Delegating your first task

Best practices for briefing Claude on long-running work

The delegation mindset

The biggest mistake people make with Cowork is treating it like a Chat prompt — terse, context-free, expecting follow-up questions. In Cowork, Claude works autonomously, so the brief is the only briefing it gets. Everything needs to be in there before it starts.

The complete delegation brief

# Task: [Clear, specific name]

## Context
[Who you are, what the agency does, what project this is for, why this task matters.]

## What I need
[The deliverable — be specific about format, length, depth, audience]

## Inputs available
[What data, files, sources Claude should use and where to find them]

## Step-by-step
[If the task has a clear sequence, spell it out]

## Quality standards
[What makes this output good? What would make it not usable?]

## Output format
[Exactly how the final output should be structured and where to save it]

## What to do if stuck
[If a source is unavailable, if something is unclear — make a reasonable assumption and note it, or stop and ask?]

## What NOT to do
[Scope limits, things to exclude, actions to avoid]

Real example: prospect research brief

# Task: Prospect Research — Houston Commercial Cleaning Services

## Context
I run BConverse Consulting, a digital agency serving SMBs in Texas. Building a prospect list for Track B outreach (Hispanic-owned small businesses).

## What I need
A spreadsheet of 25 commercial cleaning businesses in Houston that appear to be small/owner-operated with outdated websites.

## Inputs
- Search the web for Houston commercial cleaning businesses
- Check Google Business listings for these signals
- Check their websites for quality indicators

## Output format
A CSV with columns: business_name, website_url, google_rating, review_count, apparent_owner_name, why_they_are_a_fit, notes

## What NOT to do
- Don't include national franchise brands
- Don't include businesses with fewer than 10 Google reviews
- Don't include businesses outside the Houston metro area