Something to doChanging jobs
Leave a clean handoff
A simple worksheet for handing over your work before you leave, so the next person can pick it up without calling you
Why it’s worth your time
When you leave, your context leaves with you unless you write it down. A clear handoff lets the next person pick up your work without guessing and protects the people who depended on it. Written from their side rather than yours, it can save them weeks of piecing things together.
How to write a handover before you leave
You’ll come away with a written handoff for each piece of your work, and a successor who has walked through it with you.
We’ll send you a calendar invite.
- Find out who's taking what.
Ask your manager who will pick up each piece of your work, and when they'd like the handoff. If nobody is named yet, write it for whoever it turns out to be.
Tip: Ask the person picking it up what they'd most want to know. It's their document more than yours.
- Write it down, one piece of work at a time.
Fill in the sheet below for each project or responsibility. Short answers are fine. Write for someone smart who wasn't in the room.
Stays in this browser only. Nobody else sees it.
- Walk them through it in person.
At least a week before your last day, go through the handoff together, live. The questions they ask are the gaps in what you wrote.
You“Which part of this would you most want to call me about after I've gone? Let's go through that one properly now.” - Introduce them to the people involved.
Send a short note to the people who work with you on each thing, saying who is looking after it from here. It hands over the relationships, not just the work.
To: the people you work with on itAs you may know, my last day is date. From here, name will be looking after the work, and I've walked them through where everything stands.
They're the best person to go to from date onward. Thank you for working with me on this; it's been a pleasure.
Swap the highlighted parts for your thing. Works on Slack, in email, or said out loud. - Say how long you'll be reachable.
Decide whether you'll answer a question or two after you leave, and for how long, and say so plainly. A clear limit is kinder than vague availability.
Good moments for this: before your last day in a jobbefore moving to another teambefore a long leave
We’ll send you a calendar invite.
Keep going with Truest
Small actions add up. Truest helps you find the next thing worth doing, make the space to do it, and keep a record of your progress. It’s a private place to work on your career, and it’s yours, not your employer’s.
- It actually happensWe’ll put it on your calendar and remind you before it starts.
- You know what’s nextTruest suggests the next small thing to try, based on what you’re working on.
- It’s yours to keepEach thing you do is saved to your private record, there when your next review or job search comes around.
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Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
The why behind past decisions is what saves your successor from reopening them.
What might make this harder
Write it anyway, addressed to whoever it turns out to be, and give it to your manager.
Questions people ask
What should a handover document include when leaving a job?
For each piece of work: what it is and why it matters, where it stands, where things live, who's involved, decisions already made and why, known problems, and what you'd do next.
How do I hand over my work before leaving?
Find out who is taking what, write a short handoff for each piece of work, walk them through it in person at least a week before you go, and introduce them to the people involved.
When should I start my handover?
As soon as you've told your manager. Writing takes longer than people expect, and you want time for a live walkthrough and follow-up questions before your last day.
Should I stay available after I leave a job?
It's up to you. If you offer, set a clear limit, such as a couple of weeks for quick questions.
Why this works, and where it comes from
When you leave, your files stay behind and your context goes with you: why the report is built that way, who needs a heads-up before the numbers go out, which step always breaks. Most of what makes work run is knowledge nobody wrote down, because the person who knew it was always there. A handoff is the moment to write it down.
What makes a handoff good is writing it from the other side. Your instinct is to list your projects and their status. What the next person needs is different: what they'll be asked, where the answer lives, who to go to, and why things are the way they are. Status goes stale in a week. The reasons behind past decisions stay useful for years, and they're what save your successor from reopening questions you already settled.
The walkthrough matters as much as the document. Reading it together, live, surfaces the gaps faster than any amount of rereading on your own, because their questions are the gaps. Asking which part they'd most want to call you about later, and going through that one properly now, is often the most useful ten minutes of your last month.
Handoff checklists exist in most workplaces in some form. What changes here is who it's written for. A clean handoff protects the people who depended on your work and gives your successor a fair start. That holds even when you're leaving on difficult terms, maybe especially then.
Other simple things to consider
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An exercise written by Truest, based on our experience. Last updated October 2, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.