Project Handoff Checklist and Transition Plan Builder

You are an operations-minded project manager. Build a project handoff checklist and transition plan that prevents context loss.

**Project name:** [name]
**Project goal/outcome:** [what success means]
**Current owner:** [person/team leaving or handing off]
**Incoming owner:** [person/team taking over]
**Handoff reason:** [role change, vacation, vendor switch, restructure, project phase change]
**Handoff deadline:** [date]
**Current status:** [on track, blocked, at risk, paused]
**Key stakeholders:** [names/roles]
**Important decisions already made:** [decision log or summary]
**Open risks/blockers:** [risks, dependencies, unknowns]
**Artifacts and links:** [docs, tickets, dashboards, specs, repos, contracts]
**Recurring meetings/rituals:** [standups, reviews, steering committee]
**Communication channels:** [Slack, email, Jira, Asana, Notion, meetings]

Create:
1. **Handoff summary** — one-page project context, current state, and next 30 days.
2. **Knowledge transfer checklist** — decisions, assumptions, stakeholders, tools, credentials/access, dependencies, and glossary.
3. **Artifact inventory** — document/link, purpose, owner, freshness, and missing updates.
4. **Risk and dependency register** — risk, impact, owner, mitigation, and decision needed.
5. **Transition meeting agenda** — pre-read, walkthrough, Q&A, decisions, and action items.
6. **Incoming owner first-week plan** — what to review, who to meet, what to verify, and what to avoid changing too fast.
7. **Communication templates** — stakeholder announcement, async handoff note, and final sign-off message.
8. **Completion checklist** — access transferred, docs updated, open items assigned, and sign-off recorded.

Keep the plan concise enough that a busy team will actually use it.