Putting together a project handover plan is essential for project success. This is something that was likely covered during the project management training course you took. However, it is not always easy to remember what we learnt during whatever training for project managers you embarked on and to put this into practice. This is why we have put together this guide, or checklist of sorts to handovers, so that you have a reference when it comes to handing over a project and what needs to be considered.
What should be included in your project handover plan?
When putting together a project handover plan, there are a number of different elements that need to be covered. This includes the following:
- You must identify and manage the key stakeholders, including the group that is going to receive the handover
- You must identify clear roles for the recipients in the department that are taking on any new work, for instance, it might not be your responsibility for organising training; it could be theirs
- Clear risk management
- Get the target group involved as quickly as possible, including identifying someone on the project team that can act as a change agent
- Develop the right training for this group
- Address change management issues and how they will be handled
- Incorporate a communication plan that starts at the beginning of the project life
- A clear project handover date must be identified
This is a brief overview of what should be included when it comes to your handover plan for your project. Of course, you can add and create more specific items based on the nature of the project and the tasks that you are going to be carrying out.
What are the essentials when handing over a project?
No matter what sort of project you are working on, when you are ready to hand it over, you need to ensure that the following elements are covered for the new project manager:
- Collect the project initiation documentation or get the project charter if you have one
- Suggest the next steps for the new project manager
- Introduce the new project manager to the delivery teams
- Introduce the new project manager to the client
- List your contacts and their coordinates and make a note of how frequently you communicate with them and the different topics you should cover
- Write down the roles at the client’s office, for example, who is going to check the quality of the deliverable, who is the sponsor, and so on
- Gather all of the change requests
- Collect the documents that were involved in the initial offer; they must indicate clearly which one is the signed copy
- Get all of the business case information
So, there you have it: the complete guide to handing over a project. If you carefully consider everything that has been mentioned in this blog post, you can be confident that you have covered everything that is required next time you need to hand over a project.