The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - How to Receive and Give an Effective Project Handoff

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Welcome back to the People, Process, Progress podcast, the podcast dedicated to fostering pragmatic optimism in your professional world. Today, we're tackling a universal challenge: the art of the good project handoff.Whether you're a healthcare professional transitioning patient care, a software developer handing off a project, or simply passing the baton in any collaborative effort, a smooth handoff is crucial for success. So, let's dive in and explore some key elements for both providing and receiving a stellar handoff.Godspeed y'all,Kevin

Hey everybody, welcome back to the People Process Progress podcast. Again, I'm your host, Kevin Pannell, and I am porting another episode of the Hope Is Not a Plan podcast. This one is from March of last year, 2024. It's how to give and receive an effective project handoff. And this is critical because whether you get a brand new clean slate project or maybe you're asked mid-project to take over for another project manager, we need to both be ready to receive information,

understand the message, understand the status where we're at, how we can pick up, and then also be able to relay that information. And two of the areas that I focus on, an example is just the art of the sender. So how do I effectively send messages through documentation, the pitch I give, the status, the data, and the intangibles, kind of what's the feeling. And then as the receiver, how can I switch on receiver mode and familiarize myself with the use case,

and the plan, and the objectives, and start thinking ahead on questions I can add, and how I can work with the team. So again, I recorded this over a year ago, but it is very relevant today, and I'm trying to port a lot of the great content that I got both from folks that I interviewed and hope is not a plan and From some of you all from the listeners that gave me ideas and asked me to talk about certain things

So again here is how to give and receive an effective project handoff But first please silence your cell phones hold all sidebar conversations to a minimum Let's get logged in and get locked on to this episode of the People Process Progress Podcast in three, two, one. Hey, everybody, welcome to the podcast, the podcast dedicated to fostering pragmatic optimism in your professional world. Today, we're tackling a universal challenge, the art of the good handoff, more specifically,

how to give and receive of the good handoff, more specifically how to give and receive an effective project handoff. Whether you're a healthcare professional transitioning patient care, a software developer handing off a project, or simply passing the baton on a collaborative effort, a smooth handoff is crucial for success. So as we dive into this episode,

I'm gonna use some medical examples from my time as a hospital, core, and EMS provider and how now practically as a program or project manager, you can use these skills for both providing and receiving a stellar handoff. But first, welcome to the podcast where we address tough questions head on, face our problems, and highlight our hopes by providing actionable planning steps to improve ourselves, mind, body, and spirit. Now let's get logged in and get locked on to this episode. You're an emergency medical technician rushing a patient to the hospital. As you arrive, you need to efficiently hand off care to the emergency room team. This handoff is critical for ensuring the patient receives seamless

and efficient treatment. The same is true if you're a project manager and you've been with the team a little bit. And for some reason, whatever that is, you have to transition that to one of your colleagues or to a completely different person that you may not have even ever met. It's vitally important that you have a good handoff for the success of that team and everyone in it. So here are key elements for providing a good handoff. I'm going to talk about four elements for providing and four for receiving. So first the art of the sender. The first thing is update your documentation, right?

Just like a medical chart, you gotta ensure the project documentation's up to date. It's the latest, greatest news, so we're not dealing with old things. Project info isn't quite evergreen, but you know what I mean, you don't wanna have a two week old status report or update or just information in your head

when there's more up to date information that could positively impact the oncoming project manager. So this includes the latest status report. What are the potential risks and the known issues that are happening? Are they documented and who owns them and what you're going to do about them? Are their percentages on the task complete up to date? Are the key milestone dates correct? If you've gotten to the point where you've planned for a go live when you're going to

put this new thing or process in place Is that accurate to the best of the ability at the time? Have you reviewed the design documents? Are they the best ones to share and any other relevant communication tools or modalities that that you need to prepare or get ready for the Handoff to the next project manager that's going to be leading the process and supporting it The second key area for the art of the center providing handoff is to prepare your pitch. When you're handing off a project, think of it as presenting a case to a new doctor. Briefly summarize the purpose of the project and the roadblocks encountered in next steps.

Before you meet with the incoming project or program manager, talk about it in your head. Talk through it. Do your own elevator pitch. Think about what's the latest status? What are outstanding actions that I have opened that I need to do that I haven't done yet? The team has opened. What are those bottom line up front things and make sure you have them prepared so you're not scrambling during the transition period where in medical life or on the street, you know, when I used to work in the ICU at Bethesda Naval

Hospital, it was a short amount of time. I'm going off shift, so I want. You know, when I used to work in the ICU at Bethesda Naval Hospital, it was a short amount of time. I'm going off shift, so I want to go home, but I need to give a good handoff, and the new person coming in has a finite amount of time before they have to start patient care. Just like maybe in some project handoffs, I have to go somewhere because I'm asked to take care of another project,

or maybe I have something in my life that's drawing me away from it. Whatever the reason is, we need to be able to provide efficiency and not waste each other's time. The third thing for giving the handoff is review those data and status. So you pulled them together, you updated them earlier. Now we're going to go over those with the person we're handing off to.

