Scope
The concept joins several design questions: what may be done, what information determines the action, how exceptions are handled and who can challenge the result. A permission granted at the start does not resolve every later decision. Constraints can expire, a task can exceed its original scope, and responsibility must remain clear when work passes between agents or services.
Illustrative example
An organisation allows an agent to prepare a supplier order within an approved catalogue. A change of supplier or a contractual exception sends the proposal to a named reviewer. The record includes the request, the applicable permission and the decision taken. Completion is reported separately from preparation, so a person can see whether an order was actually placed.
Terms and contribution
Delegation and accountability are established ideas. Governable Delegation Framework (GDF-5) is the author’s proposed design synthesis across authority, semantics, failure, legitimacy and delivery. The formulation does not imply that the individual mechanisms are new, or that the framework has been independently validated.
Read in this order
- From Interface Craft to Governable Delegation — Read the original GDF-5 formulation and its five areas of design responsibility.
- Designing for agency — Extend delegation into the organisational allocation of roles and permissions.
- Design Governance OS — Consider the decision records and review practices needed to implement a delegation policy consistently.