A shared task can cross a city, a working day or a change in responsibility. Give the next
person a clear picture of the work and the decision they need to make.
These relative windows help distinguish time spent together from work that continues
through a handover.
Window A
Window B
Window C
The useful question is not only “when are we both here?” It is also “what needs to be
understandable when we are not?”
Write the relevant time reference explicitly in the working record. Keep a confirmed
arrangement separate from a remembered routine.
02 / A message prepared for its next reader
Hand over a state,
not a pile of history.
A short handover can preserve the purpose, the current position and the question that
matters next. Link the fuller context in the actual working system.
A compact relay note
Purpose
What the work is trying to make possible, in language the next person can use.
Current position
What has been established, what is provisional and which source supports that distinction.
Decision needed
The specific question the next person can act on, with the relevant boundary.
Return path
Who should receive the answer and what needs to be updated once the decision is made.
What did the response establish?
Separate a confirmed decision from a suggestion or a question. Save enough context for
someone who was not present to understand its scope.
Which record now changes?
Identify the task note, source material or working agreement affected by the answer.
Updating one message may leave another reader using an older version.
What remains open?
Keep the unresolved point and its owner visible. A handover can be useful even when it
carries a clearly stated uncertainty.
What should travel less widely?
Include the context needed for the work without copying unrelated personal or sensitive
material into every channel. Use the actual access arrangements for the sources.
A good relay leaves the next person less reconstruction and a clearer next question.