How to write a one-page handoff document

Six months from now someone will open the thing you built and wonder how it works. It might be the owner. It might be a new hire. It might be you, if they call and you've forgotten.

A one-page handoff document is what that person reads. It's short on purpose. Nobody reads ten pages, and one page you'll actually finish.

Write it for a stranger

Imagine someone who has never seen this, doesn't know your business, and is a little stressed because something stopped working. Write for them. Plain words. No acronyms you haven't explained. No "as discussed."

Then test it. Hand it to someone who wasn't involved and ask them to do the main task using only the page. Where they get stuck, rewrite.

The template

Copy this and fill it in.

WHAT THIS DOES
One or two sentences. What problem it solves, for whom.

WHERE IT LIVES
Where to find it: the link, the app, the folder. Name the account it
belongs to (for example, "the shop's Google account, not anyone's personal one").

WHO CAN CHANGE IT
Names, not roles. Who's the main person? Who's the backup?

HOW TO USE IT DAY TO DAY
3 to 6 short steps. The ones someone does every time.

WHAT TO DO WHEN IT BREAKS
The two or three things that most often go wrong, and what to try.
Then: who to call, and how.

WHAT IT COSTS
Any subscriptions or fees. Price, billing date, whose card.

WHAT'S CONNECTED
Other tools or sheets it reads from or writes to. If you change
one of those, this might break.

LAST UPDATED
Date, and who updated it.

A filled-in example

Here's what the template looks like for a simple appointment reminder system. It's an illustration, not a real business.

WHAT THIS DOES
Sends a text to each customer the day before their appointment.
They reply C to confirm or R to reschedule.

WHERE IT LIVES
Google Sheet "Appointments" in the shop's Google account.
The texts are sent by the automation named "Reminders" in the same account.

WHO CAN CHANGE IT
Dana (main). Luis (backup).

HOW TO USE IT DAY TO DAY
1. Add each new booking as a row: name, phone, date, time.
2. Check the "Replied" column each morning.
3. Call anyone who marked R or hasn't replied.

WHAT TO DO WHEN IT BREAKS
No texts went out: check that the sheet has tomorrow's rows, then open the
automation and look at its latest run. If it shows an error, take a
screenshot and send it to Dana.
Phone numbers must be 10 digits, no dashes.

WHAT IT COSTS
Texting service: billed monthly to the shop card ending 1234.

WHAT'S CONNECTED
The automation reads the "Appointments" sheet. Don't rename its columns.

LAST UPDATED
October 25, 2026, by Dana.

Things people forget

Whose account it's under. The most common handoff failure is a fix set up under the builder's own email. When they leave, it breaks. Everything should belong to the business, not to a person.

The "don't touch this" parts. Say which columns, settings, or names can't be changed. People rename a column to be tidy and the whole thing stops.

The billing. If it costs money, write down what, when, and whose card. Surprise charges and lapsed subscriptions are both common.

The backup person. If only one person knows the system, you've moved the risk, not removed it. Name two.

Where to put it

Print it and keep a copy where the work happens. Also put it in a shared folder with a name people will look for, like "How the reminder system works." Link to it from the thing itself if you can, for example in the first row of the sheet.

A page in a folder nobody visits isn't a handoff.

Keep it alive

Put a date on it. When something changes, change the page. Set a reminder every six months to read it and see whether it's still true.

If it's getting long, you probably built something too complicated. That's worth knowing. There's also a handoff checklist you can use to make sure nothing is missing before you leave.