How to write a project handoff email
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.
The Async Handoff is this email, written, with the four sections ready to fill. $14, instant download.
Leaving a client entirely? The Night Ops Handoff Kit has the handoff, the messages and the close-out checklist. $19.
Or take all thirteen files for $29 once.