I didn't know that was a factor. It wasn't in the brief.
Context stripped in the handoff
The person handing off the work knew something the receiver needed, and the brief, ticket, or message didn't carry it. The receiver gets the conclusion, but not the context or reasoning that made it sensible.
- Receivers spend hours rebuilding context before the real work starts.
- Briefs say what to do but not why.
- Rework traces back to information the sender had all along.
Who: the last two people who received this work. Ask: "What did you have to go and find out that the person before you already knew?" Count: hours spent rebuilding context on the last three handoffs. You're probably looking at this pattern if the missing context existed and wasn't passed on. Probably not if nobody had it. If not, compare it with Past work can't be found.
Nuance gets squeezed out. That one happens as a finding travels upward to people who need a shorter version. This one happens between the people doing the work.
On important handoffs, the receiver says back what they have taken on.
Before you delegate a decision, hand over the full context behind it. The goal, the constraints, what matters. Then let them decide.
A structured handoff script ending in a read-back cut medical errors by about 23% across nine hospitals and 10,740 admissions (Starmer and colleagues, 2014). Read-backs are standard practice in aviation and surgery. Emerging for the script: one large, well-designed study. Established pattern for read-backs.