Leaving my office better than I found it
October 19, 2009 9:20 AM Subscribe
How can I minimize pain for the person taking over my job?
My job will no longer be mine in about a month and a half. What are the most important things I should do to make things easy on my replacement?
They'll be using the same computer I am now - a separate account, but same hardware and access to the shared network drive. I'm trying to tidy up the file system there, and I've contemplated taking the keyboard home for a proper cleaning. I'm working on documenting the various recurring tasks, too. What else should I do?
My job will no longer be mine in about a month and a half. What are the most important things I should do to make things easy on my replacement?
They'll be using the same computer I am now - a separate account, but same hardware and access to the shared network drive. I'm trying to tidy up the file system there, and I've contemplated taking the keyboard home for a proper cleaning. I'm working on documenting the various recurring tasks, too. What else should I do?
Best answer: Can you send an email to anyone you work with regularly outside of the office (customers, vendors, associates at other locations of your company, etc) to "introduce" the new person? I realize that's not really your job, but it'd be nice to do. When I was in a service-type position, I sent a "heads up" email to my regular customers letting them know who they'd be dealing with in the future, and putting in a kind word for them. It helped lessen the blow (so to speak) so that when they got the official introductory email from my boss, it was already a familiar name.
posted by yawper at 9:31 AM on October 19, 2009
posted by yawper at 9:31 AM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: If you're leaving behind paper files, make sure those are tidied up as well and make sense. I think thorough documentation is the most helpful thing.
posted by amethysts at 9:34 AM on October 19, 2009
posted by amethysts at 9:34 AM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: You don't state what kind of work you do, so I'm going to try to make this as generic as possible:
1. A PRINTED copy of the contact information of all the people you work with. It's easy to say that "the contact information is on file in the rolodex/in Outlook contacts/in the files," but there are probably people who you've memorized their info, and so you can just zip a call right to them. Your successor will not have that knowledge, so if they have to call so-and-so, that will be a few minutes fumbling of "....wait, what's their number..." which can be a problem if you've got Sid Schlomo on the line asking to be transferred and they don't know why it's taking so long for the successor to find the number. Having a printed copy for them will let them place it where they need it, so they can just at-a-glance refer to it.
2. If you are the underling for someone, and you answer calls for them, also fill them in on "here's the people who you ALWAYS want to transfer their call for, no matter what." If your boss always wants to take a call from her sister, even if she's in the middle of a conference call, you successor needs to know that.
3. If there are any tasks that you were in the middle of for any reason (you've left a message with the Dunder-Mifflin contact but they haven't called you back yet), leave a memo stating clearly what it is that is pending, exactly what the circumstances are, what contact you made to them, and exactly what to do for either of their responses (i.e., "I called Sid and Dunder-Mifflin on Wednesday, because we need them to decide whether they want blue or pink. They wanted purple, but we don't have that, so I asked them blue or pink. I got Sid's voicemail; I told him all of this, but just in case he didn't hear my message, explain that we did use to have purple but we have discontinued that, so he has the choice of blue or pink. If he asks when it was discontinued -- we did that last year. If he does NOT call with an answer by NEXT Friday, call him again. When you finally get an answer, you need to send that information to Joe in the factory floor.")
4. To sum up -- any of the mundane, tiny details that are second-nature to you; that's the stuff that always falls through the cracks. It may be second-nature to you that you have to order new supplies by contacting Ethyl on the second floor, but your successor will need to know that. it also may be second-nature to you all to use email or chat to give each other messages, but your successor needs to know that. It's the tiny piddly details that tend to flummox newbies on the first day ("....So, WHO do I call to fix the printer again?")
5. Optional, if you want to make their day: leave them a way to contact you if they have any questions, and let them know if they have permission to give it out in case your college buddy calls the office and wants to know how to reach you now that you're not there any more.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:39 AM on October 19, 2009 [3 favorites]
1. A PRINTED copy of the contact information of all the people you work with. It's easy to say that "the contact information is on file in the rolodex/in Outlook contacts/in the files," but there are probably people who you've memorized their info, and so you can just zip a call right to them. Your successor will not have that knowledge, so if they have to call so-and-so, that will be a few minutes fumbling of "....wait, what's their number..." which can be a problem if you've got Sid Schlomo on the line asking to be transferred and they don't know why it's taking so long for the successor to find the number. Having a printed copy for them will let them place it where they need it, so they can just at-a-glance refer to it.
2. If you are the underling for someone, and you answer calls for them, also fill them in on "here's the people who you ALWAYS want to transfer their call for, no matter what." If your boss always wants to take a call from her sister, even if she's in the middle of a conference call, you successor needs to know that.
