Use SBAR…

When This Fires

• When transferring responsibility for work to another person (colleague, contractor, successor)
• When handing off to your future self after a break (vacation, context switch, end of day)
• When escalating an issue to someone with decision authority
• When documenting the state of an ongoing project for team visibility

Common Failure Mode

Status-only handoffs: "The project is at stage 3, the client sent feedback yesterday, the deadline is Friday." This covers Situation but omits Background (why is it at stage 3? Were there setbacks?), Assessment (is Friday realistic? What are the risks?), and Recommendation (what should the recipient prioritize? What should they avoid?). The recipient has facts without context, which is only marginally better than no handoff at all.

The Protocol

(1) When handing off work, structure your communication in four parts: S — Situation: "The [work item] is currently [state]. [Key facts about current status]." B — Background: "We got here because [relevant history]. Key decisions were [choices and reasons]. Constraints include [limitations]." A — Assessment: "I believe [interpretation]. The main risk is [risk]. I'm [confident/concerned] about [aspect]." R — Recommendation: "I recommend [next action]. Watch for [potential issue]. Priority is [what matters most]." (2) Include all four parts even when some seem obvious — what's obvious to you is often not obvious to the recipient. (3) For self-handoffs (end-of-day notes, pre-vacation documentation), write SBAR as if you'll have zero memory of the context when you return. (4) Keep each section concise: 2-3 sentences maximum. SBAR is a structure for completeness, not a license for verbosity.