# The Handoff Brief

One page, five fields. It is the difference between a task that stays handed off and a task that is back on your desk by Friday. Fill all five before you hand anything off. If you cannot fill the last field, "what done looks like," you are not ready to hand it off yet, and that is the finding, not a formality.

The five fields answer the four reasons handoffs bounce, plus the finish line:

- **Outcome** answers "no outcome named."
- **Standard** answers "no standard."
- **Guardrails** answer "no guardrails."
- **Check-back cadence** answers "no check-back."
- **What done looks like** removes the last reason anyone comes back to ask.

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## The template

> **Task:** ______________________________________________
> **Handed to:** ____________________  **Owned by (start to finish):** ____________________
> **Date:** ____________
>
> **Outcome.** The specific result, with a number and a deadline. Not "handle X," but "every X over $____ gets ____ within ____ hours until ____."
>
> **Standard.** Where to find one done right (a named example, a photo, a filled form). "See the ____ account/job for the standard."
>
> **Guardrails.** The decisions this person can now make alone, and the exact line where it comes to the manager instead. Name the dollar figure or the condition.
>
> **Check-back cadence.** What they send you, and when. Then the rule: if it arrives and is moving, you do not ask about it in between.
>
> **What "done" looks like.** The observable end state, so nobody has to ask whether it is finished.

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## Filled example 1: Ridgeline Heating & Air

> **Task:** Past-due invoice follow-up (receivables over 15 days)
> **Handed to:** Dana, office coordinator.  **Owned by:** Dana, start to finish.
> **Date:** Jun 8
>
> **Outcome.** Every invoice more than 15 days past due gets a call the same day it crosses 15 days, and the calls continue until it is paid or on a written plan. Target: keep total past-due over 15 days under $12,000 at any time. It is $31,000 today.
>
> **Standard.** See the "Alvarez" account in QuickBooks for the trail every account should have: dated call notes, a promised-pay date, and a follow-up task set. Match that.
>
> **Guardrails.** Dana can offer up to a 5% courtesy on a documented service issue on her own, and can set a payment plan up to 3 installments. Over 5%, or a plan longer than 3 installments, goes to Renata. Nothing about collections or legal action is ever said to a customer; that is owner-only.
>
> **Check-back cadence.** The aging list, with notes, to the owner every Friday by noon. If an account is on the list and moving, the owner does not ask about it midweek.
>
> **What "done" looks like.** The Friday aging list shows every 15-day-plus account with a dated note and a next action, and the over-15-day total trends down week over week.

## Filled example 2: Greenline Landscaping (a different trade)

> **Task:** The Monday materials order and morning crew dispatch
> **Handed to:** Marco Reyes, crew lead.  **Owned by:** Marco, start to finish.
> **Date:** Apr 14
>
> **Outcome.** Every crew leaves the yard by 7:15 a.m. with that day's materials already loaded, so no crew makes a mid-morning supply run. Target: supply-run trips under 1 per week. They run 4 to 5 now.
>
> **Standard.** Build the order from the Thursday job board. See last week's order sheet for the format: quantity, item, the job it is for, the supplier.
>
> **Guardrails.** Marco places orders up to $1,500 per week with the two approved suppliers on his own. Over $1,500, a new supplier, or a same-day rush over $300, comes to the owner.
>
> **Check-back cadence.** A two-line text to the owner by 7:30 a.m.: crews out on time, yes or no, and any job short on materials. Nothing else during the day unless a crew is stuck.
>
> **What "done" looks like.** All crews out by 7:15 with no return trips, and the Monday text lands by 7:30 every week for three weeks running.

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## How to use it

Write the brief with the person, not at them. Read it out loud together, hand them the done example, and ask them to tell you what "done" looks like in their own words before they start. Five minutes now saves the late-night rescue later. Keep the filled brief where you both can see it, and when the task bounces, you fix the brief, not the person.
