Most handover docs are a status report dressed up as a transition: long lists of “what” with no “why”, no named next owner per loop, and zero record of the decisions the previous owner already considered and rejected. Six weeks later the new owner re-runs those same arguments from scratch. These prompts force context, decision rationale, in-flight risks, and the tacit knowledge that only lives in the outgoing person’s head. Pair with the SOP drafting prompts for repeatable processes that don’t depend on you.
Best for
- Leaving a project
- Going on parental leave
- Role transitions / promotions
- Vacation coverage
- M&A integration
1. 1-page project handover
Draft a 1-page handover for project "{project}". Inputs: {paste status, owners, risks, links}. Output: project purpose, current status, in-flight risks, top 3 contacts, top 5 decisions made (with rationale).2. Role-handover document
I am handing my role to {name}. Help me write a role-handover doc. Output: responsibilities, recurring meetings (with purpose), recurring deliverables, stakeholders, open commitments, "what I would do differently next quarter".3. Vacation-coverage handover
I will be out {dates}. Draft a coverage handover for {colleague}. Output: 3 things they must own, 5 things they can decline, who to escalate to for each category, the 2 risks I worry about.4. Decision log
Draft a decision log for project "{project}". Inputs: {paste recent decisions}. Format: decision, date, owner, rationale, what we considered, what would trigger a revisit.5. “What only I know” knowledge dump
List the things only I know about {area}, broken into: technical context, political context, customer context, vendor relationships. Format each as a 2-line entry. Aim for 15 entries.6. Stakeholder map
Draft a stakeholder map for "{project / function}". For each stakeholder: name, role, their interest, their concern, the cadence I use with them, the 1 thing not to do.7. Open-loops list
List the open loops in my current role that the next owner will inherit. For each: what is open, who is waiting on whom, what unblocks it, what would happen if it stays open another month.8. Customer / account handover
I am handing account {customer} to {new owner}. Draft a 1-page handover: account history, contract status, last 5 interactions, open commitments, sensitivities, expansion opportunities, watch-outs.9. Engineering on-call handover
Draft an end-of-shift on-call handover. Active alerts: {paste}. In-flight investigations: {paste}. Output: open incidents, pending decisions, who I left waiting on me, runbooks I exercised.10. M&A integration handover
We acquired {company}. I led integration for {area}. Draft a handover for the new owner. Output: state of integration, decisions already made, decisions deferred, cultural watch-outs, regulatory commitments.11. Pre-resignation handover
I am resigning in {weeks}. Draft a thorough handover for my manager. Output: projects I will close before leaving, projects I cannot close, recommended next owners, training the team needs, what I learned that the team should keep.Common mistakes
- Listing “what” without “why” — next owner re-runs the rejected options from scratch
- No decision log, so reversals look like progress to people who weren’t in the room
- Skipping the “what only I know” tacit context — vendor quirks, internal politics, who hates whom
- Open loops with no named next owner — every loop without an owner becomes nobody’s
- Handing over too late to be useful — written the morning of your last day, never read
- Treating the handover as one-way: no scheduled overlap call for the new owner to ask follow-ups