3. If there are any tasks that you were in the middle of for any reason (you've left a message with the Dunder-Mifflin contact but they haven't called you back yet), leave a memo stating clearly what it is that is pending, exactly what the circumstances are, what contact you made to them, and exactly what to do for either of their responses (i.e., "I called Sid and Dunder-Mifflin on Wednesday, because we need them to decide whether they want blue or pink. They wanted purple, but we don't have that, so I asked them blue or pink. I got Sid's voicemail; I told him all of this, but just in case he didn't hear my message, explain that we did use to have purple but we have discontinued that, so he has the choice of blue or pink. If he asks when it was discontinued -- we did that last year. If he does NOT call with an answer by NEXT Friday, call him again. When you finally get an answer, you need to send that information to Joe in the factory floor.")
4. To sum up -- any of the mundane, tiny details that are second-nature to you; that's the stuff that always falls through the cracks. It may be second-nature to you that you have to order new supplies by contacting Ethyl on the second floor, but your successor will need to know that. it also may be second-nature to you all to use email or chat to give each other messages, but your successor needs to know that. It's the tiny piddly details that tend to flummox newbies on the first day ("....So, WHO do I call to fix the printer again?")
5. Optional, if you want to make their day: leave them a way to contact you if they have any questions, and let them know if they have permission to give it out in case your college buddy calls the office and wants to know how to reach you now that you're not there any more.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:39 AM on October 19, 2009 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Make a list of any strange behaviour, such as odd locations of files on the LAN, etc.
posted by Solomon at 9:41 AM on October 19, 2009
posted by Solomon at 9:41 AM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: I wrote a handover manual when I switched jobs with everything from file locations, org charts, contact details, process step-by-step stuff and so forth. I also ran a two week handover.
In the first week, I transitioned my new person from him watching and me doing the job to him taking over responsibilities and me helping out. In the second week I tidied up the handover manual and was basically there on hand for any questions, but left him to his own devices to find problems and ask questions as *he* found them.
One thing I have discovered is, within reason, there is almost no problem that needs you to call your predecessor after they've moved jobs. It's a nice touch, but at the end of the day people learn to cope, or don't learn to cope if they know they can just ring you up. At one job there were still had people calling up ex-colleagues whore were still friends for the largely trivial questions.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:55 AM on October 19, 2009
In the first week, I transitioned my new person from him watching and me doing the job to him taking over responsibilities and me helping out. In the second week I tidied up the handover manual and was basically there on hand for any questions, but left him to his own devices to find problems and ask questions as *he* found them.
One thing I have discovered is, within reason, there is almost no problem that needs you to call your predecessor after they've moved jobs. It's a nice touch, but at the end of the day people learn to cope, or don't learn to cope if they know they can just ring you up. At one job there were still had people calling up ex-colleagues whore were still friends for the largely trivial questions.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:55 AM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: Export your contact list to a CSV file and ask IT to import it to the new account once it is set up. This takes only a minute, but will save the new person so much time (particularly critical in this post-rolodex era since accounts are always deleted after you leave).
posted by susanvance at 10:02 AM on October 19, 2009
posted by susanvance at 10:02 AM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: While it's important to be able to provide information to someone, you can't anticipate every question that might arise, so it's even more important to teach them how to find information on their own.
One thing I typically do when training someone new is provide a list of resources in written form. I'm a programmer, so an excerpt of my list might be:
- Software: you need X version 1.2 and Y version 2.3; Jane can install these for you
- Source code: We use system ABC; Sally can set up your account
- Design documentation: On the intranet at this URL
- Manuals: alphabetized by title in bottom desk drawer
- Problems with expense reports: See Bob in accounting
Giving it to them in written form is essential because they may understand what you tell them but they're not going to remember the details, especially so if they're new.
posted by tomwheeler at 5:50 PM on October 19, 2009
One thing I typically do when training someone new is provide a list of resources in written form. I'm a programmer, so an excerpt of my list might be:
- Software: you need X version 1.2 and Y version 2.3; Jane can install these for you
- Source code: We use system ABC; Sally can set up your account
- Design documentation: On the intranet at this URL
- Manuals: alphabetized by title in bottom desk drawer
- Problems with expense reports: See Bob in accounting
Giving it to them in written form is essential because they may understand what you tell them but they're not going to remember the details, especially so if they're new.
posted by tomwheeler at 5:50 PM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: Take a few days and log everything you do in a little notebook. One day when you have some spare time, write down HOW to do the most common recurring things. Not just generally how, but "open excel spreadsheet called ___ in the ___ folder..." etc. People that generally should know how to do what you do, don't know how YOU did what you do. Most likely they will change stuff anyway to suit their own little preferences, but this lets them still get something done in the meantime. You might also make an index of what files you're leaving them, where they are, and what they're for. Your file system is not as obvious to someone else as it is to you.
