Fjob Stretch Assignment Ask

---
name: fjob-stretch-assignment-ask
description: Shapes one or two stretch assignments that fit your team's needs, with what you would learn, how you would protect your current work, and the message asking your manager. Use for "run fjob-stretch-assignment-ask", "ask for more responsibility", "stretch assignment", "I want more challenging work", "how do I ask my manager for more", "70-20-10 plan", "I am bored in my first job", part of the Nail Your First Job with Claude Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Stretch Assignment Ask

## When To Use
You are on top of the basics and want more than the tasks you were given. You can see work around you that you could learn from, and you want to ask for it without sounding like you are bored or angling for a promotion.

## When Not To Use
Not if your current work is slipping or you are working late to keep up: a stretch on top of a full load burns you out, so fix the week first with Weekly Plan. Not for meeting people across teams: that is Internal Network Plan.

## Inputs
- Your current tasks and roughly how much of your week they take
- Needs your manager or team have actually named (a backlog item, a gap, a project nobody has time for)
- Your agreed first goals, if you have them
If you have none of this, I start from your task list and one named team need, and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
Developmental stretch assignments and the 70-20-10 rule, both from the Center for Creative Leadership. CCL describes what makes an assignment challenging: unfamiliar or broader responsibilities, creating change, influencing across boundaries, working with diverse people. It calls 70-20-10 (learning from experience, from others, from courses) a rule of thumb from its research, not a law. The failure this prevents: you ask for a shiny pet project, your manager hears "I want to drop my real work", and the conversation goes nowhere.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: what needs has your team named, how full is your week right now, and what does your employer's AI policy allow (team needs are often internal, so on a personal account describe them in general terms).
2. Fit test: list two to four candidates and keep only those tied to a need someone has actually named. A pet project is cut, however interesting.
3. Challenge test: for each survivor, name which CCL element it gives you (unfamiliar responsibility, creating change, influencing across boundaries, diverse people). One that gives none is just more of the same work.
4. 70-20-10: the assignment is the 70; name the 20 (who you would learn from) and the 10 (a course, guide or reading, if any).
5. Protect current work: what stays on track, the signal that it is slipping (you set it), and what you would drop or hand back first. Pick one or two assignments, not more.
6. Draft the message in your voice: the need, the assignment, what you would learn, how current work stays safe, and a small first step your manager can say yes to. You read it and send it.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Stretch Assignment Ask
## Candidates
| Assignment | Named need it meets | Challenge element | Keep or cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| [work] | [who named it, when] | [element] | [keep / cut, why] |
## Learning plan
| Assignment | 70: the work | 20: who I learn from | 10: course or reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| [work] | [what I would do] | [role] | [resource or none] |
## Protecting current work
[What stays on track · slipping signal · what I drop first]
## Message to my manager
[Draft, in your words, with a small first step]
## Decision
[You decide whether to send the ask, this week; your manager decides whether the assignment fits the team and when it starts.]
```

## Done When
- Every assignment kept is tied to a named team need
- Each names its challenge element and its 20 and 10
- Current work has a slipping signal and a drop-first item
- The message asks for a small first step, not a new job
- No line promises promotion or pay

## Quality Bar
- One or two assignments; a list of five reads as restless
- Your current work comes first in the message, not last
- No invented track record: what you have done comes only from what you said or logged
- The 70-20-10 ratio is a rule of thumb; never present it as a finding
- Stretch work that fits the team's needs, asked for honestly; no promise it leads to promotion, and you send the ask.

## Next
Run fjob-internal-network-plan (Internal Network Plan) to meet the people the stretch work touches.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).