Vocations · Professional Development

Leave the job
in good hands.

The hardest part of a handover is the knowledge nobody wrote down: the payroll step you do from memory, the vendor who answers only one person. List it, rank it, and track whether each item is both written and taught before your last day.

Start a handoverWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Job search kit, $29 for 34 items.

Your handovers

The worked example is made up: an office manager retiring at year end with payroll partly written and the alarm codes in their head, and a lab technician moving on. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Vocations · Professional Development$5

What you finish with
A record per role: the role, last day, successor and reason, every piece of knowledge with its kind, priority, whether it is written down and whether it is taught, and six handover steps. Counts items, high-priority items not yet written and taught, and days to the last day; flags those items, passwords and codes, judgment that needs practice and a missing successor.
Who it is for
People retiring, changing jobs or going on leave, and the managers planning for it.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per handover. Prints the handover list for your successor and manager, every handover in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Job search kit ($29) and the Vocations Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Professional Development space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Set your last day and name the successor.
  2. List everything people come to you for.
  3. Rank each item and start with the high ones.
  4. Write it down, then teach it, then watch them do it.
  5. Give your manager the printout before you go.

Start a handover

Show, watch, let go

Handing over what you know1List itWhat people ask you, what runsyearly, what would break2Rank itHigh: would stop work or costmoney if missed3Write itSteps, contacts, where thingsare, why decisions were made4Show itThe successor watches you doit5Watch themThey do it while you are thereto help6Let goThey do it alone; you answerquestionsHanding over what you know1List itWhat people ask you, what runs yearly,what would break2Rank itHigh: would stop work or cost money ifmissed3Write itSteps, contacts, where things are, whydecisions were made4Show itThe successor watches you do it5Watch themThey do it while you are there to help6Let goThey do it alone; you answer questions
Written steps carry the process; judgment and relationships move only through time together. Start the riskiest items first.

What usually gets lost

Yearly tasks, informal contacts, the reasons behind past decisions and judgment calls are what disappear when someone leaves. Processes done every week tend to survive; the once-a-year renewal does not.

Access done properly

Passwords, codes and accounts should move through the employer’s IT or password manager, not a document or a sticky note. Write down what exists and where it is kept, and let IT handle the rest.

Sources

  1. Leonard, D., & Swap, W. (2005). Deep Smarts: How to Cultivate and Transfer Enduring Business Wisdom. Harvard Business School Press.
  2. Society for Human Resource Management. Succession planning and knowledge transfer (shrm.org).
  3. U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Knowledge management and transfer guidance (opm.gov).
  4. National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2024). Digital Identity Guidelines, SP 800-63, on shared secrets (nist.gov).

The worked examples are made up. Follow your employer’s own policies for records and access. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.