Depends on the nature of your job, I guess, but someone taking over for my last job (assuming I had not trained all of my people to replace me if necessary) would have been in for some ugly paper and computer file archaeology. Fortunately, I got to do a month of being around in case there were any questions, instead. There were.
posted by ctmf at 6:43 PM on October 19, 2009
Depends on the nature of your job, I guess, but someone taking over for my last job (assuming I had not trained all of my people to replace me if necessary) would have been in for some ugly paper and computer file archaeology. Fortunately, I got to do a month of being around in case there were any questions, instead. There were.
posted by ctmf at 6:43 PM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: Oh, forgot - especially useful is, for each contact, a bit of back story. "This guy always pays late, but he's just disorganized, not malicious," etc. That kind of stuff that you know and take into account when you deal with people, but wouldn't be written anywhere. Extremely useful.
posted by ctmf at 7:10 PM on October 19, 2009
posted by ctmf at 7:10 PM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: When I stepped in to my job a few months ago, I seemed to be about the fourth admin assistant in the job in about three years. Luckily, the previous admins had kept notebooks with information, reference, 'how to' stuff that no one junked. Being able to read over their cheatsheets and notes was very helpful, even if some things had changed by the time I arrived.
Being it's the first time I've changed jobs and been in a new office with new duties in about 8 years, I was taking notes from day one, beginning with the very basics: the copier code, my telephone extensionn, who orders sticky notes, when is lunch... I typed up my notes and transfer them to a binder to keep as my reference, for both things to remember as well as step-by-step instructions for complex tasks until I am perfectly comfortable with them.
Anyway, as I'm compiling my "binder bible", I am keeping it in mind to keep updating the binder as policy or procedures change, so it is useful for the next person in my job. I will be able to hand it to him or her as a job manual.
So to make a long story short: written cheatsheets/how-to's/notes on people, etc. are very useful for the next person coming in, and also if you're still in the job, having to explain what you do clearly is a good exercise in and of itself.
posted by Savannah at 8:44 PM on October 19, 2009
Being it's the first time I've changed jobs and been in a new office with new duties in about 8 years, I was taking notes from day one, beginning with the very basics: the copier code, my telephone extensionn, who orders sticky notes, when is lunch... I typed up my notes and transfer them to a binder to keep as my reference, for both things to remember as well as step-by-step instructions for complex tasks until I am perfectly comfortable with them.
Anyway, as I'm compiling my "binder bible", I am keeping it in mind to keep updating the binder as policy or procedures change, so it is useful for the next person in my job. I will be able to hand it to him or her as a job manual.
So to make a long story short: written cheatsheets/how-to's/notes on people, etc. are very useful for the next person coming in, and also if you're still in the job, having to explain what you do clearly is a good exercise in and of itself.
posted by Savannah at 8:44 PM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: Also: have all your filing caught up. I found filing from 2007 when I came aboard, and I was not pleased. The previous admins obviously didn't like filing (who does?) but really, there's no excuse.
posted by Savannah at 8:45 PM on October 19, 2009
posted by Savannah at 8:45 PM on October 19, 2009
Best answer: When I left my last job, I left a list of my paper and electronic files that detailed what was in each folder. So, there was an outline like this: Project A folder had subfolders with meeting minutes, informal call notes, reports from team members, yearly project plans, etc, Project B folder had the same set of subfolders except relating to project B, and then Project C had a whole set of subfolders and sub-subfolders. Some people file by project, some by type of document, some by date--it's helpful to make it clear which you are and how to find those minutes from that conference call eight months ago so you can confirm something or other. I was told that was very helpful.
I also set up a calendar saying when each tiny step in reoccurring meetings/tasks needed to happen. Like, email about planning call. Set up planning call. Send out reminder of call. You can't be too detailed in that sort of thing! The newcomer can always change it if they like, but it's so nice to have something like that when you're just trying to remember everyone's name.
posted by min at 12:29 PM on October 20, 2009
I also set up a calendar saying when each tiny step in reoccurring meetings/tasks needed to happen. Like, email about planning call. Set up planning call. Send out reminder of call. You can't be too detailed in that sort of thing! The newcomer can always change it if they like, but it's so nice to have something like that when you're just trying to remember everyone's name.
posted by min at 12:29 PM on October 20, 2009
Response by poster: This is all very, very helpful. I think that my replacement will be very happy indeed. Thanks, everyone.
*cough* majortom, I got fired, more or less.
posted by McBearclaw at 12:13 PM on November 12, 2009
*cough* majortom, I got fired, more or less.
posted by McBearclaw at 12:13 PM on November 12, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by majortom1981 at 9:28 AM on October 19, 2009