Notes

How to write a project handoff email

A project handoff email covers what is done, what is next, where the files live, and who to ask. No meeting required.

Client handoff email template

Use four short sections: done, next, where it lives, who to ask. Add the decisions that are not obvious, or the next person will rebuild the work you dropped.

You're leaving a project, going on holiday, or passing work to another freelancer. The handoff call gets scheduled, everyone nods, and two weeks later the new person is messaging you asking where the logins are. A call is the wrong format. A handoff should be a document someone can come back to.

The four things every handoff needs

1. What's done. Finished work, with links. Not "most of the site is built". Which pages, where.

2. What's next. The open tasks in order, with any deadline attached. If something is half-done, say exactly where it stopped.

3. Where everything lives. Files, logins, the shared drive, the thread with the client. One line each, with the link.

4. Who to ask. The client contact, anyone else involved, and whether you're reachable after you leave and until when.

The email

Subject: Handoff: [project name], effective [date]

Then the four sections above as short headings. Keep each item to one line. If it takes a paragraph to explain, it's a risk, and it should be flagged as one.

The part people forget

Write down the decisions that aren't obvious. "We dropped the blog section in March because the client won't write posts." Without that line, the next person spends a week building it back.

A handoff is easier when the scope was written down, as in What to include in a freelance scope of work. If they want a call for it, read How to decline a meeting that should be an email.