Preparing a useful project handoff
Preparing a useful project handoff
This short manuscript is a hand-authored demonstration for Folio import and export. The project and people are fictional. It is not a customer book or AI-generated writing.
Start with the decision
Mara is handing an internal website project to Joel. The pages are published, but the work is not finished: someone must own support requests, approve future edits and decide what happens when a page becomes obsolete. A useful handoff tells Joel which decisions he can make and where he needs help.
The team first writes a one-page operating note. It names the owner of the public inventory, the location of the source files and the next review date. The note is deliberately shorter than the project history. A successor needs the current state before the reasons behind every past choice.
A small ownership table
| Item | Owner | Next check |
|---|---|---|
| Published page inventory | Joel | First Monday each month |
| Product facts | Mara | Before each release |
| Broken links | Support lead | After each deployment |
The names and review dates are invented. The table demonstrates how an imported document’s structure appears in exported formats; it does not assert that Folio creates or enforces these assignments.
Write down the boundaries
- Record which pages remain current.
- Keep the original source document beside the edited copy.
- Name the person who can approve a public claim.
Joel can fix a typographical error immediately. A change to a product entitlement goes back to the product owner. The distinction prevents an ordinary copy edit from becoming an undocumented product promise.
Reviewing the next change
A week later, a product update changes how a file is exported. The existing guide is no longer precise. Joel opens the source manuscript, marks the affected passage and records the behavior he observed in the product.
Check the complete handoff
He reads the web page, opens the PDF and checks the Word file. These are separate artifacts. A correct source paragraph does not establish that every exported file is readable or that a table fits the page. The PDF has fixed pages; the EPUB reflows; the Word file is intended for further editing.
For this demonstration, the complete manuscript contains two chapters, section headings, a short numbered list and a table. There are no footnotes, floating figures or elaborate page furniture. It is a modest example of document structure, not evidence of lossless import for every Word manuscript.
A review record
Joel records what he changed, which files he opened and what remains uncertain. The team can now distinguish a verified export from a file that merely exists. If a recipient needs a particular e-reader or print specification, that environment becomes part of the review.
The final step is simple: give the recipient the source and the exports together. They can inspect both, judge what survived and decide whether the result meets their publishing needs.