Precedents

Precedents are examples of how you handled past situations. Unlike policies, they are not fixed, absolute rules. Instead, they help DelegateZero understand patterns in your decision-making.

A few examples of basic precedents include:

• I approved a late deliverable for a long-term client after they explained the delay and communicated early.
• I declined a last-minute request because it would have disrupted planned work for the week.
• I escalated a vendor contract question because I wasn't familiar with the terms and didn't want to guess.

Notice how those, in basic terms, address 3 things: the problem, the solution, and the condition or reasoning. They are a good place to start, but the following more comprehensive precedents are better.

Client-specific judgment:

For ABC Company, I approved a minor scope change without charging extra because the relationship is long-standing (longer than 3 years) and the request required minimal effort (less than 2 hours est.).
I would not have done this for a newer client.

This precedent is better because it ties behavior directly to relationship context, it explains (in detail) why the decision was made, and it just implies limits without turning into a rule.

Communication judgment under ambiguity:

When a customer complained about experiencing performance issues but the metrics didn't show an outage, I acknowledged their frustration, avoided blaming, and offered to investigate further instead of pushing back immediately.

There are times when you may want to respond more directly, but this precedent shows tone and intent for this specific situation and demonstrates restraint.

Platform-aware decision:

In Slack, I gave a short acknowledgment and said I'd follow up later. I sent the full explanation by email once I had more information.

This precedent could be fleshed out more, but it shows channel-specific behavior, demonstrates sequencing, and it's not easily captured by a policy.

Risk-aware exception:

I approved an exception even though it technically broke our guidelines because the downside was small and the upside was preserving trust with the client. I would not do this repeatedly.

Another good idea as to when a precedent makes sense, although I'd be sure to fully explain what was approved, how it technically broke guidelines, and specifically what the downside would be.