What is skill atrophy from delegation?

Skill atrophy from delegation is a concept in personal epistemology: Delegating too much creates disconnection from the work that matters and atrophies critical skills.

Example: A senior engineer delegates all code review to junior leads and automated linters. Six months later, a subtle architectural regression ships to production — a pattern she would have caught instantly a year ago. When she investigates, she realizes she cannot read the codebase fluently anymore. The delegation saved her hours every week. It also eroded the judgment those hours had built.

This concept is part of Phase 27 (Delegation Patterns) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for delegation patterns.