She build one process for her second year for the team, write am down inside one afternoon, and teach am to four people. Six years later, dem don rename am two times, the internal wiki dey credit am to somebody wey she never meet before, and e dey run for four departments including two wey never even hear her name. Na by mistake she take find out, and she spend one confusing week dey decide whether she vex or whether she don finish.
The correct answer, e come turn out, na say she don finish. No be say she give up, no be say dem overlook am, na finish, the way builder dey finish when the building fit stand without scaffold. That one na bigger outcome pass the alternative, wey be one thing wey her name weld for body and nobody fit run am without calling her first. This article na about designing on purpose for the first outcome, because almost every advice wey dey available on the word legacy dey quietly design for the second one.
How I go know whether my work go survive without me?
Remove your name from am and see whether anybody fit run am on Monday. If the answer depend on say you must dey reachable, na job you build, no be thing, and job dey end.
Run the test literally. Pick the work wey you proud of pass this year and ask three questions about am. Competent stranger fit execute am from wetin dey written down? The judgment calls wey you dey make by instinct, dem capture am anywhere as rules? If you keep quiet for one month, wetin go stop, wetin go weak, and wetin go continue as e be?
Plenty people dey find say the answer dey uncomfortable for one specific way: the deliverable dey survive but the practice no dey. The document dey live on, but the reason why dem build am that way dey live only for your head. Na that gap be the whole subject of this piece, and e dey close inside like one page of writing.
E matter if I no get the credit?
E matter less than as e dey feel, and the arithmetic explain why. Credit wey you must defend na maintenance, and maintenance na cost wey you dey pay forever.
Anything wey dem build to carry your name must dey protected: from renaming, from forking, from the person wey go describe am for meeting without mentioning you. That protection dey cost attention every year for as long as the thing dey exist, and the attention dey come from the same account wey you for use build the next one. Anything wey dem build to run without your name dey get adopted, copied, improved and carried enter buildings wey you no go ever enter, and e no dey cost you anything after the day wey you hand am over.
Kimberly Wade-Benzoni research on intergenerational decisions, wey Current Opinion in Psychology summarize, find say legacy motivation na real and surprisingly strong driver: people go give up present resources for the benefit of people wey no fit pay dem back, when dem fit see say something of their own go continue. The interesting part for anybody wey get ambition na say this one no be selflessness. E dey behave like long-range self-interest, and e dey produce result wey last pass the version wey dey count score.
How I go write am down make another person fit run am?
One page, for the order wey person go actually do am, with the three decisions wey you currently dey take by instinct written out as rules. The instinct part na the only hard part and na the only part wey matter.
Anybody fit list the steps. Wetin dem no dey usually write na why step four dey come before step three, wetin you dey do when the input scatter, and which of the rules you dey break and under wetin condition. Write those ones. Na dem be the difference between documentation wey nobody dey use and page wey somebody fit actually run on bad Tuesday.
Return dey for this one wey dey come sharp sharp. Researchers wey report for Memory and Cognition find say people wey study material with the mind say dem go teach am later remember more and organize am better pass people wey dey expect test. To write your work down for successor dey put you for exactly that state. You go find the two places wey you dey do form inside the first twenty minutes, wey make the page worth writing even if nobody read am.
Who I suppose hand am over give?
The person wey don dey do the awkward parts without anybody asking dem. Then call their name for the room where dem dey take decision, because handover without sponsorship no be gift, na extra work wey land on somebody wey no get authority to do am.
Na this be the practical half of legacy and na person, no be document. To hand something over get two moves inside am and most people dey only do the first. The first na the transfer: the page, two sessions of doing am together, one session of watching dem do am while you no talk. The second na the public part, wey be to tell the room whose own e be now, by name, in front of whoever dey control their next opportunity. "Priya na im dey run this one now" wey you talk for planning meeting worth more to her pass the six months of coaching, because e dey convert your credibility into her standing, permanently, and e cost you only four words.
Do the second move even when e no convenient, and especially when the thing good. The instinct for that moment na to stay attached to something wey dey succeed for one more quarter. Na that quarter be exactly how durable thing dey turn back into your personal job. Call the name, then move comot for road where everybody go see, and let the next set of improvements happen without your approval.
Wetin if to hand am over make me replaceable?
To be replaceable for your current job na the condition for you to get the next one. Person wey dem no fit move because nobody else sabi run im work no dey safe, e don stuck, and the cost of being stuck na the rooms wey dem no dey invite you enter.
Adam Grant, wey write for Harvard Business Review about givers and takers, describe pattern wey dey play out over years instead of weeks: the people wey dey spend their effort to make others more capable dey collect unusual amount of goodwill and information, and e dey show late instead of early. The short-run scoreboard dey favor whoever dey hoard. The long-run one no dey, because the room go eventually full with people wey sabi exactly wetin you do for dem.
Design for that on purpose. Every work wey you own suppose get name wey no be your own attached by the end of im second year, and you suppose fit talk wetin that name be. That no be humility. Na capacity planning for ambitious decade.
The version wey dey keep running
The test na whether you fit hand am over on Friday. No be whether you go want, no be whether the timing convenient, na whether the page dey, the person dey, and the room sabi their name. If the three true, you don build something. If any one miss, na role you build, and role no dey outlast the person wey dey fill am.
Nothing here dey argue say you should want less credit. Collect the credit when dem dey share am, put am for your review, talk am out loud for interview. The difference na between credit wey you dey collect and credit wey you must guard, and na only one of dem free. The builder wey end decade with six things dey run for other people hand get bigger claim pass the one wey end am with two things wey nobody else fit touch, and e still get spare attention to start the seventh.
Pick the work wey you proud of pass. Write the page this week. Then find the person wey don dey do the awkward parts, and call their name for the room.
Sources
- Current Opinion in Psychology, Legacy motivations and the psychology of intergenerational decisions
- Memory and Cognition, Expecting to teach enhances learning and organization of knowledge in free recall of text passages
- Harvard Business Review, In the Company of Givers and Takers