So just like you'd share the patient's vital signs and medical history and provide the recipient a clear understanding of the projects data, the progress you've made and outstanding issues, right? Walk them through the documentation you've gone over and to the level that's needed, right? If you don't need to go to all the technical specs, don't. If you don't need to cover information because they already got kind of read in on the projects a little bit, that's great.

Just talk to the person that you're giving that handoff to. Sometimes you need a lot. Sometimes you need less. Also mention what the guardrails of the project are. We know projects, the big ones, the big three or big four are scope, schedule, cost, and quality. Are there any guardrails? Hey, we're authorized to spend this before we ask this person for that, or we can add

a few things if it makes sense to scope, but otherwise we need to take it through this process and just familiarize the other person with the processes of the project as well. Number four for me, this is maybe the most important share the intangibles right beyond the technical aspects. Share any institutional knowledge that you've gained about the project. This is vital because someone coming in won't have that. It might include insights into stakeholder preferences, potential roadblocks that you know are gonna exist

or are likely gonna exist, and even unofficial best practices, right? In this world now where we're so hybrid, Waterfall and Agile and Scrum and Six Sigma and whatever process your organization uses, some states have their own kind of thing. What are we doing here? What parts of what the book says are we using?

What parts of what the book says are we not using What parts of what the book says are we not using? How did the team decide to work together, right? Think about what do they really need to know? Who's on board with the project? Who's your supporters? Who do we have opportunity to build rapport with, right? These are intangible things that we can make more tangible by sharing the information

and then the incoming project manager can action those. So my four, and there's more and I'd love to hear it go to hopes not a plane calm Ask a question fill that feedback form out and let me know or respond to the comments when I when I post this on hopes Not a plane calm But I think we should update our documentation. We should prepare ourselves prepare a pitch We should review that data and status with the person that's coming in. And then we should share the intangibles that aren't in a spreadsheet or in a Gantt chart or somewhere, but the things that they need to know to effectively protect the team, support the team, and foster success among the project. Now, let's switch to our receiver hat, right? Let's switch perspectives

and imagine we're the ER doctor receiving patient info from the EMT. Right? Our ability to receive the handoff is just as crucial in ensuring the patient's well-being. Well, it's just as crucial in the project's well-being because we are new coming into this team and there's some things that we need to consider and we're going to go over these right now. The first is switch on receiver mode. Right? You need to actively listen and engage with the sender, ask some clarifying questions, and I'll talk about those more in a bit, and try and avoid distractions, right?

Especially if you're doing this remotely. It's easy to be listening, uh-huh, yep, uh-huh, and you're looking at another screen or you're looking at your phone. Let's get some focus time here. We're adults, we can do that, right? Remember, it's not multitask time. It's time to pay attention to the person that's talking to you because who knows the stress they have right?

They're giving up this thing they worked on whether by choice by necessity or not their choice at all And so it's important and it's helpful for us to pay attention to them Here's here's here's the overall principle listen to you know What's being shared not just to respond right to jump to. Oh, I'm going to do this now because I'm coming in a good model that I learned when I was part of an internet manager team and those are teams that go around after tornadoes, they help whole cities and stuff, you know, find missing people and really good stuff that I'll talk about more throughout this podcast

life cycle, but it's the CUDC method. And this means communicate or to receive, understand, which is you, the message, D is decide the next steps, and I'm gonna give you some of those, what I think work well for being a receiver of these. And then you're gonna communicate again a direction. So it's kind of like restating

what the person just told you. I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna say, okay, I understand or I don't understand here. I'm gonna decide, okay, for this thing, I should probably do this or that. And then I'm gonna say, okay, I understand or I don't understand here. I'm gonna decide, okay, for this thing, I should probably do this or that. And then I'm gonna actually communicate that. And I would do that with the person that's giving you the brief,

because now remember we're in receiver mode, and say, does that sound right? This is what I heard, and kind of verify it with them. The second thing in receiver mode, the receiver's responsibility, is to familiarize yourself with the use case or the base plan, or both, really. This is like understanding the patient's medical history, but it helps us grasp the project's purpose, the goals, the overall approach, right? It helps us

understand the contacts and it helps us ask relevant questions. So these are the foundational reasons for the project, like the why of the project, and so it's good for us to go look that up if you can, if you have a project management system where you just know where the documents is. Again, it's like that first assessment of a patient. It gets done. And whether it's on the street or in the ER or something, and it's a good baseline,

but the data and our perspective is gonna change, right? Based on what the patient does, the circumstances, and the same thing is true of a project. So we can read the initial business case and the initial why, and that's very important, but just know the updates you're going to get here in a little bit are going to be different than what that is. The schedule is not what we thought it was going to be. We had less budget or more budget.

