. The leverage builds with every skill you write.
- 5Cowork produces real file outputs — actual `.xlsx`, `.docx`, `.pptx` that open and work — and that is the point. Not text to copy-paste, not a summary to act on, but finished deliverables you review, revise, and use.