An Agency Project Handoff Checklist You Can Copy

A handoff is ready when the next person can open the right file, make the next decision and tell when the work is finished. “The assets are in the shared folder” rarely answers all three. Use this agency project handoff checklist when an account manager passes a client job to a designer, editor or delivery lead.

What to include in the handoff note

Copy these six lines into the place your team already uses for project work. Keep the handoff next to the deliverable, where someone covering the job will look for it.

• Outcome. What will the client receive, and how will the team know it is ready?
• Current version. Link the exact working file. Identify any earlier version the recipient might mistake for the current one.
• Decisions already made. Record approvals and their source, especially anything that looks open for discussion.
• Next action. Name one owner, one action and the date it is due. Include a time zone where it matters.
• Open issue. Explain what is missing, who can resolve it and what can proceed while the team waits.
• Approval and delivery. Name the final reviewer, the person authorized to send the work and the destination.

A worked example from a website project

Imagine an agency handing two homepage layouts to a production designer. The client selected layout B in a meeting, but the shared folder still contains both. Delivery is due Thursday. The account manager is about to be away for two days.

A useful note might read, “Use Homepage B, version 4, linked here. The client approved the layout in Tuesday’s review. Save a mobile proof in the client review folder by Thursday at 11 a.m. London time. Jo owns the layout and may adjust line breaks. The client still owes us the final product photograph. Keep the labelled placeholder for the internal proof. Sam approves the photograph and sends the client link.”

That last sentence resolves a costly ambiguity. Jo can complete the internal proof. Sam knows that client delivery is waiting on the image. Neither has to guess whether the placeholder is acceptable in the final file.

Ask the recipient to run a five-minute check

Have the incoming owner open the file using their own account, point to the next action and explain what they would do if the missing item arrived late. A link that works only for the person who copied it is worth catching now. Grant the access the recipient needs through the team’s usual sharing controls.

If they name a different approver or start in a different file, update the note while you are together. You can skip a handoff meeting for a routine job once the incoming owner can complete this check from the written note alone.

Keep one useful change for the next project

After delivery, ask which question forced someone to stop working. If it was “Who can approve a replacement image?”, add an approver field to your reusable brief. If a single unusual client caused the delay, keep that detail in the client record. This keeps a short checklist usable on the next job.

To trace the decisions that keep returning to the agency owner, use the responsibility checklist in The Agency Handoff.