The scope change, it got bigger or smaller. The quality though is something that shouldn't really change a whole lot. And if it does, that's part of us helping manage that. Number three is ask objective questions right don't be afraid to ask questions but frame them objectively to seek clarification rather than judgment right it fosters a more collaborative and open communication style and chatter and gossip they happen in the workplace on projects right but during this transition period let's try and let's try and get in the cone of

silence the circle of trust whatever we want to call it let's focus on the facts not in a robotic way right but but in a way that will help the sender feel more comfortable handing off this project to someone else right and it will help us the receiver at this point, be more prepared to support the team and the project. But we need to ask questions. Don't feel like, oh, I shouldn't ask questions as you just know what to do, because that's not true, right?

No one that just shows up, we could know process wise, hey, I think we should do this or that, but we gotta get this information from the person handing it off to us for those reasons I stated. Number four in receiver mode, start thinking about next steps. Now we've taken time, we've listened, we reviewed things,

we've gotten some feedback, and all this could be happening in half an hour. Could be happening in five minutes, right? Depending on the emergency, the emergent nature of it, it could happen in an hour if you have a long actual plan thing, and some of those shorter durations are more emergent things, right, emergency management type stuff, healthcare stuff,

projects usually we have some time, but sometimes we don't. So as you're thinking about your next steps, as you're receiving the information, kind of begin mentally to formulate once you've received and demonstrate your engagement, right? Because you're being asked to take on a project, not just to do what the other person did, but to be who you are.

So now you've heard the status, you familiarize yourself with the concept of a project, not just to do what the other person did, but to be who you are. So now you've heard the status, you familiarize yourself with the concept of the project, you've asked good questions, it's time to think about actions. So here are some things that I found helpful when I've been the receiver and come in and taken over. Set up one-on-ones with members of the team. This will help build relationships, show that you want to hear them, and that's the thing is we're going to go back in receiver mode,

but we're gonna ask what's working. What should we keep and what should we change? Super simple questions, right? And I want to hear that from the folks that have been here. Now, having said that, the second kind of subset of starting to think ahead is to consider the timing of any changes that you feel like the team could benefit from, that the project can benefit from, that you feel like would help you as the owner of the

process and the supporter of the team do a better job at. Too much change too early just feels like you're kind of doing the metaphorical clear the table, put my stuff on it. That doesn't look good. It is probably too disruptive. And sometimes we do need to be disruptive. If let's say there's a process that's leaking money and the schedule's off, but you don't have to just clean house that way.

You can take your time, but consider the timing of it. Just think about it, whether it's real fast or you have time. And then the third kind of subset of thinking ahead to next steps is be the project manager that you are, not the one that was before you, not the one that somebody else thinks you should be. That is natural and helpful to lead and support the team as you feel best.

Now we're not going to do this in a silo. We've gotten feedback from the team, but you are chosen to be a program manager or project manager or a leader of a team because someone believes in you. And so you need to believe in yourself and realize, okay, I'm not going to just wipe the slate. I'm going to get the scoop from the team, but I'm going to do this a bit my way. Right?

There's a reason that you're asked. You've probably been successful. And so I found that very helpful, right? Whether it's the tools, the techniques, the language you use, you are who you are, and you are the person that your leaders, that the team wants to help get them through this project, whatever it is. So I really believe by following the elements I've mentioned

as both the sender and the receiver, everybody can contribute to a smooth and successful handoff. But remember, good handoff isn't just about passing information. It's about transferring ownership. Now you're the PM or the program manager, now you own it, now you're the patient caregiver.

Anything that happens with that patient is on you. Anything that happens with that project is on you. Build trust with the team members, with your leaders, and ultimately you will set this project up for success. Thank you everybody again for joining me. Shout out to Jennifer for the great feedback and inspiration on Reddit today. That was very helpful. I appreciate it.

Thank you for subscribing and listening. I hope this episode equips you with the tools to navigate your next handoff whatever that is with confidence and collaboration and remember a little planning goes a long way to ensure a smooth transition and ultimately fostering a more hopeful project journey. I'm on LinkedIn Kevin Pennell so I look forward to hearing from you all. And I appreciate the opportunity to share what I've learned, what's been taught to me to help others. I really think that's what this platform is all about.

Stay safe, everybody. Wash those hands. And I wish you all God speed.