So, yesterday I used Exec to outsource an errand. I tried to be as specific as possible: go to Costco, buy a box of 30 Rockstar drinks, a bag of Mach 3 razors, then bring them to my office. I got four calls from my Exec:
- one to say he would do the job in 10 minutes
- one to ask if a box of 24 Rockstar drinks was actually what I wanted
- one to ask if a sealed plastic package of Mach 3 razors is what I really meant
- one to ask if he could park in a nearby garage to bring the supplies up
It’s not as much work as going to Costco myself, but it was more work than I was expecting. It was because I hadn’t specified things correctly, or been specific enough to say “just use your best judgement”.
I think all outsourcing is like that - whether you’re outsourcing personal assistant-type tasks, programming tasks, taxes, or anything else. Outsourcing requires you to be extremely specific about what inputs you’re providing and what kinds of output you expect. It looks a lot like a function definition. Like pseudocode. There’s a lot in common there with actually programming a computer.