Charlie Whyman explores why knowing when to let go of technical work can be just as important as knowing when to bring in specialist expertise.
There’s a phrase I keep hearing in aviation: “he who shouts the loudest wins.”
I’m not sure I agree.
When I look at the businesses I work with, the person holding things back isn’t always the loudest person in the room. Quite often, it’s the quiet one.
It’s the engineer who doesn’t quite want to hand over the technical records review because they know exactly what they’re looking for. The specialist who “just quickly checks” the workscope before it goes to the MRO. The person everyone turns to when a technical judgement needs to be made.
They’re not doing it to get in the way. They’re doing it because they care about getting it right. They’ve spent years building their experience, they know where things can go wrong and they don’t want something to be missed on their watch.
I know that person well because, if I’m honest, sometimes it’s me.
But there’s another version of the same problem that I’ve been thinking about more recently. Sometimes the work doesn’t just need to be handed to someone else in the team. Sometimes the right decision is to bring in expertise from outside the organisation.
And that can be harder than it sounds.
When experience becomes something you hold onto
Technical expertise is hard-earned. In aviation, it is built over years of working with aircraft, engines, records, maintenance programmes, operators, MROs and the decisions that sit around them.
So when you’ve developed that expertise, it’s natural to want to stay close to the work. You know the history. You know the asset. You know the issues that might not be obvious from a spreadsheet or a set of technical records.
The temptation is to think: I’ll just keep hold of this one. The problem is that this can gradually turn expertise into dependency.
A technical leader might continue to personally oversee every records review, develop every workscope, manage every MRO interaction or carry out every technical assessment because they know they can do it properly.
But the question isn’t always whether you can do something yourself. It’s whether you are the person who needs to be doing it.
Delegation isn’t just an internal exercise
We tend to think about delegation as something that happens within a team. You give a project to a colleague. You coach them, review their work and gradually give them more responsibility.
But there is another form of delegation that can be just as valuable: recognising when a project would benefit from specialist expertise that doesn’t need to sit permanently inside your organisation.
That might be an independent technical records review. It could be developing or challenging an engine workscope before going to an MRO. It could be supporting an airline or lessor through an MRO selection process, assessing the options and bringing an additional layer of technical and commercial experience to the decision.
In those situations, bringing in an external specialist isn’t necessarily about a lack of internal capability. Sometimes it’s about adding capability at the point you need it. And sometimes it’s about having someone who can look at a problem without being constrained by the way you’ve always done things.
“It’s quicker if I do it myself”
I’ve caught myself saying this more times than I’d like to admit.
Sometimes it genuinely is.
If something needs doing urgently and you have twenty years of experience, it can feel inefficient to explain it to someone else or bring another person into the process. But that immediate saving of time isn’t always the whole picture.
If your team is already stretched, taking on another technical project yourself may mean other priorities are delayed. If you’re spending senior engineering time working through records, comparing MRO proposals or developing a detailed workscope, what else isn’t getting done?
And if the project requires a particular depth of experience that you only need occasionally, does it make sense to maintain all of that capability internally?
Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. The important thing is to ask the question rather than defaulting to doing everything yourself.
The value of an independent perspective
There is another reason to bring in external expertise that is easy to overlook. Independence can be valuable.
When you’re close to an asset, a fleet or a maintenance programme, you naturally bring history and context to every decision. That’s usually an advantage. But it can also make it harder to challenge assumptions that have gradually become accepted as fact.
An experienced external technical specialist can provide a different perspective. They can ask why a workscope has developed in a particular way. They can challenge whether a proposed approach is still appropriate. They can compare an MRO’s recommendations against wider experience. They can identify questions that an internal team, simply because it is close to the operation, may not have thought to ask.
That doesn’t replace the knowledge of the airline, lessor or asset manager. It adds to it.
Knowing what to keep — and what to hand over
Of course, not every technical project should be outsourced. There are decisions where internal knowledge and accountability are essential. There are teams with the right experience and capacity to manage a project themselves. And there are situations where bringing in an external consultant would add little value.
The point isn’t to hand everything over. It’s to get better at recognising where external expertise can make a meaningful difference.
I think there are three questions worth asking:
- Do we have the specialist expertise we need?
Not just general technical capability, but the particular experience the project requires.
- Do we have the capacity to do it properly?
A capable technical team that is already stretched may not be the best team to take on another complex project simply because they technically can.
- Would an independent perspective improve the decision?
Sometimes having someone outside the day-to-day operation challenge the thinking is exactly what is needed.
The right kind of delegation
For me, good delegation isn’t about getting rid of work. It’s about making sure the right person is doing the right work at the right time.
Sometimes that’s someone in your own team. Sometimes it’s a specialist you’ve worked with for years. And sometimes it’s someone brought in specifically because they have experience you don’t need to maintain permanently in-house.
The same principle applies whether you’re delegating a technical records review to an experienced colleague or asking an external specialist to support a major MRO selection.
You still need clarity about the outcome. You still need the right technical oversight. And you still need to remain accountable for the decisions that matter. But you don’t necessarily need to personally do every part of the work.
I’m still working on this myself. I still have moments where I think, I’ll just check it quickly. Sometimes that’s the right thing to do. Sometimes it’s simply an old habit. The question I’m increasingly trying to ask myself is: “Am I the person who needs to be doing this, or would the project be better served by bringing in someone with the right expertise to do it?”
Knowing when to let go doesn’t mean stepping away from technical responsibility.
Sometimes it means recognising that the smartest way to stay in control of the outcome is to bring in the right expertise to help deliver it.
Continue the conversation
Charlie shares regular insights on LinkedIn around technical leadership, professional development and the challenges of knowing when to ask for help. Connect with Charlie on LinkedIn →
If you have a technical project where additional expertise, capacity or an independent perspective could add value, get in touch with the TGIS team at info@tgis.aero to discuss how we could help.
