The Extension / Offloading Dial
Help can extend what you can do—and offload things you need to keep doing yourself.
Centaur
Director
Toolmaker & Tool User
Dialogue Partner
Human
Off the dial: REVERSE CENTAUR
Human
You create the work yourself.
Extend
Offload
Yes! Let's go faster! Offload more, extend further, push the pace!
Tap to maximize productivity.
You became the Reverse Centaur.
Extension and offloading pushed the pace beyond your ability to keep up.
When production moves faster than you can learn, make decisions, or meaningfully participate with other people, you are no longer directing the work. You are helping move someone—or something—else's work into the world.
The goal isn't to avoid help. It's to remain capable of using help well.
What will you change this time?
Practice
What will you keep doing yourself so you can learn?
Purpose
What decisions will you keep making?
People
How will you remain meaningfully involved with the people affected by the work?
Are you ready for help?
Help extends our abilities, but it also risks offloading.
Practice
What do I need to keep doing myself to get better?
Purpose
Am I still deciding where I am going?
People
Am I still meaningfully participating with the people involved?
Tap to continue
Sample ways to ask for help
Three rules for using the dial
- Do something yourself first.
- Use this tool to document your choices about trying, learning, and getting help.
- If you become a Reverse Centaur, let me know that you need to try again. There is no penalty for choosing to learn.
Moving left increases both what help can do and what you risk offloading.
Human
You create the work yourself.
Extend
You develop your own ideas, skills, judgment, and voice through direct practice.
Offload
Very little is delegated, so you may work more slowly or within a narrower range of knowledge and ability.
Practice
What do I need to keep doing myself to get better?
Purpose
Am I still deciding where I am going?
People
Am I still meaningfully participating with the people involved?