SOP: Verbal handoff vs written handoff ticket

SOP: Verbal handoff vs written handoff ticket

Run this every time work passes from one person or team to the next.

Stage 1 — Rate the handoff (owner: sending party)
☐ Will the receiver act on it later, not immediately?
☐ Are there preconditions, context, or gotchas they must know?
☐ Could this handoff get audited or disputed later?

Stage 2 — Choose
☐ Written ticket: durable, searchable, unambiguous owner. Use whenever the receiver acts later or context is non-trivial. Cost: takes 3 minutes to write properly.
☐ Verbal/quick ping: fast, fine for trivial, immediate, low-stakes passes. Cost: no record, details evaporate, "I told you" disputes.

Stage 3 — Definition of done for any handoff (owner: sender)
☐ State the done-when condition the receiver must hit.
☐ Attach inputs/links so they don't chase you.
☐ Receiver acknowledges ownership before you consider it passed.

Tradeoff: verbal saves 3 minutes now and costs an hour reconstructing context later. Write the ones that matter.

Trigger: any handoff. Done-when: receiver acknowledged with a clear done-state.

Save this. Run it every time.