Comments on: The only way to do a handover

By: Theresa Glenister

Theresa Glenister — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:29:04 +0000

Does anyone have a department handover template?

By: robfarley

robfarley — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 01:41:19 +0000

But that’s why you should practise. And anything that you find needs to be communicated outside the documentation should then be added to the documentation so that everything is known.

Wikis can help here too, of course.

By: Yasas

Yasas — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:28:06 +0000

I agree with what you say in general, but I feel that really does not solve the problem fully. Even though you document what you do, the chances are high that you miss the tiny little points that you consider are not important, obvious or already known by the new guy. These are the exact points that you would miss during a verbal handover or a typical semi-documented handover.
So, in my opinion, it has to be a combination of all those that would be used. All or most (depending the situation) of the hand-over methods such as documentation, peer working, verbal, emails, casual chats, sharing all the info available, introducing to all possible contact points etc. have to be done.
I personally had the same experience that you have had. When I left the previous employer, they allocated a new person quickly, but the new person left after few months! Due to the panic, they could not find the best match for the role, but sent the available one directly to the deep-end, obviously the pressure and the ask would have been too much. So, this proves that apart from all the above mentioned methods, it is important to find the best match for the role even though there can be practical situations which are truly difficult.

By: Kibble the wonder Ox and his trusty sidekick Grim Reaper

Kibble the wonder Ox and his trusty sidekick Grim Reaper — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:39:16 +0000

The same applies for promotion and not just with handover. If you share information with colleagues freely (as I know you do) then not only is handover a much simpler and smaller task, but your value as a knowledgable and capable employee is obvious at all times. Coupled with the documentation of howtos or knowledgebases identifying small but useful aspects of daily work this makes you an easy target for promotion. Conversely, the guy who hides all 'the secrets' is seen as such and because nobody understands what he does and nobody else can do his job, he's kept exactly where he is. Often these people are actually incompetent, one of the 'qualities' they are trying to hide.