Hand over an unfinished task without losing the decision
A task handover is useful when another person can resume the work without reconstructing the entire conversation. A transcript preserves what was said. A handover should preserve what matters now.
The template below is an original working method, not a measured productivity claim. Use it when changing sessions, pausing a project or asking a colleague to review the current state.
Lead with the unfinished result
State the intended outcome and the part that remains incomplete. “Continue the website” is too broad. In a fictional example, “The contact page is implemented; delivery to the intended inbox still needs a controlled check” identifies both progress and the unresolved job.
Include any accepted constraints that affect the next action: language, target environment, deadline or a boundary on what may be changed. Keep the distinction between an explicit requirement and your own implementation choice.
Point to the current artifact
Give the file, document or review link that contains the latest work. Record the relevant version when multiple copies exist. If changes are local and not published, say so. A link to an older public page can otherwise look like evidence for work that exists only in a draft.
Do not paste credentials or customer records into the handover. Refer to the approved access path and describe the permission needed. Another person should be able to locate the artifact without inheriting secrets in a conversation export.
Preserve the evidence and its limit
List the checks that actually ran and their observed results. Keep “build passed” separate from “the customer journey worked.” Include a failed check if it still explains an unresolved issue, with enough context to avoid repeating a known dead end.
For the fictional contact page, the record could contain a passing validation test, a screenshot of the confirmation state and an explicit statement that inbox receipt is unverified. Those items support different parts of the task. None should silently stand in for the missing delivery observation.
End with one concrete next action
Name the smallest action that would move the task toward completion. Add the decision it will inform. If a user or colleague must answer a question, write the question and the consequence of each answer rather than a vague “waiting for feedback.”
A useful prompt is:
Prepare a handover with the intended result, current artifact and version, accepted constraints, checks actually observed, unresolved decision and one next action. Distinguish local work from published behavior. Remove obsolete plans and private data.
Review the generated handover against the actual files. A confident summary can still omit a limitation or preserve an abandoned approach.
Make resumption a verification step
Before continuing, the recipient should confirm that the referenced artifact still exists and the recorded state is current. Another session may have changed the project since the note was written. Rechecking one relevant version is usually more useful than accepting an old summary as current truth.
Use the evidence checkpoint to structure that review. If the next action is clear but the session has stalled, the Keep Working deck provides a short intervention to paste into your working conversation. The deck supplies text; the handover and its evidence remain your responsibility to verify.