Top Tips: How to stop doing everything yourself and delegate to AI before you burn out

Top Tips is a weekly column where we highlight what’s trending in the tech world today and list ways to explore these trends. This week, we’re looking at which tasks you can delegate to AI.

We've all struggled to delegate tasks. Whether you're a junior struggling to prioritize your tasks on a daily basis or a manager unsure of assigning responsibilities, you know how messy task delegation can get. Some people just improvise while others have a method to this madness. To add more complexity, we have a new friend on the block to whom we can assign tasks–AI.

Task delegation can look daunting at first, but it is pretty simple if you have a system or method in place. In this blog, we'll help you figure it out.

I'm sure you've heard of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. If you haven't, I'll explain below.

Dwight D. Eisenhower created the idea behind the Eisenhower Matrix based on his experience making important decisions as a military leader and U.S. President. The method helps people prioritize tasks by separating what is urgent from what is truly important removing the illusion non-important tasks create when it's urgent, and that's what we will decide what to delegate to AI.

Q1. Important and urgent

You may land on the higher end of the hyper-independence spectrum when it comes to your personal life, but you have to let go of that trait once you start working, even when it comes to important and urgent tasks.

When you look at the words important and urgent, you may immediately jump to the conclusion that the tasks under them shouldn't be delegated to AI, but that's not entirely true. Even with important and urgent tasks, you may have certain subtasks that can be assigned to AI. You can use AI to summarize documents and draft emails that need to be sent on behalf of the project. In contrast to doing everything on your own, review the subtasks and see what you can delegate to AI. Since the task is important, you should still review the results, but it's still better than doing everything yourself.

Lately AI has started to generate code and help tremendously in the field of software development. Without a doubt, developers use the help of AI. We have seen massive improvements, including reduction in manpower and time, but it is still imperative  to verify the output so you know it has been delivered well and without errors.

Q2. Important and not urgent

Until the clock strikes and a deadline approaches, we never look at the task.  That approach has put me in a pickle, and I'm sure it has in your life too— we've all been there.

When it comes to important but not urgent tasks, it's time to act now. How do you use AI to make the best use of your time and energy before it's too late?

First, draft a plan. Use AI to make a schedule for your task, fix an imaginary deadline, and work towards it. Use AI as your personal assistant and get work done. AI is an excellent tool for research and planning. These days, I don't agonize what I need to do each day or every hour when working on a project. I simply tell AI what needs to be done along with the deadline, and it drafts a plan for me. AI adjusts the schedule accordingly if you need a buffer and I love it. I honestly feel like I have hired a personal assistant who helps me plan my week, month, and  year.

Q3. Urgent but not important - The sweet spot for AI

When it comes to urgent and unmportant tasks, this is the sweet spot for AI. The so mistakes have less impact. You can assign AI tasks that fall into this quadrant. These can include summarizing points from meetings, planning your calendar, and cleaning up your spreadsheets. Before you start working, you can categorize tasks based on the matrix, and the urgent tasks that are not important can be easily assigned to AI, freeing up your mental energy.

The tasks under the last quadrant, Q4. Not Urgent and Not Important, can be eliminated, as they are neither important nor urgent, so it's ok to work on them at another time.

The bottom line

Task delegation  can be  easier when you have a system, and when you applyEisenhower Matrix, delegating tasks to a human or to AI becomes simpler. Instead of randomly delegating tasks and being unsure why a task was delegated, it’s best to use the Eisenhower Matrix to understand the importance and urgency of tasks before delegating them to AI. However, that doesn’t mean you always have to use the Eisenhower Matrix to delegate tasks; it’s simply a method to assist your decision-making. Ultimately it is your responsibility to make an informed decision while using the matrix as a guide.

Using methods like this can give you peace of mind, ensuring you have the important tasks under control and still making a decision that aligns with your own understanding. If you have any tips and tricks for work delegation or delegation to AI, comment below.