Your handoff and exclusion map

Walk it in the order a person meets it

Reviewing a process means reading the policy and looking at the form. Walking it means following one real request from the first moment a person touches the process to the moment they hear an answer, crossing every seam in the order the seams occur, and writing down what happens in the gaps. It takes about an hour for a process you already know, and a good deal longer for one you only thought you knew.

Two rules make the walk worth the hour. Start where the person starts, not where your unit starts; a process that begins for you when the file arrives began for them weeks earlier, often with a phone call nobody logged. And write the wait as the person experiences it, in days, with what they were told during it. Internal time is nearly invisible from the inside and it is most of what is visible from outside.

Then fill the map in, one set of six lines for each seam. Repair the seam inside your own step first. Take the seams you do not own to the people who do, one at a time, with the wait measured and a specific ask attached. Keep the finished map with the process, not in your own files, so that whoever holds this work next does not start from nothing.

A handoff and exclusion map for one process

Six lines for each seam in a process you touch. One page, written in the order a person meets it, ready to send to the owners you name.

Process, and the point where a person first meets it Mid-year grant amendment that changes a service level. The first point a person meets it is the day the organization tells them the service is changing, which is also the first they hear of it.

Handoff, and the two owners on either side of it Seam two of four: program unit to contracting. Owners: the named program lead who approves the change, and the named contracting officer who issues the amendment.

What moves, and what does not move with it The amendment request and the approval move. The reason for the change, the notice date the organization was promised, and the name of whoever will tell participants do not move.

The wait, and what the person hears during it Eighteen days between approval and an issued amendment. Participants hear nothing. The organization is told to wait for paperwork, with no date and no contact.

Who could be excluded here, and what it costs them Participants who need the current service level until the new one starts, and those who read in a language other than English. The organization, which cannot plan staffing. Cost: a gap in service and a month of uncertainty.

First fix, owner, and the next review point Attach a named participant-notice owner and a plain-language summary to every amendment request, and add the expected issue date to the contracting acknowledgment. Owners: the program lead and the contracting officer. Review together at the agreed point.

Copy the six lines, fill one set for each seam in a process you touch, repair the seam inside your own step, and send the map to the owners you named with one specific ask for each seam you do not own.

Browse and download only. Staff notes are not typed or saved on this page.

First fixes that need nobody's permission

Name a person, not a unit, as the next owner on everything that leaves your step.
Keep the plain-language and translated versions attached to the same record as the final text, so a last edit cannot leave them behind.
Send one line to the person waiting whenever the work moves: where it is, who has it, and roughly how long.
Carry the access record forward: the format, the interpreter, the contact method and any extra time already agreed.
Put the deadline the person is under at the top of what you hand over, not buried in the body.
When you return something for correction, say exactly what is missing, name a contact, and say whether the clock restarted.
Ask the unit you hand off to most often what they always have to chase you for, and then stop making them chase it.

Taking a seam you do not own to the person who does

Bring one seam, not the whole map

A full map invites a discussion about the map. One seam, with the wait measured and the effect named, invites a decision. Keep the rest of the page for later conversations with other owners.

Bring the effect, not the frustration

This takes too long is a complaint. Eighteen days here, and the organization holds payroll through it, is a finding. The second version can be acted on, and it does not require anyone to accept blame before they can help.

Bring an ask they can actually grant

Ask for something inside their authority: a named contact on the rejection letter, an expected date in the acknowledgment, one field removed from a form. If the fix needs approval further up, ask them who to approach and whether they will come with you.

Repair your own seam first

What you can change

You control the seam on your own side: what you attach, who you name, what you tell the person waiting, and whether the access record travels with the work.

What to watch for

Do not send the map upward and wait. A map with nothing fixed on your own side reads as a complaint about other people's steps, and it will be received that way.

Your next step

Make one fix inside your own step this month, tell the units on either side of you what changed, and then take the next seam to its named owner.

Your finished map shows four seams. One is inside your own step; three belong to other units. Which first move is most likely to produce an actual repair?

Send the full map to leadership in all four areas and ask for the fixes to be assigned.

Repair the seam inside your own step, then take one other seam at a time to its named owner with the wait measured and a specific ask.

Hold the map until every step has been verified with every unit, so the version you send is beyond dispute.

Circulate the map to the three other units at once and ask each to reply with a plan.

Try a situation

You have walked a process you support and filled in the map. It shows four seams. One sits inside your own step. Two belong to units in other parts of the department, and one belongs to a central service you rarely deal with. The longest wait on the page is at a seam you do not own.

What is the most effective first move?

Send the completed map to leadership in all four areas and ask for the fixes to be assigned to the right owners.

Repair the seam inside your own step first, then take one other seam at a time to its named owner, with the wait measured, the effect named and one specific ask they can actually grant.

Hold the map until you have verified every step with every unit involved, so the version you circulate is beyond dispute.

Carry this forward

Repair the seam inside your own step before the map goes anywhere. It is the only part that needs nobody's permission, and a completed fix is what makes the rest of the map credible.
A seam you do not own still needs a named person, a measured wait and one specific ask, rather than a copy of the whole map and a general concern.
Ask for something inside the other owner's authority: a named contact on a rejection letter, an issue date in an acknowledgment, one field removed. Save the larger redesign for the people who can authorize it.
Keep the map with the process rather than in a personal file, so the next person to hold the work inherits what you learned.

A completed handoff and exclusion map, a scenario about what to do with the seams you do not own, and a private reflection on accountability and repair.

Fill the map in for one process this month, repair the seam inside your own step, tell the units on either side of you what changed, and take one other seam to its named owner with a specific ask.

What you’ll be able to do

Walk it in the order a person meets it

A handoff and exclusion map for one process

First fixes that need nobody's permission

Taking a seam you do not own to the person who does

Repair your own seam first

What you can change

What to watch for

Your next step

Try a situation

Carry this forward

Your next step

Your handoff and exclusion map

What you’ll be able to do

Walk it in the order a person meets it

A handoff and exclusion map for one process

First fixes that need nobody's permission

Taking a seam you do not own to the person who does

Repair your own seam first

What you can change

What to watch for

Your next step

Try a situation

Carry this forward

Your next step