Going to Holiday? Do Others a Favor
Never miss a handover document.
Hello friend! 👋
Basma here. Thank you for reading An Engineer's Echo. Your weekly publication of stories to equip you with the soft and hard skills to fast-track your growth in software engineering.
Reading Time: 4 mins.
Every time someone decides to go on holiday in my team, I feel happy for them. But at the same time, I think, "What about the work they are still working on?"
There have been many times that I can count when the team would wonder about the status of the tasks that person X was handling before going on holiday.
It becomes annoying if there's outstanding work that needs to be done, but we know nothing about its state.
It becomes even more annoying if the person who went on holiday was leading or handling a large part of a project and leaves without informing others of status updates of every milestone of the project, and what others need to pick up.
So, do your team a favor and write a good handover document before you leave.
Anyone can write a handover document, but very few write a good handover document.
So, here’s what we’ll discuss:
How to use your handover document to build your credibility.
Why you need to prepare your handover early.
How to write a good handover document.
To write a good handover document, follow these steps:
List all in-progress and finished work: Provide a comprehensive list of all tasks and projects that you have been working on during the week or sprint.
Detail in-progress work: For tasks that are still in progress, specify what remains to be done. Include any pending actions, milestones, or dependencies.
Attach relevant links: Include links to relevant resources such as pull requests (PRs), documentation, Jira tickets, or any other pertinent materials that provide context or facilitate the continuation of the work.
Address urgency: If there are outstanding tasks that are urgent, privately ask team members if they are willing to pick up the work.
Publicly announce assignments: Once responsibilities have been delegated, publicly announce who has agreed to work on which tasks. This ensures transparency and accountability within the team.
Handle unavailability: If certain team members are not available or if you prefer not to reach out directly, clearly mention in the handover document which tasks are urgent and need to be picked up. This ensures that no critical work is left unattended.
By following these steps, you can create a clear and effective handover document that ensures continuity of work and smooth transitions within the team.
Write a handover document to earn your team’s trust.
Writing a handover document shows your consideration for people's time, and that you are trustworthy and attentive.
We've all experienced the chaos caused by someone leaving without providing any updates on their work. Don't be that person!
In today's software engineering ups and downs world, effective communication and interpersonal skills are proving increasingly important. AI advances remind us of this fact daily.
So, mastering written communication is crucial.
By showing care for others' time, you build trust within your team. Make this a regular practice, and you'll establish solid credibility among your peers.
Any leave, be it short or long, requires a handover document.
Some people mistakenly believe that only extended absences need a handover document.
This is wrong.
Handover documents are often crucial even for brief vacations. This is because certain tasks may be blocking others and need immediate attention.
So, make sure to provide clear guidance on what tasks need to be addressed next before you go on holiday, regardless of its duration.
Do yourself a favor, and prepare your handover document well in advance.
Don’t wait until the last hour before you log off to start preparing it.
Doing so increases the likelihood of missing important points.
Be proactive and aim to draft the document or post it for review by the team well before you sign off.
This also provides an opportunity for team members to ask any questions, especially if the handover document is lengthy.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, let me know by hitting the like button ❤️ to help others find it on Substack, and share it to spread the love!
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That’s all folks, let me know what you think of this article in the comments.
Or speak to me on direct message on any tech topics you’d like! I’d love to hear from you. :)
Speak soon,
— Basma
I think handover document are useful for long term leave.
For short term, if you already have a culture of knowledge sharing and great documentation probably you don't need anything special, it bypasses the bus factor.
Thats atleast in my case.
I’ve never written a handover document, but this strategy seems comprehensive.
During my consulting and freelancing period, we did sync before someone went on leave from our team, but those were very brief syncs since we closely followed the planning we did through our issue tracker.
Appreciate the mention! 🤝