What does it mean that clear delegation requires clear specification?

Vague delegation produces vague results. Specify the outcome, constraints, and success criteria before handing anything off.

Example: A manager tells a designer: 'Make the landing page better.' The designer spends two weeks adding animations, rewriting copy, and restructuring the layout. The manager wanted the form conversion rate to improve. The designer delivered aesthetic polish. Neither was wrong — the specification was. If the manager had said 'Increase the form completion rate from 12% to 20%, without changing the navigation structure, by next Friday,' the designer would have focused on form UX from day one. The vagueness didn't save time. It cost two weeks.

Try this: Identify one task you've recently delegated or plan to delegate — to a person, a tool, or an AI system. Write a specification for it using the five-part framework: (1) the desired outcome in concrete terms, (2) the constraints that must not be violated, (3) the success criteria you will use to evaluate the result, (4) the resources available, and (5) the deadline. Now compare this specification to what you actually communicated. The gap between the two is the ambiguity you injected into the delegation.